One day this odd
god came walking along a path between two fields. He beheld in either
field a farmer at work and proposed to play the two a turn. He donned a hat
that was on
the one side red, but on the other white, green before and black behind; so
that when the
two friendly farmers had gone home to their village and the one said to the
other, "Did
you see that old fellow go by in the white hat?" the other replied, "Why that
hat was red."
To which the first retorted, "It was not; it was white." "Well you must be blind,"
declared
the first. "You must be drunk," rejoined the other. And so the argument developed
and the
two came to blows. When they began to knife each other, they were brought by
neighbors
before the headman for judgment. Edshu was among the crowd at the trial, and
when the
headman sat at a loss to know where justice lay, the old trickster revealed
himself, made
known his prank, and showed the hat. "The two could not help but quarrel," he
said. "I
wanted it that way. Spreading strife is my greatest joy."1
One of the essential elements the historical perspective offers to the observer is an ability to see the shifts cultural traditions experience through their transmission across time and space. In some instances the shifts are simply breaks, where the tradition alters only in appearance, retaining the core of its meaning, while incorporating new influences - the break being merely a pause.2 While at other times the changes are wholly in context and character, like the ironic twist of the Mőbius strip, the change can manifest as an inversion of the original. What follows is a discussion of shifts the African cultural traditions have encountered in their transmission to Haiti, as well the historical influences on the development of Vodoun. In regard to the symbiosis of AfroHaitian and Catholic belief systems, there is a comparison and contrast of certain lwa and their saintly corollaries. And finally, a brief discussion of how these traditions have managed to survive the transition from Africa to the Americas and the lasting effect colonialism has had on the Haitian people.
From the Western coast of Africa,
between the Volta and Congo rivers, numerous tribes from civilized African Empires
were forcefully exported to Haiti in one of the most vile examples of objectification
humanity has seen. Because of their advanced religious and rich philosophical
traditions, peoples of Dahomey, Yoruba, and Kongo left an indelible mark on
the spiritual traditions that eventually developed into Haitian Vodoun. Besides
the similarities in their separate cultural traditions, two primary reasons
for their survival in the Americas are their commitment to the collective, or
community, and a constant recognition of their ancestors. A Nigerian proverb
best sums up this awareness of, and need for cooperative effort, Igi kan
ki s'igbo 'One tree does not make a forest'.3 The first
of three central elements in the philosophical framework of the Yoruba peoples
is the concept of áshe, or spiritual "power-to-make-happen", directly
related to divine quintessence and the ritual contact which allows mortals to
"make a god."4 In addition to this, there is iwa, or
character and itutu or mystic coolness, both of which inform the nature
of relations between individuals and the dieties.5 For the
Yoruba, "the highest form of morality is sharing and generosity - the strongest
talisman to hold against jealousy."6 These concepts translate
not just to the living and the divine, but to the ancestors as well. The Kongo
peoples, "believe and hold it true that man's life has no end, that it continues
a cycle, and death is merely a transition in the process of change."7
This idea is represented visually in the cosmogram Tendwa Nzd Kongo,
it is at once the cycle, as well as the crossroads and mirror; all of which
are essential to an understanding of the Afro-Haitian religion Vodoun.8
At the center of this cosmogram is the crossroads separating the world of the
living and the world of the dead. The crossroads is likewise the mirror, which
reflects these worlds and their corollary 'hot' and 'cool' divisions of left
and right. Intrinsic to these beliefs is the importance of the ancestors to
the living, as well as one's actions while incarnate. For in some instances
an ancestor can become an "immortal being who, because of their good works,
are believed to be blessed with the power to resist the organic process."9
Another important African spiritual practice that bears discussion regarding
Vodoun is the art of bocio. Bocio from the Fon bo 'empowered'
and cio 'cadaver' are sculptures or objects which accumulate, transfer
or transpose spiritual energies for healing or protective purposes.10
In Africa these were objects commissioned by an individual, usually a commoner,
to give a sense of empowerment and protection from the elite, in order to "influence
community and societal relationships."11 The use of cords
and binding in these commoner bocio is directly related to their owners feelings
of anxiety and disempowerment regarding enslavement at the hands of the elite;
they are designed "to relieve related concerns in the face of life's lesser
and greater traumas."12
When the Africans found themselves in Haiti in 1503, they encountered the remnants
of the Arawak and Carib peoples. Little is left to us regarding these people
due to the diseases Spanish invaders brought, and their attempts to force the
indigenous Amerindian into slavery; their numbers were reduced from 1.3 million
in the early 16th century to about sixty thousand fifteen years later. 13
What numbers did remain on the island were sequestered in enclaves in the mountains,
and it was to these that runaway African slaves, known as maroons escaped. Here
African and Arawak religious beliefs began melding into what would become Haitian
Vodoun, in turn inspiring the insurrections that lead to the Haitian Revolution.
Because of this lack of information of the Arawak traditions, little research
has been done to show the connections between their religious practices and
Haitian Vodoun. Maya Deren suggests in Divine Horsemen that they had
several points of interaction particularly a belief in a serpent deity as primal
source, and a form of ancestor worship where the ancestors are said to travel
to a watery abode.14 Some of the areas where the Amerindian
culture is said to have left its mark on Vodoun is in the use of vévé
symbolic figures used to invoke the dieties, zemi stones associated with
the spirits of ancestors and non-thunder oriented deities, as well as the creation
of zombies.15 Perhaps the most obvious Arawak influence on
Vodoun is the Petro nachon, which has also been described as being related
to the "hot" Kongo peoples.16 This discrepancy is likely derived
from a desire to place the entirety of Vodoun's spiritual traditions in Africa
and disregard the maroons interaction with the Arawak people. To the
contrary, Maya Deren says of the aggressive qualities of the Petro lwa,
that "In a sense, the Indians took their revenge on the white man through the
Negro," they were, "born out of…rage against the evil fate which the African
suffered, the brutality of his displacement and his enslavement." 17
These militant qualities she finds absent in the 'cool' Rada lwa, derived
from the Yoruba.
This interaction in these maroon enclaves, between the remnants of Arawak and the newly escaped African peoples has been described as the first multicultural experiment. 18 The lack of "hot" spirituality in other African Diasporic religions points to the influence of Arawak indigenous culture, themselves descendants of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico.19 Out of the melding of religious traditions of both cultures Vodoun was born, and because of Vodoun, Haiti is independent.20 Several of the early leaders of the revolutionary effort resorted to Vodoun and its related magickal activities. Francois Mackandal, one of the first African leaders to prophesy "the extermination of the whites and the liberation of the slaves," used poisons against the planters and talismans called garde-corps, or 'body-guards' to protect other maroons; these are likely similar to the bocio mentioned above. In 1758 he was captured and condemned to burn at the stake, he is reported to have leapt free of the flames.21 Mackandal became a general term for poisons and talismans made in Saint-Dominique, they bear a striking resemblance to both Kongo 'attack medicines' and paquet-kongo 'Kongo packages'.22 On 14 August of 1791 another maroon and Vodoun priest named Boukman Dutty held a meeting at Bois-Caďman, to spark the insurrection which would eventually lead to the Haitian Revolution.
It was a stormy night.
The wind blew through the mapou trees, lightning flashed
constantly and the sound of thunder added to the tense atmosphere. A young priestess,
a
mulatto named Cécile Fatiman made cabalistic signs and plunged the knife
of sacrifice
into the throat of the wild boar. Dancing, the knife in her hand, she sang African
songs,
taken up by the others. The blood from the animal's throat was collected and
distributed
among all as they swore a solemn oath to keep their planned rebellion the deepest
secret.
Boukman pronounced the sacramental words, "Good Lord who made the sun, which
shines on us from on high, who raises the sea, who makes the tempest roar, Hear
you,
people, The Good Lord is hidden in his cloud. From there he looks down on us,
and sees
all that the white men do. The God of the white men commands crime, ours solicits
good
deeds, but this God who is so good, orders us to vengeance. He will guide our
hand, and
give us assistance. Break the image of the god of the white men, who has thirst
for our
tears, hear in our hearts the call of liberty!"23
What is most striking about Boukman's words is the distinction between the Good God, or Bondye of the African maroons, and the god of the whites. The distinction becomes important when we look at the influence, or lack thereof Christianity had on Vodoun. Two groups at opposite ends of the Christian religious spectrum seem to have both contributed to the maroons attempts to win freedom. In between the time of Mackandal and Boukman the Jesuits, a monastic order within the Catholic Church, were expelled on 24 November of 1763 for "urging the desertion and revolt of workers."24 At approximately the same time several influential Masonic lodges, associated with the French Illuminati, moved from Paris to Haiti.25 Their doctrines of freedom and tolerance where the cornerstones of both the French and American Revolutions, and likely inspired such Haitian revolutionaries as Toussiant-Louverture, Dessalines, and Critstophe. The irony of this is that the Jesuits were organized as a response to the inroads Protestantism, and Masonry in particular, were making in European politics and society. It would appear in retrospect that even though the ideals expressed in Masonry were instrumental in the Haitian Revolution, Catholicism had a greater influence on the development of Vodoun. This can be seen in that the Protestants and their attempts to demonize Vodoun are "regarded like gnats," entirely annoying, but largely irrelevant.26 Likewise, the influence of Catholicism is evident not only in that Haiti's national religion is Catholicism, but more importantly that a majority of Voudisants consider themselves to be Catholic. Although, this is merely a product of the Code Noir, which demanded that every African brought to Haiti was to be baptized in the Catholic faith.
There is a feast in the Haitian church
called the Fętę de Saut d'Eau, which can be seen as an attempt by Voudisants
to adapt the church's liturgical calendar to its own ends.27
The story is that an apparition of the lwa Erzulie, in the form of the
Virgin Mary, was seen in a palm tree near the waterfalls outside of Ville-Bonhour.
The people gathered and called for the white vicar to come pray with them. Upon
arriving, he was unable to see the apparition, and accused the people of blasphemy.
He closed the area and called the local police captain to stand guard and shoot
at the apparition. He then ordered the tree cut down, at which point the people
saw her Petro aspect, the lwa Erzulie Dantô, rise into the air above
the area. When the vicar returned home he found that his church had burned to
the ground; he is said to have died shortly after of a stroke. The captain is
said to have gone mad for a time, until he returned to the area and prayed for
the Virgin's pardon. Today the waterfalls adjacent to the area are dedicated
to the lwa Damballah and Ayida Wedo. It is said whomever bathes in their
waters will be first possessed then healed. The largest crowds are said to gather
on July 15th, the anniversary of the apparition's appearance and coincidentally
the holy day dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Haiti.28
This same form of symbiosis can be seen in the adoption of Catholic saint's
chromolithographs to represent Vodoun lwa. Their adoption had a two-fold
purpose: first, they were mass produced, consequently being cheap and readily
available throughout Haiti, and two, although they were representations of Catholic
saints, they provided "a veil behind which they could practice their African
religions."29 These juxtapositions are not without a degree
of irony; for in each of the following there is this twist of the Möbius strip,
which opens up a mirror image of what the original was meant to convey. And
who is to say which is the original, and which the reflection.
Damballah is the snake lwa who is said to twine himself about the four
pillars that support the earth. He is represented as an aged and noble father
said to have helped Bondye create the universe.30 He is said
to be seen arched across the sky in the path that the sun travels, of which
his female counterpart Ayida Wedo is said to manifest as a rainbow. He is patron
of the waters of the heavens, springs, and rivers upon which all life is nourished.3l
He is associated with Saint Patrick, patron of Ireland, said to have banished
the snakes from Ireland, a metaphor for Celtic Paganism and its animistic heresy.
His lithograph depicts him as an aged bishop with snakes beneath his feet, standing
on the border between land and sea.32
Erzulie is the lwa of maternity, fecundity, the cosmic womb in which all life,
divine and mortal is created.33 Maya Deren has summed her
up succinctly, "Voudoun has given woman, in the figure of Erzulie, exclusive
title to that which distinguishes humans from all other forms: the capacity
to conceive beyond reality, to desire beyond adequacy, to create beyond need."34
She is associated with wealth, luxury, flamboyance, and all the accouterments
of the upper-classes.35 As noted previously she is identified
with the Virgin Mary, as are her other aspects the Petro Erzulie Dantô, associated
with rage, and the Rada Metrčs Erzulie, who is associated with "a dejected old
woman."36 The lithographs which are used to represent these
three aspects are as follows: Erzulie (Freda), Maria dolorosa del Monte Calvario,
crowned and surrounded by jewelry; Erzulie Dantô, Mater salvatoris, the Black
Madonna with two parallel scars on her right cheek; and Metrés Erzulie, Virgin
de los dolores, white-skinned and bent forward with a tear flowing from her
right eye.37 These three personifications of Erzulie, although
less evident in the Catholic lithographs, collectively manifest a Vodoun Triple
Goddess of Maiden, Mother and Crone.
Ogun is the lwa of war and statecraft; he is the politician and diplomat,
the hero who saves the nation and its people. He is power and dynamic force,
his color is red, and fire is his element; when he is saluted, it must be rum
set aflame - water just won't do.38 He is most often associated
with St. Jacques in his Petro aspect as the lwa Ogun Feraille, symbolized
by the spirit of battle. He is depicted in the lithographs astride a horse,
brandishing his sword on a battlefield. On the ground are strewn wounded bodies,
while behind him is a medieval knight in armor with a red cross on a white banner.
The image is said to derive from Spain, where Santiago (Saint James the Great)
is the military patron. Ironically he is said to have helped in driving the
Moors from Christian Spain. In Haiti he is intimately associated with the Haitian
Revolution and the efforts to drive the French and Spanish out, thus establishing
the first African nation in the Americas.39
Slavery represents one of the grossest
violations of human dignity imaginable; the effects of colonialism are a close
second. Both are predicated on the belief that a thing, person, or place can
be owned, and that social status and prestige are determined by the amount so
accumulated. Outside of the industrialized nations, the effects of this vile
aberration are still being felt today. It is a testament to the philosophical
and religious traditions of the Africans, forcefully displaced to the Americas
that the lwa are still fed and are living gods. It is the cohesive quality
of the collective, as manifest in the family, which has maintained these traditions,
in the face of oppression and brutality unparalleled in human history. As well,
it is because of the Petro nachon that some degree of vengeance and anger
was vented at the colonial powers, allowing the breathing room for these traditions
to fully coalesce in a free and independent Haiti.
Likewise it is obvious that much of Haiti's misfortune since the Revolution
is directly tied to the establishment of a free African state in the Americas.
Whenever they deem it necessary, the Western media has identified the people
of Haiti with the soulless, wandering husks called zombies. It is apparent to
any who would look carefully, that any time the United States wants to characterize
the Haitian people for political purposes, they turn to these horror-filled
images to instill fear in the populace and insure the continued economic disparity.
"The accursed fate conjured by the myth of the zombie is that of the Haitian
experience of slavery, of the disassociation of the people from their will,
their reduction to beasts of burden subject to a master."40
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