Ligia Abreu

Religion 195b

Vodun Rites in Haiti

Keywords: Vodun, Vodou, Voodoo, Vaudoux, Haiti, Loa, Iwa, spirits, possession, magic, Africa.

I. Abstract

Although commonly associated with Satanism and black magic, Vodun is a religion that focuses primarily on the worship of powerful spirits who control and give meaning to daily occurrences. Through ritual dances and sacrificial ceremonies, the spirits possess certain practitioners of Vodun, who seek to please them in order to obtain rewards or to avoid misfortune. Vodun mingles elements of Roman Catholicism with ancient African rituals brought to the New World by slaves during the colonial era. Since its conception, it has provided a means for believers to make sense out of the inhuman conditions slaves dealt with and which most Haitians are still subjected to in the present day.

II. Scope and Purpose of the System

Vodun is an eclectic and fluid religion found in the small Caribbean country of Haiti. Its origins are found mostly in the African continent and in Catholicism. Most Haitians, no matter their social status, practice Vodun; in fact, it is jokingly said that Haiti is 80% Catholic, 20% Protestant, and 100% Vodun.[1]

The Vodun faith conceives of a large quantity of spirits (known alternatively as loa, iwa, zanges, esprits, and mysteres)[2] who mediate between the world of men and Bondye, the master god. They are divided into two categories: those who came from Africa (known as Rada) and those whose origins are Haitian (Petro). These spirits are powerful beings who can control everyday occurrences, events that the ruler of gods, Bondye, cannot be bothered with: personal illnesses or discomforts, rainfall, accidents, economic hardship, bad luck, protection from an enemy, etc. Consequently, these loa must be placated and their demands and needs satisfied in order for the mortal worshipper to avoid punishment and obtain what he desires. The Vodun practitioner believes that if he or she follows the spirits’ orders and satisfies their demands with animal sacrifices, ceremonial dances and gifts of food or money, the loa will be generous and answer the worshipper’s requests. Conversely, if the spirits are not content, death, sickness, misfortune and/or bad harvests will plague the faithful who have elicited the loa’s anger.[3]

III. Authority Structure

a) Sources and Criteria of Valid Knowledge

Vodun has no written records or sacred texts to draw religious knowledge from,[4] and it has no formal theology.[5] Rather, the direct intervention of the loa in the life of the worshipper is the true source of knowledge. The spirits are able to inform the Vodun practitioner of their desires and wishes; they are also able to give predictions and recommendations directly to the worshipper.

Mambos or mamalois (female Vodun priests) and houngans or papalois (male Vodun priests) accede to their posts through a kind of apprenticeship. The practitioner will notice an innate ability to handle the spirits or an interest in serving them, and by observing ceremonies, assisting the present priest and learning from elders, the person will eventually become a priest.[6] Experience with spirits and with older practitioners provides the priest (and the lay worshippers present at ceremonies) with knowledge about each loa’s specific personality, behavior and sacrificial demands. The clergy are also thought have the power, through the spirits, to cure illnesses caused by black magic or by loa (though not illnesses sent by Bondye).[7]

The worshippers are aware that each spirit may have a color, a sacrificial animal, and possibly a birthday that must be celebrated. Although commonly known, this information does not come in any written text. It is transmitted orally and therefore is subject to change from region to region and from hounfort (also spelled houmfort; mystery house or meeting place)[8] to hounfort. A priest may devote specific attention to a certain loa, while another may not consider it important enough to deserve too much devotion. This is evidence of the fact that Vodun is not a single set of tenets that all worshippers must abide by; it is regional and subject to all manner of changes, and its authority structure is therefore difficult to define in general terms.

b) Methods of Inquiry

The spirits who provide the knowledge and power that drives the faith can appear in two forms: through possession, and through dreams.

During ritual ceremonies, dances and sacrifices, the worshippers make their bodies available to the loa for possession. If he or she desires, the spirit will drive out the gros-bon-ange (‘the good big angel’, one of the two souls each vodunist has, which animates the body)[9] and move into the head of a worshipper[10], ‘mounting’ the vodunist as though his or her body were a horse. The possessed individual assumes the personality of the spirit in question, and will adopt its likes and dislikes for the duration of the possession.[11] While possessed, the worshipper will prophesy and offer recommendations and knowledge to the others present at the ceremony. The spirit will converse with others present, ask about worshippers who are absent from the ceremony, demand certain sacrifices or payments, answer questions, accede to or deny favors, etc., through the possessed body. Afterwards, the formerly possessed individual will have no recollection of the actions that took place during the time that the loa was ‘mounted.’

There is clear potential for deceit in these possession performances. Some practitioners may attempt to enact a ‘mounting’ in order to attain some materialistic or vindictive purpose. However, the experienced worshippers believe they can easily discover a false possession. If a ruse is suspected, the worshippers can usually trick the pretender into revealing his real personality by saying things that will incite his true nature to shine through. In this way, the practitioners believe they can determine whether the spirit is truly present or if they are simply the victims of a clever joke.

Although possession during ceremonial dances and rituals is the principal means of obtaining knowledge and help from the spirits, the faithful may communicate with the loa through dreams as well.[12] It is unclear how the information provided by the loa through dreams is verified, unless events foretold by the individual in question (who must acquire the prophetic knowledge from the spirit) actually take place.

c) Institutions and Professional Structure

As previously explained, the priests and priestesses of Vodun are not formally trained. They do not wear any distinctive garb, and are known and recognized as mamaloi or papaloi simply because of their commonly acknowledged abilities to communicate with and placate the spirits. Men and women can both rise to this stature simply by demonstrating an interest, keeping their eyes open, learning from elders (whose sole claim to knowledge is experience), assisting other priests and desiring to serve the spirits. Priests and priestesses are generally talented at healing, knowledgeable in the field of herbal remedies for commonplace illnesses and in the practice of faith healing with the help of the spirits.[13] They may occasionally perform charms and ouangas (defensive or offensive magic), but not all priests of vodun are sorcerers.[14]

Vodun clergy are not full-time priests. They may perform a variety of other jobs to obtain economic stability, and assume their religious role whenever they are needed.

There is no central institution that all Vodun practitioners are affiliated to. Rather, each priest or priestess has influence over the faithful (usually family members and intimate friends) who attend his or her services. The priest or priestess organizes ceremonies and dances for the most powerful loa (in his or her estimation), and strives to keep these spirits happy. The attendants, therefore, will devote themselves to the loa that the priest or priestess is directing them to worship.

Since there is also no sacred text or institution that all worshippers can refer to, practices, rituals and even the loa themselves (their names, personalities, overall importance) vary from region to region and from hounfort to hounfort.

IV. History

During the colonial period, slaves from all over the African continent were imported to work in the fields and plantations of the New World. Many of these were from the Dahomey and Congo regions.[15] This does not imply that they had the same or even similar customs; in fact, the range of different cultures that were brought into the New World made it difficult for slaves to communicate with each other at all.

Despite marked differences in their lifestyles, slaves brought a general religious tradition of polytheistic thought, belief in deities that controlled different aspects of nature, and, in the case of the Dahomeans, religious dances. Since slave traders made sure that slaves from the same region were separated (in order to minimize opportunities for mutiny), Africans of Dahomey origins (whose numbers were superior to those of other areas) were scattered throughout the Haitian colony. Their dances and religious practices were allowed by slave masters, and gave the slaves a way to make sense of their world and their misfortunes. From a melting pot where African beliefs from different areas of the continent were transformed into a somewhat uniform mass, slaves drew out spirits that had to be placated in order for mortals to avoid diseases and other ill-fortune. This was combined with the belief in magical spells, formulae, or charms.[16]

The Dahomean dances grew popular and became the basis of a new religion where the spirits all slaves believed in acquired the Dahomey name of Vodun. Perhaps because of its eclectic African origins, this new faith was not exclusive; it allowed for outside beliefs to be adopted and made a part of its own religious practices. Spirits from different African and New World countries, Congolese prayers and diverse elements of the Catholic faith were gradually melded into Vodun.[17]

The aspects of Catholicism present in Vodun had their origins in early colonial times, when all slaves had to be baptized into the official faith by law. They willingly embraced the new teachings, “incorporating modified parts of the Catholic ritual”[18] into Vodun ceremonies while plantation owners congratulated themselves on the ‘conversion’ of their slaves. The Catholic influence includes the use of the crucifix in Vodun altars, as well as of Holy Water, candles and pictures of Saints; the association of Vodun deities or spirits with Catholic saints with similar personalities or characteristics; the incorporation of a Master God, Bondye, into their pantheon of spirits; the assimilation of the Virgin Mary into Vodun faith, etc.

After its inception, the Vodun religion acquired a great deal of importance in Haitian history. The religion provided slaves with a plausible reason to meet and communicate, allowing them to stage a successful revolt against the white plantation owners. A houngan or Vodun priest, the Negro Boukman, stimulated the uprising and led the revolt in a sector of the country. The belief in the protection of the spirits made Vodun practitioners feel invulnerable and act accordingly in daringly heroic exploits that led them to success. The Vodun faith, therefore, served as a means to liberation from slavery.

This same inspirational quality that invested charismatic priests and practitioners with some political power made the religion a danger to the absolutist rulers who took command of the country. Toussaint Louverture, Dessalines and Christophe, the first black Haitian rulers, prohibited the practice of Vodun.[19] Petion and Boyer, mulatto presidents, did not even deign to prohibit it, perhaps regarding it as an “innocent and harmless aberration.”[20] From 1800-1815, then, Vodun was practiced in secret, but between 1815-1850 it spread among the Haitian people and took on the shape of the practice we have come to know as contemporary Vodun.[21]

The religion spread across the country because of its wide appeal to the poor Haitian masses. The harsh life of the average Haitian calls for a religion like Vodun, which is a means to cope with the suffering in life, to “minimize pain, avoid disaster, cushion loss, and strengthen survivors and survival instincts.”[22] It is pragmatic, practical; there is no room in such a life for a philosophical approach to ‘morality’ and ‘virtue.’ The Haitians fashioned Vodun in response to oppression[23], and as a means to somehow find a way to escape it with the supernatural help of the spirits.

Today, Haitian Vodun has followed the diaspora of the Haitians to many countries around the world. In the slums of Brooklyn, Vodun is practiced in much the same way as it is done in the hounforts of rural Haiti. As long as Haitian life continues to be a difficult quest for survival, Vodun will continue to provide a comforting explanation and a possible means of avoiding the trials and tribulations of everyday life.

V. Representative Examples of Argumentation

Vodun uses the testimony of its own practitioners to validate the religion’s precepts. The experience of the many who have been possessed seems to be evidence enough of the truth inherent in Vodun belief. However, skeptics may allude to mass hypnosis or to the acting talents of those who participate in the ceremonies in order to challenge the beliefs of Vodun practitioners. Believers have their own methods to surmise whether the trance or possession is real, as has been explained above (baiting the ‘possessed’ person in order to trick them into revealing the ruse). As for claims of hypnosis, there is very little material (at least available to me) about the psychology of Vodun that could prove or disprove these allegations.

Haitians do not need to ‘believe’ in Vodun or set aside the teachings of other religions in order to benefit from the healing and comforting aspects of this faith. As with everything else, they are pragmatic in their philosophy; in the words of a Vodun priestess, “You just got to try. See if it work for you.”[24] It seems that the only way to actually prove whether or not the system works is to participate actively in its ceremonies, to become a part of the religion. Karen M. Brown, an anthropologist who studied Vodun rites in both Haiti and immigrant homes in Brooklyn, put it this way: “The only way I could hope to understand the psychodrama of Vodou was to open my own life to the ministrations of Alourdes [a Vodun priestess].”[25] Similarly, William B. Seabrook, author of The Magic Island, found himself immersed in the rites and practices of Vodun, and was even initiated into the religion. It is difficult, therefore, to obtain an objective validation of the religion by anyone who is actively participating in it, since participation immediately implies subjectivity.

VI. Suggested Position in Comparative Scales

a) Relative emphasis on traditional authority (1) vs. Testimony of Experience (10)

8- Since there is no ‘traditional authority’ to base knowledge on, with the possible exception of experienced priests, experience in Vodun ceremonies and practices is emphasized in the religion. Practitioners may bring new ideas and beliefs to be incorporated into the ceremonies with little friction; on the other hand, the knowledge of how certain spirits behave and what they like is based on oral traditional lore present since colonial times.

b) Relative centralization of authority (1) vs. Decentralization (10)

9- There is no central authority in Vodun except that of the officiating priest or priestess, whose sole influence centers upon the few who attend his or her ceremonies.

c) Relative emphasis on invisible realities (1) vs. Material, earthly ones (10)

4- Although the spirits that form the core of the faith are ‘invisible’, they come into contact with their worshippers frequently through possession. Their powers cannot be seen or touched, but they are certainly felt by those who experience their wrath or grace as punishment or reward for their actions.

d) Mainly spiritual or moral objectives (1) vs. Pragmatic aims (10)

10- The aim of the faith is to provide for the needs and wants of the spirits in order to avoid very real punishments in the everyday lives of the worshippers. The aim is therefore practical to an extreme, and the definition of morality is giving the spirit as much satisfaction as possible.

e) Most power or agency reserved for a divine being (1) vs. Realizable in individuals (10)

3- Divine beings, the spirits, are incredibly powerful. Bondye, the master god, is especially strong. Priests and priestesses, however, can harness some of this power if and when they perform magic charms or spells.

Bibliography

I. Primary Sources

Note: These are not exactly primary sources, but they are first hand accounts from anthropologists who have had direct contact with practitioners and have practiced the religion themselves.

Brown, Karen McCarthy. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkley, CA: University of California Press, 1991.

The book was useful in describing many of the deities and ceremonies found in Vodun, and in explaining the common beliefs found in the religion. Its outlining of the social and economic problems Vodun practitioners face was informative, but ultimately not very useful for my research.

Seabrook, W.B. The Magic Island. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, Inc., 1929.

The book is somewhat biased; despite his own participation in the Vodun religion, or perhaps because of it, the author seems apt to exaggerate and personalize certain experiences. It was useful, however, in describing the way Catholicism was mixed with Vodun during the colonial period.

II. Secondary Sources

Arthur, Charles and Michael Dash. Libete, A Haiti Anthology. London: Latin America Bureau (Research and Action) Ltd., 1999.

The source contains a chapter on “Popular Religion and Culture” that defines Voodoo, explains the use of black magic in Haiti, describes the spirits and deities involved in voodoo practice, and details some of the aspects that make voodoo a religion. It was useful in providing objective information about Vodun as a religion, about Vodun deities, and about Vodun priests and priestesses.

Leyburn, James G. The Haitian People. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1941.

The book was very useful. Its narration of the history of Vodun, its adaptation of Catholicism and its current status as a religion were very helpful in writing the paper. It contains a chapter on ‘Vodun’ in Haiti, detailing misconceptions about the religion, defining the term Vodun itself, and tracing the history of its beginnings and development.

Simpson, George Eaton. Black Religions in the New World. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978.

The book was useful in comparing Vodun to other religions, defining some Vodun beliefs that were not in other books (the two souls, what Vodunists hope to accomplish through service to the spirits, etc.). It also contains a list of Vodun spirits, their personalities, physical traits, powers, colors, and sacrificial demands which was not entirely useful, but nevertheless helpful in forming an idea about the religion as a whole.

Weinstein, Brian and Aaron Segal. Haiti: The Failure of Politics. New York: Praeger, 1992.

The book was not very useful, as its discussion of Vodun is limited and pertains only to the religion’s effects on Haiti’s political life. A section of the book compares and contrasts Vodun and Catholicism. It also describes the belief system involved in Vodun and the contributions of Vodun priests to society at large.