The link above is the first mention I’ve seen of the ceremony supposedly giving whatever deity a 200-year lease on the island.
Btw, I’ve heard the “pact with the Devil” before from missionaries to Haiti.
Factual question- not Catholic-bashing- to what extent has the Catholic Church in Haiti accomodated Voudun(sp?)?
I have many times heard that in Haiti and Tanzania albinos are killed so their bodyparts can be sold by witchdoctors. In Jamaica, albinos are cursed. This is some really evil, crazed voodoo.
Voodooo does not involve belief or worship of the devil (and your comparisons to the Nazis are inane), but be be that as it may, it’s still no less rational to say tha God is punishing haitians for practicing voodoo than to say he’s doing it for making a pact with Satan 200 years ago.
It’s irrational to say that God did it for any reason or to attribute any supernatural causes for it at all.
I’ve heard that legend of Bois Caiman, too. However, I disagree with the Wiccan writing the article. While Erzulie is most comonly regarded by outsiders as love and motherhood goddess, she is also the spirit of revenge and luck. Which would be entirely appropriate for a slave rebellion.
I’ve also had this legend related to me by two voodoo clergy and an PhD anthropologist who is a specialist in Haitian culture and religion. All three - none of whom knew one another - told me the loa involved was Erzulie. All forms of this tale I have heard have specified a black pig as sacrifice, which is a favored animal of Erzulie. Ogun prefers black dogs. These items, and some of my own research, leads me to suspect that such a ceremony did take place and the loa invoked was indeed a Petra form of Erzulie.
And I have no doubt either that a Christian such as Robertson would regard Erzulie as the devil.
:: Golf clap ::
In Haiti, being Catholic and being Voudoun are not mutually exclusive, much to the chagrin of the Roman church. I’m talking about actual practices here, where people attend the ceremonies and participate in BOTH religions, not about doctrine.
I know, but there’s some question as to whether or not Bookman was himself Voudoun. Some later accounts say he was, but those are by Voudon practitioners claiming him, and there’s some question as to what he himself actually believed, whether he was Voudon, whether he was Catholic, whether he was Muslim, or some mix of these.
Those come from horror movies, not from actual Vodou practice (and the sympathetic-magic idea behind them predates Vodou). Horror movies are probably about as reliable a guide to Vodou beliefs and practices as they are to Christian ones.
Can you tell my knowledge of Star Trek is newfound? I love being able to reference stuff like that and smile when I recognize a Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra ref.
Haitian voodoo/vaudou/Vôdun/ghoti* is a hodge podge mix of West African animism and Christianity. Their belief system involves a monotheistic god “Bondye” (pidgin French for “the good god”, and what French missionaries used to call the Christian god), with a variety of supernatural spirits (Loa) working for him and doing the day-to-day maintenance of the world, guarding the barriers between the physical world and the spiritual realm etc… Some Loas are fickle and capricious, or prone to anger, but none are “evil”.
There is no devil worship whatsoever (I’m not even positive they even *have *the concept of an antagonist to Bondye).
The ceremony described here sounds an awful lot like the Mau Mau oathing ceremonies in 1950s Kenya. Very interesting.
Silverstreak Wonder is ignorant of religion? I’M SHOCKED.
Okay, so a bunch of priests got together and had a conference call with the Prince of Darkness.
So… if my buddies and I get a ouija board, a Harry Potter book, a Marilyn Manson CD, then danced around in the moonlight saying: “On behalf of the United States…” could I screw the entire country for awhile?
They weren’t just priests, they were the founders of the slave revolt (IF it even happened)- it was more the equivalent of Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, John Adams & James Madison getting together for a sacrificial invocation rite.
But that only means anything if you actually believe that the “dark lord” exists and that he gives a crap about what we’re doing down here.
So OK, Swallowed and her buddies have their sacrificial invocation rite, overthrow the government of the US with the devil’s help, and then the country is screwed.
You could even inflict this on a country you don’t like. Say you don’t like Norway. You could have your sacrificial rite, then overthrow the government of Norway with the devil’s help, go home and leave the Norwegians to their own devices, and Norway is screwed for the next ~200 years. I’m surprised the CIA didn’t think to do this to Castro.
What doesn’t seem to work for me is that I didn’t think anyone else could sign me up for a pact with the devil. Like my lawyer may be my agent and representative in business dealings, and may be able to hammer out a sweat deal with the Dark Master, but I would still have to inscribe my John Hancock on the contract, or at least provide a bloody thumbprint or something. And even if I did, why does that leave my pious great great great grandkids screwed?
I think they were too busy trying to control people’s minds by feeding them LSD (FTR, this only works in the very specific case where you want to order people to stare at the wall very intently or write the words “electric fish carburator” four thousand times).
Let’s get this straight- I do not know if the Boi Caiman ceremony ever occurred, what really happened or what deities/spirits were called upon if it did, nor do I necessarily believe it was spiritually efficacious. I’m just explaining the rationale behind the idea that a country’s founders could make a spiritual covenant binding upon their descendants until said descendants repudiated such a covanant.
To make a Biblical comparison, Exodus 24 shows Israel’s tribal leaders led by Moses & Aaron making sacrifice & eating before The LORD and binding themselves & their descendants to the Covenant.
I will say this- the root of culture is cult. Whatever system of worship & spiritual values is truly at the base of Haitian culture has had a major impact on the state of its society, whether or not the spirits behind it are real. And even though the population identifies as 85% Catholic, how many of them blend that with Voudou I do not know.
If you could do that, why wouldn’t people just sign the souls of their enemies over to the devil, rather than signing over their own?