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Chaloskas are always dressed in military uniforms, big hats, big boots, piles of medals on their uniforms, and they use donkey teeth that make them look very ugly
Chaloska! When you hear this name, you also think of carnival, right? But who is Chaloska himself? So, about asking for a seat, let me explain.
In the carnival in Haiti, before you talk about the group of artists who will perform on the stage during the three days, you can’t help but talk about what we could call the soul of the carnival, which is the costumes: from the reindeer, through various types of children’s parades to reach the fat Tuesday group like rope laces and chaloska. As for the Chaloska itself, it is something different.
Madigra finds its place in the Haitian imaginary to denigrate a person on his physical aspect and to scare children. In addition, it is a madrigal based on a historical figure named Charles Oscar Étienne.
Charles Oscar Étienne
This man was a commander of the national penitentiary in Haiti, under president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam. It was a fierce man, not in rancidity.
According to Donel Hyppolite, who has been the presenter of the Jacmèl carnival for 8 years, Charles Oscar Étienne fought and defeated him in Marigo before he went to Port-au-Prince. That’s what would cause Marigo’s people to run after him.
Historian Jean Ledan Fils himself says he is not aware that Charles Oscar Étienne spent time in Marigo Jakmèl. In the same way, he never knew which area Charles Oscar came from, even though some people say it is Gonayiv.
Charles Oscar Étienne, born on January 1, 1866, according to historian Georges Michel, would kill more than 160 political prisoners in the national penitentiary on the orders of president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, on July 27, 1915.
Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, President of the Republic of Haiti for 4 months and 18 days, from March 9 to July 27, 1915.
Vilbrun Guillaume Sam had these political prisoners arrested because they opposed him. Among the prisoners were former president Oreste Zamor and 3 sons of former interim president Edmond Polynice. Alavarite is the intellectual and economic elite who were most part of these political prisoners.
The next day, July 28, 1915, both Vilbrum Guillaume Sam who took refuge in the French legation and Charles Oscar Étienne who took refuge in the Dominican Republic legation will die.
History reports that it was Edmond Polynice who killed Charles Oscar Étienne with 3 bullets: one for each of his sons. Then, the people will come in and take the body to behead it in public. And that same day, the American occupation continued in Haiti.
Now, you must be asking yourself, what does a man like Chaloska lose in the national carnival costume of Haiti!
So, ladies and gentlemen, let’s make fun of this fierce and bloody commander who will create this folkloric character in the Haitian carnival and call him Chaloska.
History reports that it was Edmond Polynice who killed Charles Oscar Étienne with 3 bullets: one for each of his sons.
The Chaloskas are always dressed in military uniforms, big hats, big boots, piles of medals on their uniforms, and they use donkey teeth that make them look very ugly, they also wear glasses. When they parade, they imitate all the excesses of military gestures while they have in their hands either rifles, or wooden rifles or revolvers.
Donel Hyppolite informed AyiboPost that, in Jakmèl’s carnival, there are 2 main characters in the Chaloska, the hunchback and Lord Richard.
The hunchback represents the people Charles Oscar Étienne used to beat while Master Richard represents a bourgeois with a big suitcase.
In the Chaloska session, the soldiers are attacking the Bosu with rigors and master Richard is saying as much.
It’s a mockery of what the captain used to do.
Jean Ledan Fils says that it’s not just Charles Oscar Etienne that the Chaloska soldiers are imitating, there are several other ex-military people who also have fun in the parades.
It is to ridicule this ferocious and bloodthirsty commander that they will create this folkloric character in the Haitian carnival and call him Chaloska.
The chaloska is part of the country’s traditional madrigal.
Craftsmen have fun creating their costumes. Although it is a bad character that the Chaloska represents, it is always with pleasure that the carnivals live the parade of the Chaloska.
Here is the story of Chaloska.
Text and presentation: Daphena Remedor
Cover image: On the left is the image of Charles Oscar Étienne; and on the right is a madrigal image that represents Chaloska in the carnival in Haiti.
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