By EmmaLee Italia | Contributing Editor

Asbury Park’s faithful welcomed 2019 in the early morning hours of Jan. 1 by celebrating beloved traditions and praying for hope and peace in the New Year.

Coming together for two great feasts, the Haitian community of Mother of Mercy Parish gathered for Midnight Mass in Holy Spirit Church and recalled the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, as well as Haiti’s Independence Day.

Photo Gallery: New Year's Midnight Mass in Asbury Park

“The Catholic Church offers us this beautiful opportunity to have Mary as our model, the way she obeys the Angel Gabriel and calls all of us Haitian people to be always obedient to God, even though sometimes, as Mary, we don’t really understand God’s plan for us,” said Father Paul Janvier, parish parochial vicar. “But what we know is that God is always there for us, to help us, and we believe he wants always our happiness. This is why this feast day of the Mother of our Lord, Jesus, invites all of us Catholics, Haitian people, to be obedient, as Mary was obedient.”

Beginning with Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the evening, which was celebrated in Creole, was an opportunity for the Haitian faithful to mark their country of origin’s 215 year independence from France in 1804 – a hard won victory through a revolution of Haitian slaves and free people of color.

“For Haitians, midnight service is important for bringing in the new year because we also pray for people in need [as well as] celebrate our independence,” parishioner Cindy St. Louis said.

St. Louis also mentioned a culinary custom that Haitians use to remember the day.

“In memory of the battle, we drink soup joumou, which is made with squash,” she said. “It is a very important tradition that we pass on to our children the first of every year.”

The rich pumpkin soup was a delicacy in Saint-Domingue – Haiti’s name prior to independence – that was previously forbidden to slaves, only allowed to be consumed by slave owners.

“Today we are still fighting for this freedom, because the fight for life, for unity, for peace, is a daily fight,” Father Janvier said. “We gather together tonight in this Mass that peace may become reality for Haitian people in every sense of the word.”

Many other countries still have interests in Haiti, which promotes a sense of unrest, he explained. Prayer, he emphasized, is essential to establishing peace, with the Blessed Mother as an example.

“We are going to ask her to pray for us, to intercede for us, as Haitian people, that unity, that charity, that love may be a constant reality among Haitian people – because the absence of peace means, for me, the absence of love,” Father Janvier continued. “We need to love, and in order to love, we need to believe that our strength comes from above, from God, in order to live this peace among us and to keep sharing it with one another.”

Video by freelance photographer Joe Moore contributed to this story.