TRADITIONS
Christmas in Haiti
Haiti’s gift to Christmas isn’t a nativity scene. It’s a light: the fanal (fah-NAHL), a little house made of cardboard and cut tissue paper, lit from inside and set out by the front door. The surprise, once you dig in, is that nobody knows where it comes from, and a Haitian expert says so plainly.
What a fanal is
It’s a frame of thin cardboard or card stock, covered with delicate colored paper cut into patterns, held together with a local glue made from cassava starch, and lit from inside (once with a candle, now with a small bulb). Depending on the detail, one takes two to three days to make.
According to a report by the United Nations mission in Haiti, there are three common shapes: a little “gingerbread” house, the elegant Haitian style with lacy wooden trim; a miniature church with a steeple; and the simplest, a multicolored cube.
It goes by the front door, on a porch or by the street. When night falls, the whole neighborhood glows with little paper houses.
Note what the fanal isn’t: it doesn’t show the stable, the Nativity or any figures. It’s a house or a church, a building, not a scene. None of the sources we found connect it to nativity scenes. If you see a family resemblance, it’s in the making (crafting a little paper object by hand to light at Christmas), not in what it shows.
An origin no one knows
This is the most interesting part, and it means saying something you won’t read elsewhere: nobody has documented where the fanal came from.
Professor Ary Régis, quoted in the same report, says so himself: “I learned to make fanals as a small child, but I have no information about their origins.” When a Haitian scholar who has made fanals since childhood says he doesn’t know their history, be careful with any page that gives an exact date.
There’s only one theory. The anthropologist Norluck Dorange suggests that “this folk art doesn’t come from the countryside but rather from the city,” and that it started with children trying to recreate the glow of candlelit Catholic church windows. It’s one scholar’s idea, and it fits the fanal’s church shape, but it isn’t proof.
You’ll sometimes read that it’s “a century-old tradition.” That’s just the writer’s claim.
Where, and by whom
Two cities are on record. In Port-au-Prince, the Route de Bourdon and Pétionville are the main places to buy them, from artisans such as Jivinson Arismé and Junior Hermitil. In Cap-Haïtien, the news site iciHaïti reported in 2023 that fanals were “increasingly rare” and the tradition was under threat. Some Haitian American families in Miami, New York and Boston keep the custom alive.
The sellers themselves have seen the decline: “In 2005, 2006 and 2007, we sold many more fanals.”
As far as we know, there’s no national fanal festival. Efforts are local: in December 2023, the tourism office for northern Haiti launched a campaign in Cap-Haïtien called “Fanal: restore and pass on this tradition to keep it alive,” with two days of workshops, an awards ceremony and an exhibition. It’s an effort to save the tradition, not a long-standing celebration.
Heritage without status
It’s worth checking, and the answer is clear: it isn’t officially recognized, internationally or at home.
Haiti has three traditions on UNESCO’s lists: soup joumou in 2021, cassava-making know-how in 2024, and compas music in 2025. UNESCO’s list of Haitian traditions doesn’t include the fanal.
At home, in October 2019, Haiti’s Ministry of Culture and Communication added nine traditions to the national heritage register: rara, compas, contredanse, vèvè drawing, Jacmel’s papier-mâché masks, dous makòs, konparèt, lalo and tchaka. The fanal isn’t there either.
So nine Haitian traditions were officially recognized, and the one Haitians make at home every December isn’t among them. Efforts to keep it alive are local and run by volunteers. That’s not a criticism, just a fact you can check, and it explains why there’s so little written about it.
Three things you’ll read that are wrong
“The fanal comes from Jacmel.” No. Jacmel is known for papier-mâché carnival masks, and that craft, not the fanal, is on Haiti’s heritage register. The fanal is documented in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. The mix-up probably comes from both crafts using paper.
“Soup joumou is the Haitian Christmas dish.” No. UNESCO’s listing says it’s eaten on January 1, Independence Day, as the first meal of the year, and that it stands for freedom won: it was once a dish only the colonists could eat. The listing never mentions Christmas. The link is just that the two holidays are close together, and the soup’s meaning is about independence.
“Haitian metal nativities are a local tradition.” It’s more complicated. Metalwork cut from recycled oil drums, in the village of Noailles in Croix-des-Bouquets, is very real. But the nativities they make are sold through North American fair-trade shops, and we found nothing showing that Haitian families use them at home. They’re made for buyers abroad. That doesn’t make them any less beautiful or any less Haitian. They just aren’t evidence of a Haitian home nativity tradition.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Haitian fanal?
A handmade Christmas lantern made of thin cardboard or card stock, covered with delicate colored cut paper, glued with cassava starch, and lit by a candle or a small bulb. It’s usually shaped like a house with lacy trim, sometimes a church with a steeple, sometimes a simple colored cube. It takes two to three days to make one.
Is the fanal a nativity scene?
No, though people often mix them up. No source connects the fanal to the Nativity. It’s a decoration that lights up homes and streets, not a devotional object. It lights up Christmas but doesn’t show the Christmas story. It’s tempting to compare them, since both can be little buildings set up at home, but there’s no record of a link.
Where does the fanal tradition come from?
We don’t know, and that answer comes from a Haitian expert: Professor Ary Régis says he learned to make fanals as a child but knows nothing about where they came from. The anthropologist Norluck Dorange has one theory: a city craft that began with children recreating the glow of candlelit church windows. It’s one scholar’s idea, not a date.
Does the fanal come from Jacmel?
No. Jacmel is known for papier-mâché and carnival, a craft that’s well documented and on Haiti’s heritage register. The fanal is documented in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien. People often confuse the two paper crafts, but there’s nothing to back it up.
Is soup joumou a Christmas dish?
No. UNESCO’s listing is clear: it’s made and eaten on January 1, the day Haiti declared independence, and it’s a symbol of that day. It was once a dish only the colonists could eat, and the formerly enslaved claimed it as their own. Its only link to Christmas is that the dates are close. Any page that lists it as a Haitian Christmas tradition is wrong.