what is the significance of saliva in modern-day haitian voodoo?
i understand that assorted bodily fluids have meaning in traditional voodoo (voudou/voudoun/insert-spelling-of-yr-choice-here), but i’m not sure precisely how significant spit is in the bodily-product hierarchy. do modern-day haitians believe that giving spit to someone could potentially give that someone a method to harm the spit-giver? do they believe that spit is particularly valuable and would thus be unwilling to give it up readily? in short, does spit have meaning?
put quite directly: if i were to approach haitian people and offer them the equivalent of $5(u.s.) to spit into a little vial and answer a few brief questions, would they decline the offer on spiritual grounds and for fear of their safety?
(something makes me suspect that i’ll need to find a passel of haitian expatriates and ask them this, but i thought i’d check here first…)