Monsters and Dragons: Carnival Celebration Rises From Haiti's Ruins [Photos]

JACMEL, Haiti -- Inside the broken walls of private gardens, under tents and tarps, a quiet army is poised to take the stage. The city will celebrate Carnival tonight, and artists have been working for weeks to get ready.

Hundreds of papier-mache creatures wait for their debut in the streets. A half-dozen enormous crickets lay on their sides. Pharaohs and presidents are upside-down on the rubble. Diabolical masks, with faces as big as cars, sleep peacefully. In a shady town square, a dragon, 45 feet long, is covered under sheets.

Jacmel is the heart of Haiti's weeks-long Carnival celebration. Artists took a hit when last year's festivities were canceled just after the Jan. 12 earthquake. This year, the recovering city has a modest budget of $250,000 to support dozens of musical groups and hundreds of artisans. But most papier-mache artists, including many father-son teams, do it for love.

Though Haiti's tourism industry still is struggling, the country's cultural identity and heritage is considered a key to reconstruction. This week, the residents of Jacmel focused on constructing intricate paper masks and creatures -- often scary, but mostly beautiful icons of the imagination. Click through the gallery below to see some highlights.

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Carnival in Haiti

Otis, 12, tries on a mask created by Pouchon Jules outside his shop in Jacmel, Haiti. "Lucifer" was one of many works commissioned by the mayor's office to benefit the local community. The town's annual Carnival celebration returns this week after being canceled last year in the wake of the devastating earthquake. Click the image for more photos of Carnival preparations in Jacmel.

Emily Troutman for AOL News

Carnival in Haiti

This bird, created by Jean-Andre Jules, is part a suite of diabolical imaginary birds that measure over five feet tall. Jules' papier mache shop in Jacmel, Haiti, supports many local artists, including his son, Pouchon.

Carnival in Haiti

After cutting his papier mache mask off of the clay mold, Jameson Joseph, 13, glues it back into one piece. His family surrounds him as he works in his yard in Jacmel, Haiti.

Carnival in Haiti

When Joseph's mask is completed, it will be a three-headed monster, "Cholera." This year, many of the papier mache masks are themed around the illness. Its cunning and terror has captured popular culture and imagination.

Carnival in Haiti

The papier mache wings found at carnival in Jacmel, were an artform originally imported from Europe, but resonated with local Haitian ideas of carnival. The battle between good and evil is an ever-present theme.

Carnival in Haiti

Wilson Juin, an artist with the St. Thomas Shop, works on "diabolical" masks. The shop owner, Thomas Oriental, says as long as people come to carnival, they will make money. Last year, festivities were cancelled three months after the earthquake.

Carnival in Haiti

Papier mache masks line the sidewalks in Jacmel, Haiti, as artists prepare for carnival. The tradition began thirty years ago in Jacmel, and has prospered. This year's carnival will be a welcome commercial opportunity for the earthquake-struck city.

Carnival in Haiti

Mario Charles checks on his son, Terry, who practices wearing one of his father's famous fish. The fish won a first-place recognition for best mask in 2006. Terry is still learning the artform. Mario wears a t-shirt for G 27, a local association of artisans including papier mache. The association advocates for local artists.

Carnival in Haiti

Jameson Joseph, who is a second-generation papier mache artist, cuts a mask off of a clay base. In the background, the clay and dirt base for a car.

Carnival in Haiti

Jameson Joseph stands outside the shop of Jean-Andre Jules in Jacmel, Haiti. Like the father-son team in the Jules family, Joseph also learned papier mache from his father, Amounou. This year Amounou created a ten-part, fifteen-yard long dragon that will debut at Jacmel's carnival.

Carnival in Haiti

Pouchon Jules, 24, is making final touches to his mask, "Lucifer." The head features a dragon's face and mouth, horns, a small demonic creature, and a snake. Many masks, like this one, work off of standard themes but are unique designs.

Carnival in Haiti