Magic and madness in Haiti
The blood of a black pig starts a revolution. This is a little big book on voodoo
By Matt Hunter - Root doctor
Reading this fascinating little book was one of the best last minute assignments I have been given since writing for Djembe. Not many books can take me on a -trip+ and keep me there from start to finish.
-Voodoo - Truth and Fantasy+ begins with a brief but accurate historical account of the roots of voodoo in West Africa. I was happy to read that the author, Lannec Hurbon, accurately pinpoints the ewe, yoruba, and fon people as the originators of voodoo. They inhabited a land that stretches across Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and Benin. Hurbon traces voodoo from Africa to the slave trade in Haiti through the dictatorial regime of the Duvaliers to Jean-Bertrand Aristide of today, then back to Africa.
Voodoo began as a cult religion then elevated to the official religion in Haiti. Many sorcerers and criminals came over on slaveships. Groups from all over Africa were thrown together. Slavery was so oppressive that slaves began to equate life with death. Slavery had to be overthrown by any means necessary, physical, spiritual, good or evil.
Many elements that were not considered voodoo in Africa, were combined under the heading of -voodoo+ in Haiti. All of these elements were used in the fight against slavery in Haiti. Escaped slaves known as maroons flourished in the mountains of Haiti. They became adept in voodoo which grew to magical levels.
The first great voodoo leader was Makandal, a muslim from Guinea. He miraculously escaped execution being burned at the stake, leaping out of the fire, vanished in thin air, stupefying spectators. Following this was the period of Boukman Dutty, Toussaint-Louverture and Henri Christophe, the freedom fighters who abolished slavery and eventually defeated Napoleon+s army in Haiti. Alliances always were formed with voodoo cultists to insure victory in battle. In fact, the first battle for freedom was fought after the sacrifice of a black pig in a voodoo ritual, where all participants drank a bit of the sacrificial blood.
Voodoo survives by being able to hide behind the guise of Christianity and Catholicism in particular. Actually, under close scrutiny, one can see that voodoo mystically fuses with Christianity to form a greater power. Initiates increase the strength sometimes by being baptized as many as five or six times. Christian holidays are used for rituals, and the adoration of saints becomes a method af worshipping spirits.
Hollywood perverts the image of voodoo to sell films. The church perverted the image of voodoo to sell -goody-goody+ puritanical, sexually repressed Christianity. Church and state feared and prohibited voodoo because it was a power that could not be controlled. Voodoo is like any other power, be it political, economic, nuclear, or technological. It can be used for good of evil. Voodoo represents freedom and defiance because it is beyond the established powers of earth.
The book is profusely illustrated and also gives brief reference to the prevalence of voodoo in New York, Miami and Paris. Though not rigidly documented in an academic style, it provides good information for the general reader and an excellent point of departure of the more serious student of voodoo. A good bibliography is also included.
Lannec Hurbon: -Voodoo - Truth and Fantasy+, New Horizons, Thames and Hudson, 175 pages, illustrated, DKK 115.00 in The British Bookshop in Badstuestr+de, Copenhagen. ***********************************
Djembe is published quarterly by DAPAMDA (Danish Association for Promotion of African Music, Drama & Art ) in association with the Danish World Music Association Djembe is an independent magazine covering cross culture as well as the Scandinavian stage of world music & dance.
Feel free to quote or reproduce any article in Djembe under condition of stating source.
Photos are strictly copyright of the photographer. Contents of articles are purely the opinion of the author.
* cross culture * Africa in Scandinavia * world music * afro-latin-arabic-asian * dance * drama * cultural news from Africa * art * fashion * literature * film * sport * debate (NB: So far, app. 50-70 percent of the articles are in Danish)
Return to: African Traditional
Religions