#426: Taino re-settling Hayti, and koulev (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From: J. David Lyall <dlyall@cruzio.com>

>From: J Barnes <jbarnes@massed.net>
****
>The second idea is that believe it or not, their is an Indian tribe settling
>on LaGonave from Canada.  They are building something that they are calling
>a Health Village.  They are claiming to be creating a place where one can
>come an be healed with traditional remedies.  They said that in their oral
>history they are related to the Indians of Haiti and they are returning to
>their homeland.  I really wouldn't  know how to get in touch with them
>except that there may be organizations serving LaGonav who have email such
>as Fonkoze, Limye lavi.  They may know about how to get in touch with this
>group.  Maybe the Canadian Embassy knows about them.
>
I met someone last April at St Josephs Guesthouse who had spent
a month on La Gonave working with the teaching project that
whatsername (the 'asian american' womans project) has.

The new acquaintance was a woman teaching various art techniques.

Anyway, she mentioned the Taino settling on La Gonave. It was rumoured
that the locals were somewhat apprehensive about the way that the
indios were saying that La Gonave was their ancestral homeland.
I got the impression that the new settlers (from canada) were perhaps
not being sensitive enough to the locals sense of ownership.
The Haitians have suffered quite a bit to obtain their current
ownership.

One thing that was mentioned is that the indios are building traditional
organic houses and letting the grass grow up around the sides of the house.
I didn't get a full picture of this practice, but it apparently is part of the
construction method.

The locals (reportedly, by a native of La Gonave) regard this as
creating homes for koulev and thereby, a very bad idea, making
for bad neighbors.

I have noticed that protestants in Haiti are afraid of snakes.
Has respect for snakes, for  koulev, been cast as a djiab practice,
as voudou? The idea of snakes living in the attic, as reported
by Katherine Dunham in the 1930's is horrific to my traditional friends
in St Marc. Apparently this is so on La Gonave as well.