CARIBBEAN RELIGION HISTORY

LESLIE G. DESMANGLES

THE . ... ... . ... . . .. .... .. ... ... .... .. . . -· . .. .. .. . .

FACES ...... . .. .. ..... . . · · ·· ··· . . ..... . .. . .. ·· · · · ·· ·

OF THE .. . . . . .. · •·· · · . . .... .. ... ... . .. .. . . . . ... . .. .. .

GODS VODOU AND ROMAN

CATHOLICISM IN HAITI

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

CHAPEL Hil l & LONDON

THE FACES

OF THE

GODS AND

PUBLIC

LI FE

In analyzing, in thi s chapter, the )was whose per-

sonae relate more directly to Vodouisants' pub-

lic life, I will give special attention to the pub-

lic rituals offered to these lwas. And in keeping

with the thesis of this discussion, I will con sider

symbiosis as it occurs in the myths about these

!was as well as in the rituals. The chapter ends

with a description of Bondye's envisaged per-

sonae because, ahhough he does n o t enter di-

rectly into the lives of Haitians, the mytho logy

that surrounds Bondye includes that of all the

o ther !was.

THE LWAS OF PUBLIC LIFE

EziH: The Luxurious Vir9in Mother

If motio n is ensured by Damballah, and if. as generating principle, the phallus is symbolized

by Legba and Gede, Ezili represents the cos- mic womb in which divinity and humanity

are conceived. She is the symbol of fecundity,

the m other of the world who participates with

the masculine forces in the creation and main-

tenance of the universe. As mother, Ezili co-

operates with the sun lwa Legba, who ensures

th e florescence and nurture of all living things.

When she cooperates with Gede, she symbol- izes Ginen's cosmic womb from which the

released ancestral gwo-bon-anjs are reclaimed.

She is represented not only by the govi or clay jar in which the gwo-bon-anj is believed

to reside, and whence it emerges to possess

the living, but by the devotee's possessed body,

which serves as her temporary vessel. and from which her personae emerge as she manifests them to the community. In combination with Damballah, Ezili guarantees the flow of human

132 The Faces of the Gods

generations. Vodou mythology conceives her as the moth er ofth ]was and of humanity. She is believed to have given birth to the first human beings after Bondye created the world, and since that time her powers of provision have continued to grant children to the human community.

Because Vodouisants see her as sexually fertile, they invoke her in mat-

ters related to conception and childbearing . Indeed, without her patronage a woman would not be able co conceive. ln the peristil, it is to her that

women sing:

I said: "Ezili you are the venerable one, oh!"

Extend your hand, gives us children, oh!

l said: "Ezili, you are a venerable one, oh!"

Ezili, oh! you are the venerable on e, oh!

As a symbol offecundity, Ezili is not identified merely with sex. Like the

Virgin Mary, to whom she corresponds. she is imagined as the symbol of womanhood, the image of exquisite beauty that fills every man 's dreams. Maya Deren says that in Ezili, "Voodoo has given the woman an exclusive title to what distinguishes humans from all forms, their capacity to con-

ceive beyond reality, to desire beyond adequacy, to create beyond need" (1972, 138).1 Ezili is therefore th e embodiment ofhuman longing for an idea l

in which hwnan fantasy transcends the limitations of mundane reality and the exigencies o f privation. She is the lwa oflove, the Homeric Aphrodite 2

whose wealth and physical beauty are beyond all imagination; it is in these

roles that she symbo lizes not merely the mother of fantasy but the mother

of mythopoeia as well, for around her persona Vodouisants have developed

an oral literature: a large complex of poems, songs, and stories exto lling her virtues.

ln Haitian mythology and folklore, Ezili is depicted as an astonishingly

wealthy upper-class mulatto woman ofluxury whose exquisite taste is re- vealed in her choice offlamboyant dresses (Metraux 1958, 97). She possesses

a large colJect.ion of pink as well as blue dresses made of satin and silk,

of sheer, embroidered, and lace-trimmed fabric; she aJso owns necklaces with ornate pendants, earrings, numerous wedding bands, and rings carved

and decorated with jewels. All these accoutrements are kept in the ounfo's sacred chamber, and worn by devotees (male or female) who are fortunate enough to be possessed by her.

As lwa oflove. Ezili is believed to be preoccupied with establishing erotic liaisons with male !was as well as humans (Laguerre 1980b, 71). Indeed, her life as de picted in Haitian mythology abounds with scandals which, by nor-

The Gods and Public Life 133

ma! standards of morality, would be considered disgraceful conduct. Her

partners in spiritual plasay (concubinage) include not only her maJe devo- tees, but many !was as well . Among the latter are Legba, Damballah, Gede, and Ogou and Agoue (the ]was of war and the sea), to name a few . Human devotees celebrate th eir spiritual bonds with her in a special ceremony of

"baptism" or initiation (aJso referred to as a wedding ceremony) in the

ounfo, in which they become her "husbands ," bearing her name or varia-

tions upon it . But such a distinguished relationship with Ezili is not without

its price : twice weekly, she requires ofher husbands sexual abstinence from

their human partners, of whom she is notably jealous; and she demands

special food offerings on the day of the week that is reserved for her. When Ezili comes to a Vodou ceremony in the body of a possessed devotee

(male or female) she requires gifts in the form of money which she appro- priates freely from the oungan and distributes among her male "compan-

ions." In return, she expects to be treated generously by them; she awaits the finest gifts that her devotees can aiford, including expensive jewelry, French perfume, lace-bordered kerchiefs , silk und e rwear, and imported liqueurs . A

festive meal that includes some of the finest dishes is also part of the ritual in Ezili's honor. In short, her devotees ration nothing when she visits the

peristil; in everything that is done, there is always more than enough. She gives of her love abundantly in return for her devotees' gifts and devoti on . Deren notes that Ezili's expectations may appear to transcend her poor devo- tees ' financial resources, but in another sense, she is very much like them;

she shares their impatience with life's economies and with the causes of excess ive thriftiness (1972, 138) .

So abundant is Ezili 's generosity that any devotee becomes captivated by the freedom with which she is said to give herself It is in order to feel her

love that her devotees respond to her desires, however demanding they may be. Her cherished perfumes and soaps, cosmetics, French wines and

champagnes are kept in a separate chamber for her use. At times, when her devotees cannot meet her demands, she manifests her Petro rage in the

body of a possessed devotee as Ezili Danto. In this persona, she pronounces their punishments, inflicting upon the recalcitrant devotees grim promises of horrifyingly painful diseases .

At other times, she becomes Rada 's Metres Ezili. ln this persona, she mani- fests herself as a dejected old woman, whose body is so bent forward that she must support herself with a cane; her body is twisted, deformed by ar- thritis, and trembles when she walks. When Metres comes to the peristil, her devotees participate in her physical pain by si nging the plaintive song:

134 The Faces of the Gods

The Villc-Bonheur Church

Ezili, I hav e no bones [to support me]

I have no bones Ezi1i, oh 1 I have no bones in all my body

Ezili, oh! I have no bones .

To this song Metres replies:

Metres Ezili in back of the gate Ito Ginenj I speak, speak, and they re fus e to listen to m e,

I speak, speak, my children .

Ezili in back of the gate I speak, speak, they refus e to listen to me.

Such vivid depictions of Ezili's personae have given ri e to special rituals

performed in her honor. So prominent is she in Vodou's ritual cycles that

its liturgical calend ar consecrates three days to h er annually. The oungan en- courages the devot~es who have caused h er to weep to reconci le themselves with her in order to avert her anger against the community. Aside from the numerous festivities given in her honor in the ounfo throughout the year, Vodouisants also make a pilgrimage to the sacred site outside the town of Ville-Bonheur where she is said to have once appeared .

The Gods and Public Life 135

Oral tradition has it that Ezili appeared to a crowd as the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the branches of a palm tree n ear the waterfalls outside the town ofVille-Bonheur (in the central portion of the country). Overwhelmed by this unexpe cted event, th e people fell on their knees in reverence to th e Vir-

gm. They summoned the white Catholic vicar of the nearby Ville-Bonheur parish to come and witn ess the apparition and to pray with them, but when he arrived, he could not see the Virgin, although everyone else could. He

then accused the people of blasph emy and ordered the area closed. In order

to suppress what he considered m ere "superstiti on," he called in th e local

police captain, who placed guards in the vicinity with orders to shoot the apparition, but th e Virgin is said to have m oved to another tree at eve ry shot .

The Catholic priest then asked that the tre e be cut down. It is said that those who were present saw the anger ofEzili Dante rise in the air ab ove th e area.

Additional guards were th en placed to prevent anyone from returning to the

site. As the Ca tholic priest returned hom e, word came that the presbytery

had burned down and nothing had been saved. He is reported to hav e died soon after from a sudden paralytic stroke. The captain's fate was not as dis-

astrous as that of th e priest, for he was merely alliicted with a temp o rary madness that caused h im to wander aimlessly throughout Vil1e-Bonh eur and its surrounding area. He was hea led soon after this in cident , and return ed to tl1 e place of the apparition to ask the Virgin 's pardon . Fire subsequently burned the Vill e-Bonheur church, a fir e said to have been caused by the

powerful anger of Ezili Dan to . The area of the apparition remained closed for a while, but when the nation's chief of police in Port-au-Prince heard of

the Virgin's anger and the fates of both the vicar and the captain, he ordered

the area to be reopened.

Today, the place where the Virgin appeared has becom e a sacred place to Vodouisants. Two waterfalls adjacent to the palm tree are said to have been carved into th e hillsid e by her; one is dedi cated to Damballah, and the other

to Ayida Wedo . It is also said that those who bathe in these waters will first

be possessed and later healed. For these reasons, many pilgrims co me to the

fall s througho ut the year. But the largest crowd gathers on the anniversa ry of

the Virgin's appearance, July 15, the Catholic holy day dedicated to the Vir- gin in Haiti . In addition to the Catholic masses sung in honor of the Virgin on that day, numerous Vo<lou ceremonies are held near the fall s on th e eve and on the night of the anniversary. Pilgrims tie blue and pink cloth girdles

' around their waists, colors symbolic of Ezili and the Virgin, and remove them when th ey reach th e falls, ritualistically fastening them around neigh- boring trees . This ritual is one of purification by whi ch pilgrims seek her

136 The Faces of th e Gods

protection from whatever defilement might threaten their persons or com- munities, thus ridding Lhemse]ves of disease and misfortune. The Vodou ceremonies at the faJls and near the palm trees, as well as th e Catholic masses

in honor of the V,irgin at the Ville-Bonheur parish, occupy an imp ortant place in the complex rites of the liturgical calendars of the Haitian church and of Vodou . The feast is known today as the Fete de Saut d'Eau.

From these examples, it is apparent that the worldview of the Haitians and the motivations that underlie Haitian religious life cannot be understood

unless the contribu tions of both Roman Catholicism and Vodou are h eld

in mind . The symbiosis that characterizes the relationship between the two

religions can be seen in two ways: first, as symbiosis by ecology; and second,

as the system of identification by which Catholic saints are identified with Vodou lwa s.

Symbiosis by ecology can be seen both in the ca lendrical observances of the Fete and in the location at which the Vodou festivities are held . Since

no written record has survived of the original event or the early forms of

the Fete, it is not possible to tell exactly what occurred, if indeed any event of that magnitude occurred at all. Because such stories about the apparition of the Virgin were common in Catholic European folk tradition around the latter half of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, it

is highly possible that a similar story was told by Catholic missionaries to arouse their parishion ers' piety and reverence for the Virgin. In any case,

Vodouisants have appropriated both the story and the Fete and have fitted them within the framework of their own theology. They have most likely

modifi ed the original story, and they have adopted a Catholic holy day for the performance of their own rituals . Thus, the Fete that commemorates the

apparition of the Virgin can be seen as an attempt on Lh e part ofVodou to

adapt the church's liturgical calendar to itself Symbiosis by ecology can be further seen in th e fact that the Cath olic

masses take place in the village, whereas Vodou ceremonies are celebrated

in the countryside at th e falls. In my field research , I found a marked change

in the religious attitudes of the devotees as they traveled from the Vodou site to the village, and vice versa: in the countryside, th ey "served" the }was by

loud singing and by violent possessions, while at the church they showed more subdued devotion by quietly praying before the statues of th e saints. During the entire period of the Fete, there were no Vodou ceremonies in the village. The devote es attended the numerous masses during the day of the Fete, received communion, and lit their votive candles to the Virgin and to the other saints that adorn the church's sanctuary. Moreover, I found that

The Gods and Public Life 137

Cloth girdles ti ed around trees near the waterfalls at Saut d'Eau

138 The Faces of lhe Gods

at the Vodou site the !was were not revered by their Catholic names; raLI, r, both ounga:n and devotees referred to the Virgin as Ezili, and to Saint Patrick as Damballah . Conversely, although the Vodou rituals were not hidd en fr om church authorities, no mention was made of th I was during the Catholic rituals. This reflects th mosaic guality of Haitian religious o bservance; for though the ri tual s of the two religions share the sam e day (and hence are juxtaposed to one an other), they are celebrated not only at different times but also quite separately.

Symbiosis can also b e seen in th e identification ofEzili with the Virgin. As already noted, Vodoujsants see Ezili as the pure mother lwa whose beauty is celebrated in many songs and poems . Yet she is also said to have had many ch ildren with numerous !was. Vodouisants see no co ntra dic tion b etween the purity, or virginity, of Ezili and her pl asay (concubinage) with humans o r with th e I.was. Fo r as Deren rightly observes, the interpretation of the virgini ty of Mary in Vodou differs from that of Catholic th ology: it does not refer to her physical condition, but to her b eauty and transcendence, as one who does not belong to the world of the living. For a devotee to call Ezili (or Mary) a "Virgi n" is to say that "she is of another world, an o ther reality," and that her life transcend s her devotees' financial and existential problems (D eren 1972, 144). To assert Ezili 's virginity, th en , is to say that sh is untouch d by the corrupti ons of the living. Vodouisants do not see her promiscuity as a sign of corruption, for plasay is commonplace in Haitian society. Th e mythology that depicts Ezili's persona mirrors the realities of Haitian life . Thus, the identification of Ezili with Mary is not b ased u pon Mary's virg.inity, but upon h er physical beauty and her persona.

The faithf uJness of her devotees can be seen in the pervasiveness of the se rvi ce that Vodouisants render to her. Throughout the country, her devo- tees pay their veneration to her in a more o r less un iform way. for the personae which sh e expresses through their bodies present few local di- vergences . This uniforrrrily can be seen particularly in the ubiquity of the lithographs through out the country (even among the p oor r folk) that re p- resent her personae. Wherever such a lithograph appears (in Vodouisants' homes, for xample), a fl ower vase generally sits on a n earby table. Alth ough these li thographs, used by the church in the past primarily for the purpose of religious instruction, ostensibly represen t th e Virgin Mary in h er vari ous roles as th e are depict d in the N w Testament, in Catholic hagiology, and in Catholic oral tradition, th ey are n evertheless interpreted by Vodouisants as rep resentations of th vario us personae ofEzili. In this way the Mater sa lva- roris becom s Ezili Dant6, the Vir9en de los dolores corresponds to Metres Ezi li,

The Gods ond Public Life 139

The Mater so lvotoris or Ezili Donto

140 The Faces of the Gods

Virgen de los dolores or Metres Ezili

The Gods and Public Life 141

and the Maria dolorosa del Monte Calvario corresponds to Ezili Freda, another of her many personae (but this is purely an outsider's perception, for Vodoui-

sants associate these lith ographs with the Virgin, not under her Latin or her

Spanish names, but solely under her Vodou names) .3

The Hthographs of the Mater salvatoris depict her as a black Virgin, holding

on her left arm the black child dressed in pink. Around her head is a halo re-

sembling the sun, and on her head is a golden crown decorated with jewels.

Her robe and veil are of blue satin, bordered by golden fringes which match

the color ofher crown. On her right cheek are two parallel scars . The Virgen

de los dolores is depicted as a white-skinned Virgin wearing a blue mantle and

a veil with golden fringes. H er face is bent slightly forward and turned to

her left just en ou gh to reveal a tear flowing from her right eye. Finally, Maria

dolorosa de! Monte Calvario is depicted in a blue robe , with a golden crown, ear-

rings, necklaces, and bracelets-all elabo ra tely carved and decorated with

jewels. Her arms are folded across her chest, in which is implanted a jeweled

dagger. Her fingers are adorned with wedding rings of various sty les. On a

table before her, and on the walls behind her, are large golden and pearl heart-shaped medallions engraved with crosses , flowers, and the letter M.

On each side oCthe table are golden vases containing flowers and plants.

Like all other religi ous symbols in the church , these representations of

th e Virgin, as well as the objects connected with her envisaged personae,

have emblematic significance ; some of these interpretations have never offi-

cially been part of the doctrinal teachings of the church, but they are part of

the tradi tional beliefs, rituals, and fo lklore of Haitians , as well as of Catholics

in many other parts of the world. There is a tradition in Catholic hagiol -

ogy (Ferguson 1954, 75- 76) that after the crucifixion of Christ, Mary visited

many of the places associated with her son 's life. In a m omen t of intense suffering. she prayed to be d elivered from life. Soon after, an angel visited her and told her that her son had heard her prayer and that within three days

it would be answered. The angel presented her with a palm branch, which

she in turn gave to Saint John with the request that it be placed on her coffin.

Mary also asked that all the apostl~s be p resent at her death; that wish w as

also granted. This account further states that at the moment of her death,

Jesus appeared and carried her soul like a babe into heaven . Mary 's body

remained on earth and the apostles buried it soon after. The Assumption of

Mary occurred three days after her death, when Jesus declared that her body should be reunited· with her soul. He sent angels to h er grave to carry her body into heaven where he crowned her "Queen of Heaven." He placed a golden crown decorated with many jewels on her head, and invited her to

142 The Faces of the Gods

Maria dolorosa def Monte Calvario or Ezili Freda

The Gods and Public Life 143

sit at his right hand. Hence, in the lithographs the crown and other jewelry

are symbols of Mary's royalty. In Catholic iconography, Mary's rings and circlets are universally accepted

as a symbol of eternity. They also symbobze the ete rnal union that priests and sisters contract with the church. Thus, the ring of a bishop suggests his

permanent "marriage" with his diocese, and the bridal ring worn by Catho- lic sisters is understood as a symbol of commjtment to a religious life. The color of Mary's robe is that of the sky, and symbolizes heaven and heavenly

love. Blue is the color of truth, because it always appears in the sky after

the clouds have dissipated. Thus, blue has traditionally been associated with the Virgin, and in medieval paintings she is usually depicted as wearing a

mantle ofblue.4 The tears and the scars on her face symbolize the suffering

and lon e liness that she experienced during and after her son's crucifixion . The image of the heart symbolizes und erstanding , courage, devotion, and

love; when it is pierced with a dagger or an arrow, it symbolizes contrition,

suffering, sorrow, repentance , and devotion under conditions of extreme trial.5 In these lithographs the heart of Mary, pierced by a dagger, signifies sorrow as well as her devotion to her supplicants (Ferguson 1954, 151 , 179).

Ezili in Haiti derives from diverse African ethnic religious traditions. the most notable of which are the Marni Water sp irits found in various regions

along Lhe western coast of th e continent (Brown 1991, 223-24). But most striking are the resemblances between the personae of Ezili in Haiti and those ofOshun in Nigeria and Ezili in Whydah, Benin . In comparing the per- sonae of Oshun and Mary, one notes exLraordinary similarities both in the

symbols employed and in the significance of those symbols (Idowu 1973, 14,

73, 150; Bascom 1969, 90). These resemblances can be seen in the color blue and in the symbolic significance of jewelry-necklaces, bracelets, earrings,

and crown-for both the Fan's Ezili and Yoruba's Oshun. The dagger, too,

occurs in the depiction of both Oshun and Mary, although its symbolic sig- ruiicance differs.6 It is these similarities between th e Catholic symbols con-

nected with Mary and those of Oshun and Ezili that have caused Vodouisants

to identify Mary with Ezili. It seems logical to assume that when the missionaries evangelized the

slaves during the colorual period, they related the sLories of the Virgin's life and made instructional use of the Catholic symbols connected with her, but that the slaves responded to such instruction by transfiguring th ese symbols in African terms. Although Catholic stories relating to the Virgin's life are no longer part of Vodou iconology, the Catholic symbols that were simi- lar to Nigerian and Whydahian symbols, as related by the mythologies and

144 The Faces of the Gods

oral traditions of the Yoruba and Fon, have been retained in Haiti. Thus, for example, although Vodouisants do not know the actual significance of Asswnption Day (except that it is dedicated to Mary), Vodou ceremonies are held in Ezili's honor on that day in most ounfos throughout the country. The Vodoujsants come to invoke Ezili in matters related to marital problems or to childbirth, but, as in Nigeria or Whydah, Ezili's crown as depicted in the lithographs is a symbol ofher royalty as the only female lwa who governs the

universe among all the other cosmic lwas. Her necklaces, earrings, bracelets, jewels, and satin robe represent gifts from her lovers, the lwas and her male devotees. Her wedding rings symbolize her numerous love affairs. The scar and the dagger that appear in two of these lithographs (the Mater salvatoris and the Maria dolorosa del Monte Calvario) symbolize her occasional Petro anger when she is said to tear the fl esh of recalcitrant devotees. The blue color of her robe becomes, as in Yoruba mythology, a _symbol of her devotion and her love for her devotees (Bascom 1969) . The Christ-child held by the black Mater salvatoris is not Jesus but one ofEzili's children born out of her relation- ship with one of the ]was. The halo around h er head, Vodouisants say, is a symbol of her transcendent power and of her radiating beauty.

In the description of th ese symbols, one can note differences that are per- haps creole additions to the personae of the African deities. Among these is the identification ofEzili with the symbol of the heart, which appears in her veve. The heart may well have been borrowed by Vodou from Roman Catholicism, but it has also been transfigured and given n ew meaning: it is not a symbol of her love, but represents her womb-both the macrocosmic womb from which humankind and the world derive, and the microcosmic womb of woman in whi ch the individual is conc eived and from which it is born . A similar observation can be mad e about the letter M engraved on the heart medallions. According to Vodou iconography, it does not stand for

Mary but for Metres, th e familiar form in whi ch they speak ofher or invoke her. In h er veves, where a stylized form of the letter is superimposed on the figure of the heart, it symbolizes her feminin e sexuality and her promiscuity (Deren 1972, 121) .

In short, symbiosis by identification can be seen from two points of view. First, the efforts of Catholic missionaries gave the slaves a basis for identi- fyjng Mary with Ezili, whos e envisaged mythological personae derive from both Nigeria and Whydah . Such identification, or rather such transfiguration of the African models, stemmed from the similarity between the symbols in European Catholic iconology and African traditional symbolism. Second, the Vodou use of the Catholic symbol of the h eart and the letter Mare clearly

The Gods and Public Life 145

Veve for Damballah and Metres painted on a peristil wall

creole inventions, variations stemming from the personae of the West Afri- can Marni Water spirits and the Fon and Yoruba religious traditions. In Haiti, th e heart and the M have become the symbols of femininity and sex. Such creole phenomena can also be seen in the personae ofMetres andJe-Rouge as depicted in Vodou mythology and as they are manifested in the peristil. In addition, symbiosis by ecology can be seen in the spatial juxtaposition of the performance of the rituals of each religion , in the separation in the use of ritual paraphernalia in two distinct locations, and finally in the use of the names of the saints and !was by the devotees in different places.

Ogou: The Suffering General

Ogou came to Haiti from Nigeria during the colonial period. The Yoruba's Ogun is lord of fire, and by extension is th e patron of all those, such as ironsmiths and welders, whose professions occasion its use. He is also the protector of all artists and workers who use fire to smelt metal, to fashion tools and weapons used in wars or in the hunt.

IfNigerians associate Ogun with hunting, it is because Yoruba mythology makes use of that image extensively in stories told about him. According to

146 The Faces of the Gods

a Yoruba myth, before Olodumare (the Godhead) shaped the world, Ogun

came to earth frequently to hunt in the primordial, marshy wastes by de-

scending from heaven on a spider's thread . When Olodumare finally shaped

the earth and arranged its contents, Ogun and the other gods came down

to it from heaven to assume the offices assigned to them by Olodumare. As

they traveled the footpath that led to earth, they came to a place of "no-

road," where the forest became so dense with trees , vines, and thistles that

the deities could not cut a path, for the edges of their machetes were too

dull; only Ogun possessed an instrument sharp enough to accomplish the

task . H ence, the gods asked Ogun to make a way for them. He accepted this

responsibility under the condition that he receive a worthy reward when

they all arrived at Ile-Ife, their assigned headquarters. After a unanimous

agreement among the gods , Ogun cut the way for them. When they arrived

at Ile-He , the gods conferred upon Ogun the title of Osin-lmale (Chief of All

Deities). But, untamed hunter that he was, Ogun found it difficult to live in

the city, and so he went to live in solitude at a place called Ori-Oke (Top-

of-the-Hill) . From there, he still undertakes his hunting expedi tions and his

wars on behalf of other gods or to fulfill his own needs.

Ogun's symbol is the machete. The Yoruba say that he is the one who goes

"before the deiti es to prepare a road for them. " This metaphor establishes

his function as the one who makes the way smooth in the gods' spiritual en-

counter with humans. In this connection he is related to Elegbara (or Legba)

who in Nigeria is the keeper of the gates, because he is said to· open the way

to human destiny for material and spiritual prosperity. Because Ogun is so

well armed, the Yoruba also believe him to be the guardian of the entrances

to temples and sacred groves throughout Nigeria: And , as at the temples, he

also protects the celestial abode of the gods by stationing himself at the gates.

For this reason, the Yoruba know Ogun as the "owner of ,wealthy houses,

the owner of numerous houses of heaven ." His eyeb alls are said to be like

flames of fire which project in all directions as he protects the possessions

of the deities.

Haitians have not forgotten many of the Nigerian characterizations of

Ogun . In Nigeria as welJ as in Haiti, he is characterized as having two per-

sonae: the one beneficent, and the other mal eficent. As a beneficent god ,

· he is the one to whom iron and steel are dedicated, as well as any imple-

ments made from them. He is also the patron deity of the farmers who use the hoe and the machete to clear the fields for planting. He takes charge of the work of surgeons, and in more recent times he has become a patron of barbers, locomotive crews , automobile drivers, and all who have to do

The Gods and Public Life 147

with machines made from metal. The Yoruba and Haitians say that without

him, people could not clear their fields or dig water holes to irrigate them,

and animals could not be butchered or hunted. They .also say that Ogun (or

Ogou) is the master of smithing: he inspires the tool-makers in designing

their wares . All those who use tools made out of stee l or iron depend on

him and owe him tribute. Th ey become his devotees and make frequent offerings to him.

The Nigerian Ogun has been creolized extensive ly in Haiti, as Vodouisants

have adapted his African persona to the country's hi story and national life.

Just as his beneficent persona is characterized by constructiven ess, his fierce

nature is one of violence and destruction . In this role, he is identified with

wars. He is said to march columns of warriors into battle, and to infuse their

swords, arrows , spears , and machetes with his d estructive power (Laguerre

19806, 131-32) . He symbolizes power, authority, and triumph in wars. Power

and authority are identified with a person 's political office, and Ogou is a

political figure in Haiti . He has earned his rank by engaging in guerilla war-

fare against his people's enemies during both the Haitian Revolution and the

American Occupation . He is sometimes depicted on the wills of peristils

as a mortally wounded warrior who is unable to stay on his feet, upheld by

his devotees on each side; his outstretched arms are thrown loosely over

the shoulders of his supporters, while tears roll down his cheeks. On his

left sle eve is a spot of blood symbolizing a wound acquired during his many

battles. His drooping head, the profound expression of fatigue on his face,

and the weight of his weakened body as it is supported by his devotees

closely resemble th e image of Christ at the deposition (Deren 1972, 132) . De-

picted thus in the body of a d evotee in Vodou ceremonies, Ogou's broken

body begs his devotees to sing:

Ogou, I am wounded

I am. wounded, Ogou Papa

I cannot see my blood is red

I am wounded, Ogou Papa.

The affirmation in the third line of the song that he cann ot see his own blood

refers to his battle fatigue, and presumably to his near-comatose state caused

by the excessive loss of blood.

But like the other lwas , Ogou in Haiti has many personae. As a member of the Rada nanchon, he is beneficent. Like the Yoruba, Vodouisants believe Ogou to be the guardian of the gates to the ounfo . In this function, he is depicted as brandishing a machete (or a sword) as if to strike thieves who

148 Th e Faces of the Gods

would try to enter the sacred domiciles of the lwas . The iron armor that he wears makes his body secure, impregnable to his attackers' bulJets. His fiery eyes are said to face the four quarters of space, allowing him to watch the four sides of the ounfo simultaneously. As Ogou Batala (or Obatala), he becomes the healer and is the patron lwa of surgeons and doctors. He is often depicted as preparing an herbal concoction into which h e infuses the flames from his fiery eyes. In the body of a possessed devotee, Ogou Batala heals those devotees he thinks worthy by cleansing his hands over a flame and touching the parts of their bodies that he beli eves are affected by dis- ease . Often Ogou becomes Ogou Badagri, who is related to Lhe oungan's benevolent magic; in this persona, he assists oungans with the preparation

of potions used to exorcise evil spirits that might cause disease in th e bodies of members of the community.

As Petra's Ogou Feray, Ogou is the national hero, the genera] whom the devotees greet with military sa lute. Throughout Haiti he is symbolized by Haiti's coat of arms, which is depicted on the walls of many ounfos . In the body of hi s devotees, this national hero is an impressive figure, for he presents himself as the general whose agitated pacing to and fro on the floor of the peristil conveys the pressures ofbattle , or grave conflict and urgency in a moment of crisis in the life of the nation. In such manifestations, he is said to reenact the pressures of war placed on the shoulders of Toussaint, Des- salines, and Christophe during the Haitian Revolution. Intense and ready to fight, he often brandjshes his machete and cries out "Forward!" as ifleading an entire battalion into the heat of battle .

As already noted in Chapter 1, in moments of brutal oppression, religious millenarianism can threaten a country's political stability by instilling a vivid picture ofhumanity liberated from its frustrations and stresses in situations of culture contact. This metahi storical drea m of a happy futur e no longer tainted by opp ression often inspires the members of such religious move- ments to see themselves as God's elect, whose violence can bring about the advent of the millennium. By the manifestations of his revolutionary spirit, Ogou Feray recaptures the early millenarian spirit of the slaves during the Haitian colonial period. As a national hero, he is a political leader who is said to have generated th e violent spirit of the maroon raids on the plantations preceding the final stages of the Haitian Revolution . These raids did not entail the movement of massed troops led by a hero, but the tempestuous guerilla activities of the slaves whose overt passion to end slavery terrorized the planters. As a warrior, Ogou Feray is also a politi cal figure. His leader- ship recalls the strict administration of Dessalin es and Christophe. In any

The Gods and Public Life 149

Saint Jacques or Ogou

150 The Faces of the Gods

Veve for Sainl)acques painted on a peristil wall

country, politicians depend upon skilled oratory to gain the commitm ent of their fo!Jowers. But the Haitian well understands that mere oratory does not

denote an ability to lead. Like Dessalines, Ogou Feray is not merely a man of words. His power is revealed in Haiti's motto, "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity." To Vodouisants, these are not words that arouse a purely sentimental patrio- tism for God and country. Rather, they are calls to action. They must lead every Haitian citizen into actual banle. As in the days o f the Haitian Revo-

lution, devotees must conduct this battle with unreserved passion, secrecy, and intrigue in their efforts to throw off the power that restricts them.

Because Petra's Ogou Feray symbolizes the spirit of battle, h e is identified with Saint Jacques (Saint James). Po pular Catholic lithographs depict this saint as riding a horse, brandishing a sabre in the midst of battle, wearing a medieval French cap and a blue robe with a white collar decorated with golden crosses. On the ground are wounded bodies. Behind him is a medi- eval knight in armor carrying a white banner in the center of which is a red

The Gods and Public Life 151

cross. In the background are lowering black clouds. This depiction derives from Spain, where Saint Jacques is known as Santiago. According to Catholic hagiology, Santiago (or Saint James the Great) is the military patron of Spain, who is said to have fought for the liberation of Spanish Christians from th e Moors . Hence, the lithographs found in Haiti portray him in much the same way as do many Spanish paintings.

Although many of the Catholic symbols associated with Saint Jacques have

been appropriated by Vodou's iconography, they have been given African and creole meanings. Santiago's sword is no longer a symbol of courage in

his efforts to introduce Christianity among the Spanish Moors: first, it is seen not as a sword, but as a machete; and second, it has become a symbol of

revolution in Haitian poli tical life. Symbiosis by identification can be seen in this use of Catholic iconographic symbols to establish a parallel between the saint and the Vodou lwa.

The personification of Ogou has remained largely Nigerian , but there are nevertheless creole aspects of his personae that reveal themselves in the ceremonial and national lives of Haitians. These include ritual ceremonies offered in his honor in the peristil, and those that relate to such calendri- ca l observances as Independence Day and Flag Day. Ogou Feray in Vodou is the patron lwa of those who are n ow serving in the military, and of those ancestors who, in the history of the country, have given the ir lives in revolu- tions against political and religious oppression. In this role, he is analogous to the Nigerian Ogun , who is also the patron lwa of war. But his persona also reveals certain creole deve lopments. First, Vodouisants have fitted his function as patron lwa of war into the context of Haitian history. Unlike

the Nigerian deity, Ogou Feray is n ot identified so much with warriors as with the envisaged personae of the black generals and leaders who fought during the Haitian Revolution, in the Caco revolts against the American Occupation, and in the Vodouisants' resistance against the church's Anti-

superstitious Campaigns. In this context, he is not only the lwa who inspired the leaders of these revolts, but also the hero who reembodies the brav- ery of Haiti's national heroes. Second, in Haiti his persona has acquired a

millenarian aspect. It has already been n oted that in some millenarian move- ments, the re-creation of the remembered past has a symbolic value that lends new meaning to the present: the members of such movements not only see certain past events as admirable, but deem the re-creation of them as "magical formu lae" designed to release them from the frustrations of their oppression. The character of such formu lae is explicable on the basis of the

152 The Faces of the Gods

devotees' psychological association with the past-"psychological," in the sense that they feel that by behaving as their ancestors did , they wi11 in some undefined fashion be able to retrieve the more desirable aspects of their ancestors' situation. In Ogou Feray's persona, Vodou is differentiated from African religious traditions in that it manifests this millenarian character by re-creating the past ritualistically in the peristil.

As already noted, just as Vodou ceremonies can be seen as the reliving of the first act of creation when Bondye fashioned the world, so the manifes-

tations of Ogou Feray in the body of his devotees represent the re-creation of the Haitian Revolution. Such re-creation is confirmed by the mention of the names ofBoukman, Dessalines, or Christophe by those who harbor Ogou's spirit within them; the ancestral spirits of these national heroes are thus manifested in the bodies of possessed devotees. A Vodou ceremony in honor of Ogou Feray is therefore an archetypal ritual, a reenactment of the beginnings of a nation. The experiences of the revolution must be relived, the sounds of battle must be heard once more, and the blood of the sacrifi- cial pig at Bois Caiman must again seal the Hps of those devotees who were present at the ceremony.

In short, from the point of view of symbiosis by identification, the study of Ogou's personae in Vodou mythology can be seen as the religious adap- tation of Catholic and African symbols. These adaptations have two aspects. On the one hand, Vodouisants adopted the Christian symbols in the litho- graphs that were parallel to Nigerian mythology, and translated them into African terms. On th e other hand, these adaptations also mean that the per- sonae of Ogou, particularly that of Ogou Feray, were extracted from their African mythological context and were fitted withjn the framework of Hai- tian history. This creole addition to Ogou's personae became clothed with a dormant millenarianism in an African people whose irutial contact with Europeans during the colonial period engendered in them a desire for free- dom from political and religious suppression . In this sense, Ogou becomes the symbolic embodiment of a struggle to attain a higher ideological, nation- alistic order which is a perfected Haiti. Every participant in a ceremony in honor ofOgou, then, participates with the nation's heroes in their sufferings, their struggles, and the deeds that save the life of a nation.

But such gradual creolization-that is, the religious adaptation of Chris- tian and African symbols to Haitian history- derives from Haitians' (and the slaves ') disengagement of Christian millenarianism from its theological con- text and their adaptation of it to their own personal longings and national

The Gods and Public Life 153

goals . Indeed, if African religion had not come into contact with European Christianity during the colonial period, it is doubtful that Vodou would have manifested such a millenarian character at all, for by and large, most Afri- can traditional religions have developed their millenarianism only recently as a result of their contact with Christianity. To Vodouisants (as perhaps to the slaves), the millenarian dreams taught by the Catholic priests in Haiti

provide a reason for living. Just as the millenarian character of Christianity has a practical use, so too

does the persona of Christ. It is interesting that there exist some poignant parallels between Christ and Ogou (Deren 1972, 132). Aside from their repu- tations as physical and spiritual healers, both have been sufferers and martyrs for a cause that they believed would save their people. Just as Christ's death and resurrection served to save humankind, so too Ogou's manifestations as Boukman, Dessalines, and Christophe represent the death and resurrec- tion of his devotees at every Vodou ceremony in his honor. Nevertheless, while a student of religion can easily see parallels between Christ and Ogou, Vodouisants are, doubtless, unconscious of them. While the depictions of Ogou on the walls of the peristil recall, to a European observer, the paint- ings of Christ at the deposition, Vodouisants establish no conscious parallels between Christ and Ogou, for most have probably never encountered that Christian image. And even if they had, or if these depictions of Ogou were uncons cious imitations of it, it would only testify to their reinterpretation of Christ in terms of their mythological representations of Ogou.

Rather than being identified with Ogou, or with any other lwa for that mat- ter, Christ represents Haiti herself His sufferings and crucifixion resemble the struggles and eventual death of the national heroes who gave their lives for th e liberation of Haiti, and his resurrection suggests the political rebirth of a people whose millenarian dream is to be free from political and religious oppression, not only historically but currently. Today, ceremonies in honor of Ogou Feray symbolize not only martyrdom and death, but the resurrec- tion as well, for possession symbolizes the revivification and the re-creation of the lives of the national hero es . Moreover, for present-day Vodouisants, as was probably the case for the slaves, Christ's promise of heaven has been replaced by a more tangibl e ideal-a new order that includes their politi- cal and religious freedom as they envisage them. And Christ's promise of victory over the miseries and frustrations of their existence, and over death itself, is symbolized in the continuing struggles against political oppression.

154 The Faces of the Gods

A9oue: The Powerful Marine Creature

If spiritually the body is made of the same elements out of which the cos- mos is fashioned, physi cally it encompasses the fabric from which the ocean derives. For, according to Vodou mythology. the blood, like the cosmos and the sea. has motion deriving from an inherent force originating from the Creator. Likewise, the salty perspiration on a person's face contains in it th

chemistry of the sea. Just as Vodouisants are in harmony with the universe, so too are they and the sea "old acquaintances": as residents of a moun- tainous island, they not only see it from wherever they stand, but receive their very subsistence from it. This fact adds to their sense of physical af- finity with the sea and reinforces their conviction that their bodies derive from it. Because the sea is so important to Haitians. it holds a unique place in their mythology. and is characterized by a persona. The sea is under the jurisdiction of a lwa who serves a vital function in Haitian ceremonial life : the Haitian Neptune, Agoue Taroyo. whose wife is La Sirenn .

Agoue is a powerful lwa in Haiti, but unlike the other Rada lwas, his power is limited. Just as the fish can live only in water, so is Agoue's power limited to the sea that he rules-to the sea, its creatures. its flora, and the fishermen's sailboats that cleave its waters . And the rituals in his honor, unlike those for the other Rada lwas, are performed almost entirely at sea . The preparations for these rituals involve the entire community and begin several days before the ceremony. They are ex tremely elaborate and usually expensive to the devotees .

Several days before the ceremony, th e community gathers food offerings and selects a sacrificial ram for Agoue. A raft is constructed and stored in the local ounfo, to represent Agoue's banquet "table." Flags and tablecloths in blue and white, Agoue's symbolic colors, are washed and ironed. They are

placed around the banquet table where Agoue's divine guests are envisaged to sit. The drums too are made ready: they are painted white and blue for the occasion, and their skins are tightened so that their resonance will awake the deity from the depths of the sea. The sacrificial ram (do9we) is fattened for several days with a special diet; it is well bathed and cleansed with a fusion of purifying leaves steeped in water and indigo so that its color is blue. On the banquet table the oungan (or mambo) arranges the bottles ofimported wine and champagne. plates of cooked chicken, rice and beans, hot corn- meal. and vegetables and fruits of all· sorts; the ram's feet are tied and it is laid in the middle of the raft to one side.

Agoue's invited guests at th banguet include his wife, La Sirenn, th e sea

The Gods and Public Life 155

aspect of Ezili; Ogou; the Wedos; Azaka; Damballah and his wife Ayida; and Ezili, with whom he is said to have had many love affairs. The presence of these lwas, which enhances the importance of the ritual ceremony to Agoue, is usuaJiy symbolized by flags bearing the veves of each lwa. These flags and veves are arranged in the order in which the ]was are envisaged to sit around Agoue's banquet table . At the foot of the table is drawn a crab or fish for Agasou, Agoue's lieutenant, and at the head is drawn a fish for Agoue himself

The elaborate arrangement of the table takes an entire day. The ounfo and its courtya rd are filled with devotees and guests who have come prepared to stay the whol e day. Like the raft , the peristiJ too is beautifully adorned for the occasion. Strips of blue and white paper are plait dover the potomitan (center pole) in a pattern similar to that found in the maypole ceremonies performed in many communities across the United States. Other strips are strung around the potomitan, and hung from the ceiling to form inverted arcades that appear to radiate from the potomitan itselr. In one corner, some devotees arrange a makeshift altar: a straw bed (nates), at the head of which they place two pillows for Ezili and her consort Agoue. In the center of this bed, where the hearts of the bodies would lie, they place a bouquet of roses, and a conch shell to symboli ze the nuptial bed . Flow r vases, food offerings, and Catholic lithographs of Agoue and Ezili are also placed at the head of this nuptial bed .

As for the responsibilities of the oungan or mambo, they must convene the community on the appointed day. and arrange for the rental of trucks to carry the devotees, the raft, and the ritual paraphernalia to the shore- as well as managing hundreds of other detajls of a secular nature. In addi- tion, they must attend to their clerical duties in making sure that the rituals are performed correctly, for to lead a people in th service of a lwa is to teach them the importance of making him happy by revering him both with sacred words and with objects appropriate to his personae and tastes. Hence, the oungan or mambo must inspire interest and devotion among the people, attending to the needs of some who are discouraged, while keeping the enthusiasm of others within manageable limits.

On the appointed day of the ceremony at sea, the devotees make the final preparations. They load the raft with all its contents on the bed of one truck, along with all the ritual accoutrements : a blue-and-white wedding cake pre- pared for the occasion, ason , Iambi (conch shell). drums, ceremonial flags. banners, baskets of food. and the sacrificial ram. The devotees then climb onto another truck, and the convoy proceeds toward the sea. As the devo-

156 The Faces of the Gods

tees sing, the trucks arrive at the end of the road near the shoreline, w here the raft and all the ritual paraphernalia are loaded onto a small sailboat. After a relatively long voyage on the open sea. and standing near the mast which serves as the ambulant potomitan, one of the devotees sounds the Iambi to announce their solemn arrival at their destination. Called Zile, it is an island below th e sea where the sky and land are believed to meet. It is there also

that Agoue is said to reside and where the cosmic banquet is to take place. After some ritual preparations, including the singing of various songs and incantations to the !was, the men aboard gather around the raft and push it overboard into the sea. There, Agoue is said to rise from the depth of the ocean to carry the food offerings to his banquet table on the sea Boor.

Because the fish is often identified with Agoue, it has become an impor- tant symbol in Vodou art. Vodouisants draw it wherever special objects are baptized in Agoue's name: in the ounfos, in their homes, and on fishermen's

boats. The fish is also an important symbol in Christian art, for it is the sym- bol of Christ, the five letters of the Greek word for fish (ichthus) being an acronym for the Greek words for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." The Vodou symbol of the fish was not borrowed from Christianity, however; rather, it derives from Fon mythology. Agoue's name corresponds to that of the Fon sea deity, Agbe, who is also identified as a fish. According to Fon traditional beliefs, Agbe is a m ember of th e sky pantheon. H e is said to have

taken the shape ofa fish soon after creation when Sogbo, the head of the sky pantheon, sent him down to establish himself in the sea. His responsibility

is to preserve life "below and above the waters of the sea" (Herskovits 1963, 2: 151). The Fon believe that Agbe not only protects fishermen when they

are at sea, but also protects all the marine creatures. As Sogbo's son , Agbe is related to many other deities of the sky pantheon, including Gbade (Bade in Haiti), the wind, who is said to be astute, capricious, and intractable; h e is

the m ost headstrong and undisciplined of all the deities of the sky pantheon (Herskovits 1963, 2:153).

In Fon mythology, Sogbo is believed to watch over the earth. Among her

many responsibilities, she is above all the guarantor of the rain that waters the fields. Although she gave control of the sea to her son, she did not in- struct him to cause the rain to fall , but to send water to the.skies whenever she needed it. Gbade, the wind, is her messenger. The Fon and the Haitians believe that the deity of the wind descends to the waters of the ocean where the sea and the sky meet at the horizon; after gathering the waters, he as- cends to the sky, where the cosmic deities later pour them onto the earth. Although Sogbo h as been forgotten in Haiti, Vodouisants say that Agoue is

The Gods and Public Life 157

intimately related to all the cosmic deities. He is related to Legba in his per- sonae as sun and moon, for both of th ese plunge into the sea, travel across the cosmic waters of the abyss below the earth, and rise into the sky. Agoue not only shares his dominion over the water with Damballah, but also serves as a support for Damballah's body as it arch es itself across the sky to provide

a path for the sun. From these details, one can infer that Agoue is Fon in o rigin. His name,

persona, and function in the universe, and the myths and symbol connected

·• with his persona, are all essentially Fon . Because Agoue's symbol is the fish , Vodouisants have identified him with Saint Ulrich. This identification de-

rives from lithographs that depict Saint Ulrich as holding a fish in his left hand. Seated on a wall outside a church, Saint Ulrich wears a priest's robe-

a symbol of his devotion and humility. He is surrounded by poor people whom he instructs in the Christian faith. This depiction derives from the legends in Catholic hagiology in which he is said to have ministered to the poor and downtrodden. As bisho p of Augsburg, h e is said to have spent his life among the disadvantaged, comforting the sick, con soling the downtrod- den, preaching, and undertaking the task of a vigilant pastor. After a long life, he died ofillness in 973. His sanctity was attested by so many miracles during the twenty years following his death that Pope John X:V canonized

him in 993 (Butler 1956, 3:27-30). Although the symbols in the lithographs of Saint Ulrich are intended to

signify his sanctity and humility, his devotion to Christ, and his service to the poor, Vodouisants have interpreted them in African terms. This observation can be supported in several ways. First, Vodouisants do not know the story

of Saint Ulrich's life and make no mention of it in their rituals to Agoue; th e saint's robe, which o ught to symbolize his poverty, has been interpreted as a symbol of Agoue's royalty as a cosmic lwa. Second, the fish is no longer a symbol of Ulrich's Christian evangelism, or that of Christ as Savior, but has become the symbol of Agoue's domain. Third, although Vodouisants use the lithograph in their ritual to Agoue , at no time do they mention Saint Ulrich's name; rather, th ey see in that image the depiction of a lwa whose persona recalls that of Agbe among the Fon. Fourth, the entire Vodou ritual

is essentially non-Christian. Although Agoue's name derives from the Fon, much of the mythology

associated with him derives from Nigeria. The Vodou word Zile itself derives from the name of the Yoruba mythological city Ile-He, the headquarters of the deities, the entrance of which is believed to be a cave or grotto that leads directly to the royal city. Ile-He is thought to be the "original home

158 The Faces of the Gods

of all things" in ·the universe, "the place from which the day dawns," "the

enchanted holy city," and the home of divinities and mysterious spirits. Ac-

cording to Yoruba oral tradition, the gates leading to Ile-Ile today are open

to no one; in mythological times, however, when men and women were

allowed to visit the city, the deities treated their visitors royally with food

and drink. In return for the deities' hospitality, visitors brought offerings

of food, wine, and flowers with th em which were placed at banquet tables

specially arranged for their visits; hµmans were then allowed to partici-

pate in the festivities and to share the food with the gods (Idowu 1973, 13).

Although the different cosmic deities are said to reside in various p laces

throughout the unjverse, they often gather in the city for banquets and other

festive occasions. These striking similarities between Zile and Ile-Ile estab-

lish a parallel between Haiti and Nigeria, which is seen not only in the

mythology of both countries but in some of the rituals that derive from this

myth as well. According to Bolaji Idowu, the Yoruba consider many caves

to be important shrines in Nigeria (1973, 126-27); when they visit these

shrines they bring large quantities of food and other olferings, which they

place as presents to the deities at the entrances of the grottoes. This would

explain why the ritual to Agoue is so elaborate, and why it involves such a

large amount of food- for in their ritual to Agoue, Vodouisants believe that

they are providing food fo r the cosmic )was' banquet held in Agoue's cave beneath the sea.

From these various details about Agoue, several conclusions can be drawn.

First, Agoue's persona and the fish that symbolizes him derive from Benin.

Second, Agoue's identification with Saint Ulrich is based neither upon the

saint's life nor upon the symbolic Christian significance of the fish, but

upon purely pictorial details; once again, symbiosis by identification can be

seen in the reinterpretation of Catholic hagiology in African terms. Third,

although Agoue and the fish are Fon in origin, the forms of the Vodou

ritual to Agoue resemble those in Nigeria. Like the Yoruba, Vodouisants say

that their mythological city is ~e place from which humankind derives. In Vodou, humanity's beginning is symbolized by La Sirenn's womb, in which

the body acquires the chemistry of the sea. The entrance to both Zile and Ile-

Ife is said to be like that of a cave. The numerous offerings that Vodouisants bring to Zile are parallel to those which the Yoruba bring to their sacred caves, and the banquet of the !was in Zile is also similar to the festive meals

held in honor of the deities in Yoruba mythology.

In the Vodou ritual, symbiosis by ecology is also evident in the spatial juxtaposition of Catholic and Vodou paraphernalia. The arrangement of the

The Gods and Public Life 159

altar near the nuptial bed in the peristil resembles that of the altars in many

Catholic churches in Haiti. But the mosaic quality of this symbiosis is most

particularly seen in the spatial juxtaposition of Catholic lithographs of the

saints, palms, vases, flowers, and th e white tablecloth, to the conch shell,

to Ezili and Agoue's nuptial bed, and to the numerous veves painted on the

flags for each lwa believed to be present at the ritual.

Finally, the spatial juxtaposition of Catholic and African ritual symbols and

the incorporation ofYoruba and Fon mythological details into Vodou myths

about Agoue are creole phenomena unique to Haiti. As already noted, the

ethnic diversity of the maroon republics during the colonial period would

have permitted the blending of religious traditions from both regions of

West Africa. On the other hand, the occasional contacts between Catholi-

cism and African traditions caused by the infiltration of runaway slaves from

the plantations would equally account for the incorporation of Catholic

symbols into Vodou's theology. Hence, the simultaneous use ofVodou and

Catholic ritual paraphernalia in the same Vodou ritual can be explained

by the frequent contacts between the religious traditions, both during the

colonial period and in Haiti today.

Bondye: The Old Man in the Sky

Although Vodouisants use the Christian name for God when they speak of

their deity, many of their concepts of him recall those of the Godhead in

Africa. As do many West Africans, Vodouisants conceive of Bond ye anthro-

pomorphically: he is venerable, just, and aged but not aging. His gray hair

commands awe and reverence. Like the president of the country, he is the

chief administrator, the executive, the politician, who provides for the wel-

fare and the liberty of his people. This is why Vodouisants say that like the

president, Bondye commands, rules, speaks, and judges his subjects.

Bondye is the creator of the universe. He is the great architect and the

carver of the universe. Just as the potter forms h is work with his hand, so

too Bondye fashioned the universe, giving it the shape that it has today. As

creator, he manifests his p ower in every part of the universe. He is the guar-

antor of motion: the motion of the astral bodies, the wind, and the waters of

the sea and rivers; the motion seen in the growth of the vegetation; and the

motion implicit in the passing ofhuman generations and the determination of existent things. In the !was, he manifests his power in their roles as the chiefs of the universe; as Bondye's children, the !was are representations of

160 The Faces of the Gods

the many aspects of his personality. In humankind, Bond ye manifests him- self as the vital force that animates the body. He infuses his power into the gwo-bon-anj, the divine element that ensures the movements of the thoracic cavity in breathing. He is the guarantor of the continuity oflife.

Bondye is also the king of the universe. He is above all humans and all the !was. He dwells above the heavens; his majesty is unique because it sur- passes all. He is the Gran Met (Grand Master) whose resplendent majesty, like the Yoruba concept of God, is so great that it is said to fill the entire sky that arches itself over the earth. In this omnipotence, Bond ye has full hegemony over the universe. His will is absolute. Like Olodumare among the Yoruba, he is seen as the enabler who can achieve all ends. Events in the world occur because he ordains chem; without his aid, nothing in the world can happen.

Bondye is all-wise, all-knowing. Like that of the Fon's Mawu. Bondye's wisdom is perfect and infallible. Because the !was, like humans, can make mistakes, Bondye calls them to his heavenly tribunal to account for their deeds. But Bondye can never make mistakes. Since Vodouisants believe that his power pervades the cosmos, they say that a part ofBondye's perfection is instilled in the world. He is said ro have more than one thousand eyes which face the four cardinal points of the universe. He can therefore face all cosmic directions simultaneously. This is why Vodouisants clair1:) that th ir supreme deity is the discerner of hearts who can see both "the insid and th out- side." He sees humankind's hidden secrets-the crafty designs as well as the good intentions.

Unlike humankind with its changing intentions and emotions, Bondye n~ver changes. Vodouisants say that he is constant , even ifh man ifests him- selfin the midst of the changes that humans and things undergo in the world. Indeed, humans can grow old , things can decay, the appearance of a hillside can change because of the never-ending erosion ofits soil. but deterioration is not part of Bondye's persona. His "ever-living-ness" is like a formidable mountain whose age cannot be cow1ted by any cone ivable mathematical system and whose "physiognomy" never alters.

Bondye is also the source of all benefits. Through the lwas, he is the giver of all good things: children, wealth, good living, good character, and every- thing else that exists for the good ofhuman beings. Vodouisants believe that even the )was draw their sustenance from Bondye. As the Haitian proverb puts it, "Bondye wills, Bondye takes"-meaning that as the ultimate source of all good things, Bond ye exercises his free will in giving or in taking away every good gift. Although this proverb is repeat d often by Haitians, it does not express a mere rationalization for the loss of wealth; for in poverty there

The Gods and Public Life 161

is indeed little that can be lost. Rather, these words denote the Haitians' sense of fatalism caused by their vision of a destiny that, they feel, can surely crush them. Such fatalism .is revealed in the language that they often use in responding to questions related to their general welfare: to the question. "How are you?" (Koman so?), the conventional answer is, "One is observing" (Nap gade), meaning that one has little control over one's destiny, but can merely observe passively the successiv events oflife.

These phrases are not the theatrical exaggerations of a people given to complaint. On the contrary, the Haitian has a sense of the comic. For al- though these answers a.re conventional, they are always followed by con- crete exemplifications-descriptions that incite laughter from both parties. Moreover, these colloquial statements express a life in which the present conditions are indeed difficult to endure. Despite the frustrations and anxi- eLi s of life, however, Vodouisants can also smile as they prepare to leave a companion by saying "We'll talk again" (Na pale anko), or "We'll see each oLher again" (Na we anko), and prudently adding, "if the Good Lord wills it" (si Bon dye vle)-for their belief in Bond ye always assures chem of his continuing

protection against life's misfortunes. If Vodouisants see Bond ye as che main force in their future, it is because

they also see him as the author and the disposer of their destiny. As in most West African religions, Bondye is the controller ofhuman life; he pun- ish sand rewards his devotees. A Haitian proverb states that "the justice of God, it is like a cart pulled by bulls!" Qistis Bondye, se kabwet bef!)-meaning lhat Bond ye, like the sluggish motion of a cart pulled by mighty bulls, is slow to anger, and that at times his punishment, like the strength of bulls, falls severely on humankind. Although Vodouisants apply this proverb in a variety of ways, they often cite it to indicate that Bondye's punishment of the strong and wealthy, though slow in coming, is certain. For it is the w althy a.nd mighty who often occasion the sufferings of the poor. It is also those in high places who often prevent the poor from participating fully in Haiti's national life, or, as Jean-Bertrand Aristide noted, who will not allow the downtrodden to "sit at the table" with them as guests and to partake of

the same mea.l (Aristid 1990). Bondye's authority is such that it can be questioned neither by humans

nor by the ]was. Vodouisants recognize his supremacy by paying special tribute to him on one day each year. On that day, the lwas are said to rise LO the "highest realms" of the sky, where they meet in council in Bondye's court above and express their gratitude for his sustaining them. But such a recognition must also be an example for humankind. for although humans

162 The Faces of the Gods

cannot enter Bondye's abode they must, as in Africa, observe ritual libations, which the oungan or mambo performs at the begjnning of each ceremony. As among the Yoruba, Vodouisants must also recognize Bondye as the first and the last. They give him ultimate preeminence in their lives.

Although these Vodou concepts ofBondye's personae would be shared by most Christians and by non-Christian Africans, there are two main concepts not yet mentioned that contribute to Bondye's Africanness. First, unlike the

Christian God, Bondye is not the only supernatural power ruling the uni- verse : as in Africa, he is at the head oflarge nanchons oflwas who govern the universe. But the enormous nanchons oflwas are, as variations upon a theme, manifestations of one Principle who is Bondye. Each is a facet of the same Principle; each manifests the grandeur of that Principle; each incorpo- rates various aspects of the universe-life-force or fecundity, the protective or paternal, some aspect of the chthonic, the telluric and subtelluric realms (Ginen), some of the positive as well as the negative aspects of the Principle that they represent. Because the lwas symbolize various facets of Bondye, when Vodouisants speak of him, they do not refer to one deity only but to the vodou, meaning the entire community oflwas. Second, unlike the Chris- tian God, the idea of Bondye's holiness implies his profound separateness and aloofness from the world. Vodouisants' conception of Bondye's tran- scendence is so dominant that they give scant attention to the possibility of his immanence. Although they believe that he participates in their lives and that he is good, they say that he is so transcendent that he cannot be both- ered with petty human problems .7 Because Bondye is so remote from the earth, Vodouisants do not pray to him directly; they offer no ceremonies in his honor, nor do they believe that he can possess anyone during ritua ls- as the Haitian proverb notes, "Big lwas do not mount little horses" (Gwo lwo pa monte ti chwal), meaning that Bondye is too powerful to manifest himself in a devotee's body. Although, much as in Africa, the oungan pours a liba- tion to Bondye at the start of each ceremony, it is a formal gesture, sy mbolic

merely ofVodouisants' recognition of the omniscience of Bond ye. Hence, Rudolf Otto's idea of the holiness of God in the sense of the active, the swift, the consuming numinous does not describe the Vodouisants' concept of Bondye (1928). Vodouisants have applied these ideas to the !was to whom they pray and sing, and to whom they offer their sacrifices and offerings.

Bondye's aloofness from the world can be seen in many Haitian folktales, which depict him as being at times so remote from the activities of the I was and of humans that not only is he foo led by them but his power is often placed in competition with that of the lwas-a competition in which he is

The Gods and Public Life 163

often the loser. One such story tells of a ceremony given in honor of the ]was and presided over by one of the most powerful oungans in the coun- try.8 This ceremony was to be held for seven weeks without interruption. Devotees came from all comers of the is land, bringing with them hundreds of rams, chickens, and pigs as sacrifices. Because there were so many at- tending the ceremony, a large battery of the finest drummers in the country were brought to the enormous peristil erected specially for the occasion. Everyone danced and sang; the celebration continued day and night without pause. The ceremony was so well attended and so successful that it made the earth a pandemonium. The noise was deafening, and Bondye heard it- indeed, the noise was such that he could neither sleep nor concentrate on the administration of the affairs of the universe.

After a week or so, the patient Bondye decided to put an end to the noise. He sought the assistance of some of the more adept lwas to con- duct the investigation for him. First, he sent the crafty Legba, who upon his entry into the peristil was met by the possessed oungan. After the cus- tomary handshake in the form of a cross and the pouring oflibations at the four corners of the universe, the power of the ]was in the oungan's body spun Legba counterclockwise; he became possessed and disappeared into the darkness, as he wandered away from the place of the ceremony. When a week had passed and Legba did not return, Bondye became angry. The noise of the drumming and the singing was becoming increasingly disturb- ing. Bondye sent Damballah. When Damballah approached the peristil. the oungan shook his hand and twirled him around. Damballah poured liba- tions at the four corners of the universe, for a lwa had entered his body. He too was sent away, wandering in the darkness . Another week passed, and Bondye sent the bold Gede, the shy Zaka, the chivalrous Ogou- but they did not return . Finally, Bondye decided to investigate the matter himself After searching a day or so for the peristil, he arrived at the gate of the ounfo. The oungan greeted him with the customary handshake and spun him around,

after which Bondye poured libations on the ground and went staggering aimlessly into the courtyard of the ounfo, for he too was mounted by a lwa.9

Although this tale relishes the superiority of the ]was over Bondye and presents him as having been tricked by the oungan, it must not be thought of as sacrilegious. Like the Fan's concept of God, it expresses Vodouisants' concept of Bond ye as the master of the world, the head of the nanchons who reserves the right to command the lwas, sending them to earth as his emissaries. But the tale also reveals Vodouisants' concept of him as a be- nevolent, patient deity who, in spite of his anger, is slow in interfering in

164 The Faces of the Gods

human affairs . More importantly, it expresses the remoteness of Bond ye; as a supreme ruler of the universe, he is unaware of the nature and place of human activities.

Vodouisants express the Africanness of Bon dye most poignantly in their interpretation of the lithograph that depicts him. It shows the bust of an aged man, with white hair and a white beard, piercing through gray clouds. His uplifted arms extend over the breadth of the universe. In his right hand, he holds a cross. Directly under the bust, and in the middle of the picture, is an eye from which beams a sunburst, lighting the entire lithograph . Piercing through the clouds on the right side of the picture is a hand holding tipped scales: on the left, lower pan of the scales kneels a penitent, before whom is

an angel dressed in pink and holding an open scroll; on the righ t pan stands a monstrous black creature whose skin is stretched over his bones . Across the bottom of th e lithograph are depicted four scenes, of which the two on the left symboli ze the ben eficent forces in human life, and the two on the right, the maleficent force s. These four depictions may be interpreted as charity, the healing power of God, the ensnaring power of ev il , and violence . Charity is symbolized by an old mendicant with a walking stick receiving in his hat alms from a young couple. The healing power of God is symbolized by a young woman lying in bed, with angels of God at the head and foot of the bed who have come to heal her. The ensnaring power of evil is symbol- ized by a bedridden young man . At the side of his bed, in the foreground of the picture , are two black creatures similar to the one on the scales: one holds the young man's right hand to pull him down to the pit offrre below, while the other pu ll s on a rope around the young man's neck. In the flames is a black snake, which appears to have just bitten the young man's left arm . In the last of the four scenes, violence is symbolized by two men, one of whom beats the other with a stick and leaves him bleeding on the ground . At the very bottom and in the center of this lithograph , death is depicted by a skul l and crossbones.

As in other lithographs, these symbols invoke several themes connected with both scriptural imagery and Christian hagiology: the omniscience of a just God, the Last Judgment, and the victory of the beneficence of God over the maleficence of Satan. According to Catholic iconography, the black clouds symbolize the day of judgment at the end of the world. This image de- rives from the book ofRevelation, where the angel of God "came and sto od next to the altar with a golden censer; . .. the smoke of the incense rose . . . before God . Then the angel took the censer and fi1led it with fire from the - altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peal s of thunder, loud noises,

The Gods and Public Life 165

Bondye

166 The Faces of the Gods

flashes of lightning, and an earthquake" (8 :1-5). The omniscience of God is symbolized by his place above the clouds and the eye in the center of the picture. The eye derives from several scriplural passages, among which is 1 Peter 3 :12, which states that "the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayers ." In Catholic iconography, the eye in

combination with the golden rays of light symbolizes God as the light of the world.

The hand holding the scale is that of Saint Michael, the archangel of God

who is traditionally said to be the "general-captain of the hosts of heaven , th e protector of the church militant in Christendom" (Ferguson 1954, 97- 98). It is Saint Michael who will sound the last trumpet to announce the final

judgment of humankind at the end of the world. It is also his "office" to re-

ceive the immortal spirits ofhuman beings; he wilJ weigh them on the scales separating the good from the bad. As "protector of the Hebrew nation,"

Saint Michael is the guardian of the redeemed against th e temptations of the adversary of God, the prince of hell, who in the lithograph is represented

by the black creature on the other side of the scales. The scales tipped by the penitent symbolize the Christian concept that tru e penitence always out- weighs evil. The angel holding th e scroll before the penitent represents the unveiling of his deeds on the day of judgment.

In Catholic iconography, the snake represents Satan. This image does not

derive from the book of Genesis, but from later biblical and extrabiblical interpretations, such as the book of Revelation where Satan is vividly por- trayed as the enemy of God (chapter 16). From this Christian use of the snake

to portray Satan, it would seem logical that in the depiction of the ensnar-

ing power of evil, the snake rises from the fiery pit of hell under the young man's bed and bites him as Satan pulls him dow n to hell.

Although these symbols may have explicit m eani ngs in Catholic tradi- tion, Vodouisants have interpreted them in terms of their own tradition .

In this lithograph, Bondye is no longer the Christian God , who on the last day commissions Saint Michael to separate the good from th e bad; indeed, as already noted in Chapter 3, since Vodouisants have only a vague con- cept of heaven or paradise and an equally vague concept of hell, it would seem logical that they would not see them depicted here. Moreover, since

Vodouisants, like the Fon, believe that the body at death is always reshaped by Bondye (or Mawu), they cannot conceptualize the Christian idea of the end of the world. Rather, to Vodouisants this lithograph comes to represent Bondye as they perceive him in the personae of the major cosmic lwas. Th e omniscience of Bond ye is symbolized by his image in the sky: his extended

The Gods and Public Life 167

arms recall the Vodou and Yoruba concepts of God whose body shapes the vault ofheaven. The eye and the golden rays are given a double significance .

On the one hand, the eye symbolizes Bondye's omnipresence; although it has the same meaning among Christians, Vodouisants' interpretation of it recalls that of the Yoruba: it is one of Bondye's thousand eyes with which

he watches over the universe. On the other hand , the same Vodouisants say that the eye with its golden rays symbolizes the sun, or Legba, who watches

over the destiny of humankind. As described above in Chapter 4, th e cross

that Bondye holds in his right hand represents th e four cardinal points of the universe (over which he rules and which he sees simultaneously), in

both a macrocosmic and a microcosmic sense. Th e scales below the eye no

longer symbolize God 's justice but have come to represent man 's destiny as

planned by Legba. Hence , the kneeling penitent becomes a male devotee, and the pink angel, Ezili.

In the first of the four images at the bottom of the lithograph , the old men-

dicant becomes Gede or Zaka; the stick, their symboli c phallus; and the hat, the "plate" from which Zaka receives the food that he eats rapaciously when he invades the body of a devotee. In the second scene Ezili is being helped by emissaries of Bondye in the delivery of one of her newborn; the snake becomes Dam ball ah who is thrown out of Ezili 's bed during delivery. Th e bedridden young man in the third scene becomes a devotee who is being eaten by two ofKafou Legba's bakas; in that same picture the snake becomes

Simbi , who has been sent to harm the young man. Finally, the fourth depic-

tion shows the violence ofOgou Feray who strike s his enemy during tim es

of war; his stick becomes a machete, and the bleeding man the oppressor.

The bones and skul l are symbols of Baron Sanmdi .

Thus, Vodouisants see this lithograph as depi cting the numerous person- alities of Bondye. The Christian themes dealing with the omniscience and

justice of God, the Last Judgment, and the power of good over evil are dis-

placed by the omniscience ofBondye (as understood in the African sense); the destiny of man as planned by Legba and Kafou Legba; Bondye's persona

as the guarantor of the continuation ofhuman generations, as symbolized by Legba, Ezili, and Damballah; the effectiveness of Bondye's power in magic and sorcery, as represented by the bakas and Simbi; violence as symbolized

by Ogou Feray; and death as represented by Baron Sanmdi. The African- ness of Bond ye can be further seen in his remoteness as symbolized by the clouds, in his immortality as seen in the grayness ofhis hair and beard, in his omnipresence as represented by the eye, and in Vodouisants' interpretation of the cross.

168 The Faces of 1he Gods

There is no doubt that in the Vodou concept of Bond ye one finds symbio- sis in two ways: in the adoption of the Christian name "Bond ye" to designate the Godhead, and in the translation of his persona (as well as the symbols that describe that persona) into African terms. The causes for this translation can be found in Haitian history, both during Vodou's formative period in

the eighteenth century and during the early years following independence. As already noted, slaves came to the island from different parts of Africa, and during the repression of the colonial period and the difficult years that followed they cou ld well have forgotten the various African names for the Godhead. That they adopted the Christian name "Bondye" can be explained

by several observations. First, the need for Africans (and those after them) to communicate verbally

with the missionaries would have required them to use "Bondye," which (as already mentioned) is the creole derivative of the French "Bon Dieu" for God. The nwnerous police rulings as well as the later prohibitions con- cerning Vodou would have necessitated the use of"Bondye" for God rather than the African names in order to conceal their commitment, and hence to avoid their arrest by local authorities. Moreover, the loss of the various ethnic African designations for the Godhead would have been further occa- sioned by the infrequent use of those names in Vodou ceremonies; as we have seen, the name would have been seldom mentioned, save for the pour- ing of the customary libation at the beginning of each ceremony. In contrast, and as Roger Bas tide noted, the clandestine practice of Vodou throughout Haitian history would have fostered the recollection of the names of many of the African minor gods as well as the mythological depi c tions and rituals

associated with them (Bastide 1971, 69). Second, the diversity of African ethnic traditions represented on the

island during Vodou's formative years would have encouraged adoption of "Bondye" as a generic name for God. Thus, "Bondye" would have become a symbol of ethnic and linguistic unity. Moreover, although the maroon re- publics were isolated in the mountains ofSaint-Domingue, and indeed main- tained virtually no contact with colonial settlements or with the church, the infiltration of newly arrived slaves from the plantations into these republics wouJd have reinforced the adoption of the name "Bond ye," since the new arrivals undoubtedly would have brought it with them.

In short, an analysis of ·Bondye's persona suggests several conclusions. First, symbiosis by identification can be seen in Vodouisants' rendition of the persona of the Christian God and the symbols that depict it in terms of African concepts of God. Second, the pressures of contact between Euro-

The Gods and Public Life 169

pean and African cultures, as well as the diversity of African traditions on the island, would have necessitated the selection of a linguistically intelli- gible and generic name for God. While the Christian name "Bondye" was adopted, African concepts were poured into Vodou's theological mold .

In addition, symbiosis by ecology can be seen in Vodouisants' religious attitudes toward Bondye. Just as, in the peristil, Vodoujsants never pray di- rectly to Bondye, so too in the Catho)jc churches, the devotees rarely address their invocations to the Christian God, but invoke the saints (or tl1e !was) as their intermediaries. Although Vodouisants (who call themselves Catholics) believe that God is the ruler of the universe, they do not accept him as a per- sonal one. We thus find a mosaic juxtaposition in the priest's celebration of a Mass to his Christian God before a congregation whose God is essentialJy African.

CONCLUSION

In light of the foregoing analysis of the personae of the Vodou lwas, we can draw several conclusions about symbiosis, as well as about the current and future relationship between Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti.

(1) We noted in Chapter 1 chat in a situation of culture contact in which a dominant society threatens the religious beliefs of the dominated by ex- erting political and social pressures upon them, the members of the domi- nated culture may feel the need to emphasize cultural elements that have fallen into desuetude, stressing their own distinctiveness in order to reduce the stress created by the situation of contact. In such cases, the dominated society may form contra-acculturative movements whereby it attempts to emphasize the values of its original way of life, to move aggressively to re- store those values, and, even in the face of apparent impotence, to throw off the restrictive power of the d~minant culture. In order to emphasize their own values the members of the domjnated society need to revive their an-

cestral traditions . This re-creation of a remembered past is never identical to the real past, since it is a selective process based on "collective memory." A society may choose to emphasize those elements of its past that can be given a symbolic value to lend new meaning to the present and to the future; such a vision of the past may be seen as a formula for present and future salvation. In short, the members of the dominated society may feel that by selectively reviving their past, and by behaving as their ancestors did, they will, in some undefined fashion, help to re-create a desirable mode of life in the manner

of their ancestors, both in the present and in the future. Such revivification of the past was characteristic of the slave religion dur-

ing Haiti's colonial period and can be seen in many ways. First, as already noted in Chapter 2, the isolation of the maroon republics from European cultural influences allowed the preservation of whole enclaves of African traditions in Vodou. Second, the shape of the religious beliefs and rituals in each of these republics depended upon a number of variables : the "blend- ing" of ethnic trarntions represented, the particular religious traditions of the leaders, and the uneven demographic distribution of ethnic groups.

Conclusion 171

Together, these factors would not only cause some ethnic traditions to domi- nate over others, but would also account for the regional divergences that existed among the different maroon republics during the colonial period and that still exist in the various ounfos throughout HaHi today.

Despite these divergences, however, the names of many African gods (or variations on them) remajn more or less ubiquitous in Haiti today, and the personae ascribed to them resemble those of Africa. Thus, as we have seen,

Damballah derives from Da and symbolizes, both in Haiti and in Benin, cos- mic motion; Agoue, the marine lwa , who is Agbe in Benin, is associated with the sea in both countries; and Bade, th e wind , derives from the Beni- nois Gbade. The prominence of any of these lwas in the theology of any one

ounfo depends upon the dominant tradition in that region or the particular proclivity of the oungan or mambo .

Other lwas have creole names in Haiti, but their envisaged personae and the symbols and rituals associated with them derive from many parts of Africa. Hence Bondye, whose name comes from Christianity, has retained many of the characteristics of West Africans concepts of the Godhead. Za.ka, whose name probably derives from th e religion of the indigenous Indians of Haiti, takes his envisaged personae from Benin's Yal6de. Moreover, although Vodou beliefs and rituals are not identical to their African counterparts, they continue nevertheless to be stamped with the mark of West Africa . Indeed, Vodouisants' beliefs about the compartments of the human soul, the burial and reclamation rites, and the significance of names given to perso ns initi- ated to the !was in Vodou recall many of the religious traditions of the Old World from whi ch they derive.

In Chapter 1 we also noted that the re-c reation of a rememb ered past by

a dominated society can take on millenarian and apocalypti c aspects if the pressures resulting from the situation of contact are not alleviated . The idea

of the millennium symbolizes a metahistorical future , based upon the past, in which the world will be inhabited by a humanity liberated from the op- pressions and stresses of the present . The members of the dominated society construct an image of a new social order that will in time replace the present one. This image may be a vivid one, and they may believe that its adv~nt will be heralded by brutal means, including wars and cataclysms in which the supernatural will participate. As·the bearers of good tidings and the elect of the gods, they may move aggressively to accelerate the advent of the new order, which they see as an abrupt jump onto another level of existence. This explains why millenarian dreams ·can be threatening to any government. The outcome of millenarianism in the dominated culture is dependent upon the

172 The Faces of the Gods

intensity of the contact situation between the two cultures: the threat of dis- ruption may weaken if the conditions of extreme frustration and hardship lessen, but if suffering and frustrations become more intense, it may well revive.

During the Haitian colonial period, slave revolts were led by such prophets as Macandal and Boukman, who envisioned the new order to be their even- tual return to their fatherlands and who taught their followers that the gods would reappear to take them there. ln the postcolonial period, Ogou took on a new persona, and was integrated into the framework of Haitian history. He became identified with the heroes of the revolution, th e symbolic em- bodiers of Vodouisants' national ideal, the bringers of a higher order which was to be a perfected Haiti. Vodou's millenarianism reappeared during the American Occupation, the Antisuperstitious Campaigns, and more recently in 1986, in 1990, and again in 1991 , during weeks of dechoukaj (reprisals) in which the masses took to the streets throughout the country to avenge the murders, the theft, and the civil rights abuses of the tontons macoutes dur- ing the twenty-nine years of the Duvalier oligarchy. Thus, Ogou Feray has inspired Haitians to resist political and religious suppression many times in their history. His persona reflects Vodou's ability to re -create the past, for in every ceremony in his hon or, Vodouisants relive the political and religious traditions of their national past- a symbolic reenactment of the Haitian Revolution .

1n short, we can safely say that the large extent to wh ich the names (or variations upon them) and th e personae of the Afric;an gods are remem- bered in Haiti implies that Vodou is a religion that is continuous with African

religious traditions. By th is I mean that Vodou could not be classified as an African religion, but as an African-derived religion whose theological devel- opment has allowed its adherents not only to rekindle many of their African ethn ic traditions, but to transform these traditions according to their envi- ronmental, sociocultural, and economic situations .

(2) We have seen that the continued contact between Roman Catholicism and diverse African religious traditions on the island has caused Vodoui- sants to incorporate the names or personae ascribed to the saints as well as the symbols associated with them into an already existing divergent core of African ethnic traditions. Tbe choice of a particular saint to correspond to a specific African and Vodou lwa is based on the similarity of symbols between Catholic and Afri can iconographies. Legba , for example, whose symbol is the rooster, becomes Saint Peter; DambalJah, the genLle snake, be-

Conclusion 173

comes Saint Patrick; Mary's beauty as depicted in the lithographs causes her identification with Ezili; Saint Ulrich's association with the fish leads to his identification with Agoue; and so on. Similarly, the maroons' contact with the religious traditions indigenous to the island caused them to incorpo- rate those traditions into their theology as well. Thus Zaka, the Haitian Pan lwa whose name derives from Amerindian religions, becomes Saint John

the Baptist, but his persona corresponds to that of Yal6de in Benin. We thus have a clear situation of symbiosis by identification.

Symbiosis by ecology can be seen both in the mosaic juxtaposition of Catholic and Vodou objects on the same pe or altar, and in the temporal sepa- ration of Catholic and Vodou rituals. Mosaic juxtaposition was observed on the makeshift altars erected at the wakes, and at the ceremonies in honor of

Agoue. The temporal separation of the two religions was seen in the funeral cycle of observances where the Catholic ceremonies were performed at the church or at the home of the deceased and those ofVodou at the ounfo, and in the distinct locations of the Vodou and Catholic rituals accompanying the pilgrimage to the waterfa ll s for Ezili and DambalJah .

Just as tiny pieces of a stained glass window are juxtaposed to each other to make a whole, so too fragments of the Catholic ritual performed by the pret savann and those performed by the oungan coexist in the same loca- tion to make the whole of the Vodou ritual. Such is the case, for example, in Vodou baptisms, which, as we recall, entail ritual performances by both the pret savann and the oungan. Moreover, the presence of both pret savann and oungan in the hierarchy of the ounfo illustrates the coexistence of the two religious traditions in symbolic form. And finally, symbiosis by ecology can also be seen in Vodou's adaptation of the Catholic liturgical calendar to the religious observances in honor of many of the !was. We observed in Chapter 5, for example, that the Catholic holy day reserved for the Virgin in Haiti was adopted for ceremonies in honor ofEzili and Damballah .

(3) We further noted that Vodou was a tertium quid, a creole phenomenon deriving from the historical, socioeconomic, and political contexts of Hai- tian history. Hence, many of its traditions bear little or no resemblance to those of Africa or Europe. Such is the case with most of the Petro lwas, especially with the persona of Ogou Feray whom Vodouisants have identi- fied with insurrections and political revolutions. The indigenous nature of Vodou can also be seen in the names ascribed to many of the !was: while Zaka's persona recalls that ofYaJ6de, his name is Amerindian.

Moreover, we may recall other observations made about the creole nature

174 The Faces of the Gods

of Vodou:isants' religious lives, whose traditional practices are dissimilar to those of both Africans and Europeans. These include: the identification of the !was with the saints, the separate sites of the Catholic and Vodou rites, the coexistence ofVodou and Catholic ritual paraphernalia on the same pe, and the temporal juxtaposition in the ritual manipulation of each of these objects in the same Vodou ceremonies. Finally, Vodouisants' simultaneous practice of Catholicism and Vodou, as well as the correspondences in the liturgical calendars of the two religions, achieve the creole character ofVodou.

VODOU AND CATHOLICISM

Vodou is thus an amalgam of religious traditions from three widely separated regions, all of which have persisted throughout Haitian history and have proven essential to the people's cultural and religious life. The Vodou lwas and the imagined mythological personae or faces associated with them have been shap ed by the events in Hai tian history. The ]was provide the mytho- logical links that permit every Haitian to identify with Africa as well as with Europe. At the same time, the creativity with which Vodouisants have as- similated New World beliefs to pour them into a European and African mold clearly shows their cultural and religious identity with Haiti's indigenous cultures as well .

But a glance at Vodou beliefs, as discussed in the preceding pages o f this book, reveals that perhaps one of the most striking features of Haitian society has been the tenacity with which Haitians have held to their Vodou ]was, and the multifaceted ways in which these !was have ordered Haitians' religious lives, both in the past and in the present. The ubiquity of Vodou in Haitian life has been the underlying theme of this study, and has also been the princi- pal thesis of much of the ethnographic research about Haitian culture cited throughout this book. But, as Janheinz Jahn noted, perhaps the most effec- tive vehicle to characterize the persistence ofVodou in Haitian life is Haitian literature (1961, 56-57). Such is the case with Jacques Stephen Alexis's novel Les arbres musiciens, which recounts the story of a wealthy family living in the small village of Fonds-Parisien during the time of the last Antisuperstitious Campaign in 1941.

In this novel , Leonie Osmin was a mother who worked very hard to rear her three sons and to ensure their formal education. Edgar became an army officer; Diogene, a Catholic priest; and Carles, a lawyer. As the story unfolds,

Conclusion 175

the church influenced the state to acquire some land to build a church in the village. The state sent functionaries to Fonds-Parisien to study the mat- ter.During that same period, Edgar was named commandant of the district, while Diogene was appointed the local curate. When the functionaries ar- rived, they found that Vodou was practiced openly in the district. Under pressure from the state, and in the spirit of the Antisuperstitious Campaign, Edgar and Diogene began their crusade against Vodou. They sought out every ounfo in the vicinity, to destroy its altars and force its devotees to renounce their religion. By their crusade, the Osmin brothers made a powerful enemy : namely, Bois d'Ormes Letiro, a famous Vodou papalwa (high priest) who had inherited the leadership of an old ancestral shrine from an African patri-

arch who came to Haiti as a slave during the coloni al period. Bois d'Ormes realized that the church and the state were united against him , and that they

wanted to eradicate from the community the legacy that he had inh erited from his ancestors, which he had worked so hard to maintain.

In a moment of despair, Bois d 'Ormes wondered why his ancestors had fought for Haiti's independence : "Why did Dessalines live, if the whites [European priests leading the campaign] come to take our land again?" He asked Carles, "How is it that the city police have now call ed whites to give our land to them when they had not dared to take it th emselves? If the whites give you an order and you obey, the one who gives you the order reserves the right to do so. But what if the order is wrong?" He reminded Carles that he was a lawyer, and therefore an educated man, and asked why it was that the whites suddenly wanted to destroy Vodou : "What have we done to them? I am old, my .hair is white and my head trembles, my steps are not as deci- sive as they once were, I thought that I had learn ed a great deal through the years, I don't understand. " Carles was ashamed of his two brothers' beastly treatment of the old man. He noted that he was young, and hence had no answer to Bois d'Ormes's question, except to say that behind his brothers' endeavors to destroy the shrine and its contents were "powerful men, for- eigners, whites .... " Carles affirmed that his brotl1ers ' behavior posed a far greater threat to the lwas than to the state or to the church. He confessed that he believed in neither God nor the devil, but trusted only the land, and respected all that came from the earth . Like the banana, the manioc, and th e maize of Haiti, the lwas came from the earth . Vodou was like the maize: it survived the devastating fury of the hurricanes, and the dry, torrid heat of the tropical summer. "Why does the maize grow here, and not wheat?" he asked. "Our sun is hot, and the maize grows despite the heat, despite the use of our hands and the unsophisticated tools with which we cultivate the

17 6 The Faces of the Gods

land .... The whites want Haitians to renounce their religion for that of the whites, but Vodou is like the maize of Haiti; the religion of the whites is like the wheat. It cannot grow in Haiti" (Alexis 1957, 269-70).

A few days later, Bois d'Ormes wandered by a lake with Gona1bo, a young woman living in Fonds-Parisien. He told her that he was old, and felt death's terror looming about rum. "All my life," he said, "I have suffered and strug- gled to maintain the legacy of my African ancestors who founded this shrine. I have cultivated the land that they left me, helped their descendants and their children, and tendered the offerings to their altars .. .. Now it is time to rest my old, tired body in the earth," the place where the !was reside. "A voice cries within me, and it tells me that it is you that the !was will choose

[to continue my work] ... . Alone, you will struggle to gain knowledge !of the !was and the ancestors!, but the !was will give you the clairvoyance" to understand the mysteries of the earth. "You will suffer Gonaibo. Didn't I suf- fer? Suffering saves, Gonaibo , you will never be unhappy, never ... you will have peace in your heart .. . . Promise me not to search the sound of thunder and lightening so as not to heed the calJ [of the lwas]" (Alexis 1957, 356).

Like Carles, Bois d'Ormes could have been distressed about the future of the !was in Fonds-Parisien. But he did not discuss his fears about the dis- appearance of the lwas with Gonaibo. Instead. he drew •from his pocket a golden chain. Balancing it on his thumb, he said to the girl, "Do you see this, child?" Then he lifted it; mustering as much strength as he could draw from his old, gnarled body, he cast it into the water as far as he cou ld . Bois d'Orrnes then walked toward the water, entered it, and sank deeper and deeper into it as Gonaibo watched him disappear completely from sight. She wondered if the old man had drowned. Had he committed suicide? Was he performing a final death ritual? Extraordinary stories were told in the com- munity about his magical powers, such as his ability to move rocks from a distance; no one understood his behavior, and Gonaibo thought that he might never return. But as she looked over the horizon in search of the old man, she saw his twisted body rise slowly out of the water and come closer

and closer to her. Between his teeth, he held a large gray fish. Kneeling, he dropped th e fish onto the ground, opened its belly with his teeth, searched its entrails, and found the golden chain . Then he rose and walked toward Gonaibo, placed the chain around her neck, and said, "Go Gonaibo, go, let me be" (Alexis 1957, 358).

Because several acts of terrorism against the church were committed by members of the community in response to the campaign against Vodou, the Osmin brothers perceived Bois d'Ormes's presence as a serious threat to

Conclusion 177

the welfare of the inhabitants of Fonds-Parisien. Accompanied by soldiers, Diogene, the curate, went to the site of the shrine with the intention of over- turning its altars and burning it in keeping with the spirit of the campaign. When they arrived, they found that Bois d'Orrnes had burned it himself, preventing its desecration by profane hands. Standing before the blaze, Bois d'Ormes addressed Diogene. He told him that the !was were "immortal like the gods of eternal Africa," and that they would never allow the state or the church to raise their iniquitous hands against the shrine. He added that <!_]though it had been destroyed, one day it would rise again "in the same spot, greater and higher, more beautiful, like the !was of eternal Africa" (Alexis 1957, 359).

Bois d'Ormes had depicted his sentiments about his religion; he had de- scribed the immortality of the !was. In the face of persecution Vodou, as symbolized by the chain, may seem to disappear, but one day, several gen- erations later, it will rise again. The wisdom of old sages like Bois d'Ormes

may die today, merely to reappear in the future in a young child like Gona'ibo. For below the water, in the navel of the earth, is Vilokan, the mythological city of the lwas. These }was will rise again and again, as Bois d'Ormes rose out of the water, to make themselves known to their devotees' progeny. The fragile wheat, like European culture, can never withstand the torrid sun of the tropics, nor can it achieve the stature of the banana tree. The !was, like bananas, are rooted in the earth and grow on the land . Just as the cultiva- tion of fruit requires the grower's full attention, so too devotion to the !was requires the devotees' abiding service. Or as Carles seems to suggest, like the maize, which is cultivated with primitive tools like the hoe, Vodou ap- pears to many as unsophisticated, but it will resist the most determined and tenacious efforts to eradicate it.

But if. as the characters of the novel seem to suggest, Vodou is such an integral part of Vodouisants' religious lives, so too is Catholicism. Manuel. a character in Jacques Roumain's novel Gouverneur de la Rosec, describes the dis- tinction between the two religions, as well as their pervasiveness in Vodoui- sants' lives. Manuel says, "There are the affairs ofheaven and the affairs of the earth; that makes two and they are not the same thing. Heaven is the pasture of the angels; they are happy; they do not have to attend to eating and drink- ing" (Roumain 1944, 14). But th e earth is a daily battle with the complex problems of life: "Life's resignation is treacherous; it is discouragement. It breaks your arms; one waits for a miracle from Providence, with rosary in hand, doing nothing. One prays for rain, for harvest, one recites orisons. But Providence is the good will of the Negro not to accept misfortune" (56).

178 The Faces of the Gods

Later, he affirms: "When the drums beat, it affects the pit of my stomach. I feel an itching in my loins and a current in my legs, I feel I must enter the circle" (56) .

If Catholicism is identified with heaven , Vodou is associated with the earth. And if Haitian writers say that the !was "have to do with the ea rth ," and hence cannot be uprooted from Haitian life, it is because Vodou ful - fills important functions in Haitian society that are distinct from those of

Catholicism. Aside from its healing power through magic, it maintains the

vision and the hope of the !was' assistance in enabling its devotees to cope with the poverty and famine caused by the incessant erosion of arable soil by the torrential rainfall of the tropics. Moreover, the oungans and mambos are powerful individuals in Haitian society, for they do not merely officiate at Vodou ceremonies, but fulfill important civic as well as political functions which the Catholic priests cannot perform . Often , local authorities will call upon Vodou priests to furnish character references on behalf of members of the community.

But Catholicism too is integral to Vodouisants' lives. Apart from the social services provided by its schools and hospitals, its rituals offer a means through which its communicants can participate in Haiti's official culture. Their children's baptisms, confirmations, and first commu~ions, their mar- riages and funeral masses , provide occasions for social intercourse. And it serves, as it did in the formative years of the republic, as a means by which Haiti maintains contact with the outside, providing opportunities to part ici- pate with other nations in common international ventures.

Because of the importance of both Vodou and Catholicism to Haitians, it is

doubtful that either of them will ever disappear from the country-but the continued contact between them may produce changes in both. As m en-

. tioned in Chapter 2, if Haitian society remains stable, and if the country's political life is free ofrevolutions, it is possible that syncretism may develop between the two religions in the future. This possibility is strengthened by the ecumenical spirit of Vatican II, and by the overwhelming support given to the Salesian Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide ("Titid") by voters during th e December 1990 presidential election.1 Aristide's government lasted merely nine months; it was toppled on September 30, 1991, by a military coup. But the complex issues that initiated the coup did not change the fact that, since 1986, the Haitian clergy has had to acknowledge Vodou as a vital force in Haitian political and social life, and its oungans and mambos as powerful and influential figures in Haitian religious life. Haiti's March 1987 Constitu-

Conclusion 179

tion guarantees religious freedom to all its citizens, and hence legally grants to Vodou a status equal to that of the church.

The provisions of the new constitution have helped to foster an atmo- sphere of religious openness throughout the country in recent years-an openness in which Vodouisants have enjoyed a religious freedom reminis-

cent of the days ofFaustin Soulouque. On a recent trip to Haiti, I heard what was perhaps one of the rare moments in Haitian history: the radio and tele- vision programs broadcasting general news about religion included events, not ·only in the life of the church (both Catholic and Protestant), but those of Vodou as well .2 Moreover, a significant change in th e church and among its clergy has occurred in the domain of the arts. The church has recognized the ·talents of Haitian artists, even though many of them are Vodouisants . Many parishes hav e allowed local artists to paint biblical scenes on the waJls

of church sanctuaries. These murals are colorful representations of Haitian life . Christ, the saints, and the apostles are black; they are depicted amidst the towns and cities of the country, even near what appear to be ounfos.

In th e domain of ritual, the church has been swift in assimilating Vodou elements into its liturgy. In many rural parishes, Vodou songs with new Christian words are used as church canticles . While attending Mass at one prominent provincial parish, I observed an event that heretofore would have been unthinkable : like the oungan in the ounfo who pours rum libations at the four comers of the peristil floor at the start of a ceremony to recognize Bondye and all th e lwas, the curate poured libati ons of water at the four cardinal points before the celebration of the Eucharist, as if to acknowledge

the presence of God, the saints, and all the !was in the cosmos. Also, for the first time in Haitian history, drums have been allowed in the rituals of

some rural parishes; locally produced woodcarvings have begun to replace the European statues of the saints in the sanctuaries; and Sunday morning sermons inveighing against Vodou are seldom heard.

If the current efforts at indigenizing the church continue, the sanctuary may one day replace the peristil; sacred rattles and other Vodou ceremonial paraphernalia may be assimilated into the church's rituals; and the Vodou ]was and the myths associated with them may well replace the saints and Christian hagiology. ln short, the recent efforts on th e part of many Hai- tian clergy to creolize the church have brought it closer to Vodou. At the same time, Vodouisants as well as Christians have been granted the right to practice their religion according to their culture and conscience.

Despite the recent, steady growth of evangelica l Protestantism (which

180 The Faces of the Gods

has traditionally opposed both Catholicism and Vodou), and the religious freedom enjoyed by Vodouisants since the Duvalier oligarchy, the status of Catholicism in Hai tian society differs from that of both Protestantism and Vodou. It continues to enjoy special privileges accorded to it by Haitian law, for it receives financial support from the government; priests' salaries and travel fees are subsidized partially by public funds; and the repair of many church buildings, parochial schools, and hospitals is also partiaJly funded by the Haitian governm nc. In contrast, Vodou and Protestantism enjoy no such

privileges and obtain no official subsidy from the government. Although Protestant sects and denominations are sustained by local and foreign con- tributions, local oungans and mambos are supported entirely by their devo-

tees, a growing number of whom are members of the upper classes; Vodou edifices ai·e erected and repaired using whatever funds their oungans or mambos can expropriate from the devotees.

An examination of the relations between Vodou and Catholicism indi-

cates that the future of Catholicism in Haiti rests upon a number of con- sideratio ns. There is no possibility, as the nov els by Alexis and Roumajn suggest, that Vodou will ever be eradicated from Haitian society, because, as noted throughout this book, it is interwoven so complete ly within the fab - ric of Haitian life. Indeed, its resilience in the face of the Antisuperstitious Campaigns, as well as in the face of the intransigent hostility of the clergy attempting to destroy it in the past, attests to the steadfastness that Vodou.i- sants have demonst rated toward their ]was. Although both religions have changed significantly in the past and will continue to do so in the future, Vodou's adaptation to Haitian culture far exceeds that of the church . Such adaptation has been possible precisely because ofVodou's fl exible structure in the hierarchy of the local ounfos, and its inherent ability to incorporate, as in the religion of the maroon republics of the colonial period, divergent local folk traditions into its theology and practice. This same ability to in- corporate local beliefs and practices-to give lo cal "flavor" to its religious traditions, as it were- has resulted in the heterogeneous nature of Vodou today. Catholicism, in contrast, has not been as flexible, at least until recently. Its clergy have sought to preserve the church's depositum fidei in order to safe- guard those religious traditions which, in the eyes of many Catholics, have maintajned and enhanced th e church's prominence in Haitian social and political life. But if the church is to survive in Haiti in the future, its clergy will need to concede to more changes than those mentioned earlier in an effort to adapt Catholicism to the country's changing culture. They will need to reevaluate the church's mission as well as its function in Haitian society.

Conclusion 181

This reevaluation should entail the continued cognizance that Vodou is an integral spiritual reality in Haitian cu ltural life, and that to oppose it means in effect to oppose the cu lture of the very people whom the church is claim- ing to serve. Moreover, like Vodou, the Haitian church will need to become doctrinally more flexible, and to make provision for its parishes to assimj-

late the local indigenous traditions of the people whom they serve. In short, if Catholicism is to survive in Haiti, it will have to become genujnely Hai- tian, both in doctrine and in practice. It will have to "de-Europeanize" (or -"demythologize") itself. free itself from its cultural and historical contexts,

accelerate its eventual "Haitianization" (or "remythologization") in its direct engagement with Haitian culture . It must allow Haitians the opportunity to

exercise their own resourcefulness in their religious practices, to take their destiny into their own hands, and to determine once and for all the funda- mental choices necessary to ensure the formulation of, and adherence to, their own genuine religious traditions-whether these be purely Vodou, or a Vodounized Catholicism.