Around the theme “Ansanm ak Grenadye Yo, Ann Fè Drapo a Flote pi Wo!” (“Together with the Grenadiers, Let’s Make the Flag Fly Higher!”), the National Palace hosted the ceremony marking the 223rd anniversary of the Haitian bicolor on Monday, May 18. In the presence of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, government members, senior state officials, and representatives of the diplomatic corps, the nation celebrated both the flag and the university. It was a patriotic communion carried by the collective momentum surrounding the Grenadiers, called upon to make the Haitian flag fly higher than ever on the world stage during the 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup.

The ceremony began around 11 a.m. with the symbolic raising of the national flag on the lawns of the National Palace. “This moment of patriotic reflection brings us back to the immortal work of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, founding father of the Nation, whose vision and determination consecrated the birth of the world’s first independent Black republic. It also recalls the historic gesture of Catherine Flon, who sewed together the blue and red to give birth to the emblem of national unity, a living symbol of the reconciliation of the sons and daughters of Haiti around a common ideal of freedom,” the government emphasized.