Today's Holiday: "God's Birthday"

Today is a holiday in Haiti--in French it's called Fete Dieu and in English my student's say "God's Birthday." When I ask my husband or the students about this holiday they just tell me it's a Catholic thing and that's all they know. Being the curious person that I am, that just isn't enough information for me. We have today off school and I wanted to know why.

I took matters into my own hands this morning and googled it. Apparently the translation of the French name is a bit misleading because in English the day is called "The Feast of Corpus Christi." The super simplistic explanation of the holiday is that it celebrates the presence of Jesus Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist (communion). I assume that Catholic churches and other denominations that believe the communion elements turn into the actual body and blood of Christ celebrate today with a church service and communion.

At our house, we celebrated "God's Birthday" by sleeping in and having a lazy morning. Later today we'll take some exams to the copy shop for the school and hopefully go to Handal, the Haitian Wal-mart, if they are open. And if my husband is in the right mood I might even be able to talk him into a "sandwich griole" from Giant Supermarket.