Haitian flavor for ringing in 2004.(South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Byline: Alva James-Johnson

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ After a late night of ringing in the New Year with family and friends, a tired Josette Leblanc pulled herself out of bed Thursday morning to make the pumpkin soup of a lifetime.

The traditional Haitian Independence Day dish had all the usual ingredients _ fresh pumpkin pureed into a smooth liquid; prime cuts of beef marinated in sour orange and lemon juices; an array of white, green and yellow vegetables and special herbs that filled the house with an alluring aroma.

But for Leblanc and the 35 guests gathered at her Weston home, the soup, called joumou in Creole, had special significance this year. It was not only Independence Day, but also the country's bicentennial. And the soup, once an dish that their shackled ancestors could not partake of, represented 200 years of freedom for a country created when the slaves overthrew their masters and created an independent state.

``It gives me an opportunity to share with my children all of the feelings I have for the country,'' said Leblanc, 68, who migrated to the U.S. from Haiti 44 years ago. ``I feel very blessed that I could live to see the bicentennial because I know I won't have the opportunity to see the next one.''

Haitian-Americans throughout South Florida gathered at private homes and public places to commemorate the day Haiti became the first black republic and the second independent nation in the Western Hemisphere. They reflected on the achievements of their ancestors. And they passed on family traditions to their children and grandchildren with hopes they would be preserved for another 200 years.

In Miami, close to 4,000 people started the day at an 8 a.m. mass at Notre Dame D' Haiti Catholic Church in Little Haiti. The service ran four hours as people waved their hands to the sky and belted out hymns in Creole. They listened as Archbishop of Miami John Clement Favalora proposed liberation from sin as the true road to peace and justice.