This is told as a lightheartened joke in Haiti, but it's so true in many cases:
Our people stay up all night on Saturdays' beating drums, having fun and servicing the loas. In a few hours, they put on their Sundays' best, so fresh and so clean, and go to Church.
Same thing in Africa! Many Africans are Christians; but, they find that in Christianity they are not able to honor their ancestors properly; so, they revert back to Vodun to do so. Also, many do not see any problems with doing both. I will explain further when I answer HQueen.
My parents were staunchly Catholic and wanted nothing to do with Vodou. In Port-au-Prince, I lived across a valley to a Houngan's house. Not exactly close and if I were to do a straight crossing by foot would probably take some 20 minutes, but when they did ceremonies, the sound reverberated across the valley and made it sound just feet away. Anyway, a lot of Saturdays nights, lots of drumming and bambou blowing would come from the place and at times as a kid, I found it annoying because I wanted to go to sleep, but I was having difficulty doing so with the constant noise and music that got tedious after an hour or so. Not to say that many times I was batshit scared because of a lot the nuns at school and people in my family/friends said about Houngans, Mambos and Vodou. My mom didn't like those night music at all and would call "them" hypocrites because come tomorrow, they'd go to Church praying to God while they had spent all night worshipping their other "gods" or "devils". Needless to say, in Haiti, because of propaganda and lack of knowledge/understanding and exposure, a lot of people's views of Vodou are ignorant.
You are 100% correct. Mambo Racine, in an earlier post, quoted the mantra of things that the Catholic Church or missionaries made the Africans confess to in order to give up Vodun. Due to these types of tactics many Haitians today think that vodun is evil; and, since Haiti's independence...Vodou has been systematically demonized by the church and in films etc. However, for those who actually serve the spirits things are different. We have the honor of dealing directly with the DIVINE.
As I have said, in earlier posts, Vodun spirits, come from not only all parts of the world but, are in every religion. It is the spirits themselves that created the foundations for these religions that man may not only have choice but to be able to fulfill his/her destiny. So, in Africa, many understand that the spirits, in their Divine Wisdom, have created many paths to the Creator. And, one will find in ALL of them the hands of the Creator.
My parents were staunchly Catholic and wanted nothing to do with Vodou. In Port-au-Prince, I lived across a valley to a Houngan's house. Not exactly close and if I were to do a straight crossing by foot would probably take some 20 minutes, but when they did ceremonies, the sound reverberated across the valley and made it sound just feet away. Anyway, a lot of Saturdays nights, lots of drumming and bambou blowing would come from the place and at times as a kid, I found it annoying because I wanted to go to sleep, but I was having difficulty doing so with the constant noise and music that got tedious after an hour or so. Not to say that many times I was batshit scared because of a lot the nuns at school and people in my family/friends said about Houngans, Mambos and Vodou. My mom didn't like those night music at all and would call "them" hypocrites because come tomorrow, they'd go to Church praying to God while they had spent all night worshipping their other "gods" or "devils".
This was the case with a friend of mine's temple in Benin. When it was established by his father, eons ago, the area was rural. Over the years people lived closer to the temple as the area began to build up. Because of the noise they eventually had to close and go somewhere else:)
What happened is that the colonial Haitians attempted to hide their Vodun practices behind the Bible Saints etc. because they were not allowed to practice openly.
You know what? That's actually not true, believe it or not - some anthropologist made this statement because he didn't understand the theological sophistication of Vodou, and people have been repeating it ever since.
But if we stop and think a minute, we will recall that at the height of the colonial period there were at least 3000 Africans to every European. Europeans could not and did not seek to regulate the private spiritual beliefs of Africans! What was punished was poisoning, refusal to work, rebellion.
Furthermore, you can't "hide" Vodou with saints - even though for example our liturgy begins with the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Apostles' Creed, and even though the opening verse of our song-prayer, the Priere Guinea, invokes the Virgin Mary, NO ONE would ever mistake a Vodou ceremony for a Roman Catholic ceremony.
[at the height of the colonial period there were at least 3000 Africans to every European. Europeans could not and did not seek to regulate the private spiritual beliefs of Africans! [/size][/color]
Where did you get these numbers Mambo? that comes to 166 whites for every 500,000 Africans. the most I have heard is 500 to 1.
And yes europeans did try to regulate and change the africans' spiritual beliefs in the USA, the Caribbean, South America and Africa. that was a major component of the enslavement/colonization process.
Toward the end of the colonial period which was the height, there were about 500,000 blacks, and 30,000 whites. Calculated, it comes about 17 Blacks for one White. It's in Jamaica I once read the number was disproportionately higher like 500 to 1, but I forgot what it was exactly.
What happened is that the colonial Haitians attempted to hide their Vodun practices behind the Bible Saints etc. because they were not allowed to practice openly.
[color=blue][size=3]You know what? That's actually not true, believe it or not - some anthropologist made this statement because he didn't understand the theological sophistication of Vodou, and people have been repeating it ever since.
But if we stop and think a minute, we will recall that at the height of the colonial period there were at least 3000 Africans to every European. Europeans could not and did not seek to regulate the private spiritual beliefs of Africans! What was punished was poisoning, refusal to work, rebellion.
I'm sorry Mambo Racine, I beg to differ with you on this one, in reference to what was happening in the colonial period. The rebellions, poisonings etc. are correct though; and, I don't blame them. But, while doing my doctoral research, most anthropologist I interviewed and read agreed that Africans were simply not able to practice their traditional ceremonies freely, in Haiti, during the colonial period. The colonialist did everything they could to turn the Africans AWAY from Vodun. So, this is how Africans were able to practice their ceremonies.... hidden under the emblems of the saints. I am sure things have evolved as the two religions have synthesized. However, today, absolutely, no one can mistake a Haitian Vodou ceremony for that of Catholicism....you are 100% correct! However, if this is your understanding of it.....FINE! I will defer to you because you are a practicing Mambo and have a better grasp of the issue. I do agree, wholeheartedly though, that Vodun has sophistication:) Especially, it seems, in Haitian Vodou. However, as I've mentioned in previous posts...in the way we practice it in Africa...it is more a "Spiritual System" than a religion. One is born into one's priesthood making it familial in nature. Spiritual systems pre-date organized religions and can be seen in many other indigenous cultures (Hindu, Native Americans etc.). African Vodun, being very ancient, is one of those. One's family Voduns are inherited. Yet, it appears that, in Haiti, it has evolved into a full fledged religion where ANYONE can initiate into it. Am I correct? If it is...then that is a DISTINCT difference from African Vodun.
Africans were simply not able to practice their traditional ceremonies freely, in Haiti, during the colonial period.
Of course all of those who were "marron" could, just for starters.
And think about it - you are running a plantation, you have one white "overseer" and 3000 slaves. You can't stop them from lighting a candle in their little hut, you can't stop the priest who came on the last boat from going to a woman at night and divining the patron lwa of her next child.
I am not suggesting that full-on, large, public ceremonies could be held at the discretion of Africans, but they did, often enough - sometimes disguised as "carnival" or other folkloric activities. Africans were required to attent Christian services sometimes, but not always.
ayidowedohounon - 18 December 2008 10:29 AM
Yet, it appears that, in Haiti, it has evolved into a full fledged religion where ANYONE can initiate into it. Am I correct? If it is...then that is a DISTINCT difference from African Vodun.
Yes, that's true, and maybe not so different, because it seems like all you need to have is someone doing a convenient "divination" to affirm that your passport, money and visa-potential now appartain to their family. I have seen all these people who go this route and they are always descended from "royalty", never from bakers or barbers.
But yes, Vodou is open to everyone, just like Christianity. And remember - iniitiation means "beginning". A newly made Houngan is a Houngan, but he's not a very well trained Houngan yet, especially if he is an international. And even someone like me who has been in the religion for twenty yeras, seen it all, done it all, there is always more to learn.
