#2538: Origins of Gran Brijit (fwd)

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

<< I'd also be interested in hearing about the origins of Gran Brijit?  I 
heard 
 her be described as syncretic with Kali, the Hindu God of death and 
 destruction (a reductive definition, to be sure), but I assumed that this 
 was a recent development in her scope.  I would love to hear more on this. >>

Gran Brijit is none other than the Celtic goddess Brigid, who came to Haiti 
in the heads of Scottish deportees during the Stuart wars (that's why there 
are Haitians named Bailly, and also why there are all those Fitzroys and 
Fitzsimmonses in Jamaica).  Naturally, the whites who most commonly 
participated in Vodou during it's formative years in Haiti were those from 
the lowest socio-economic classes (who were of course the least 
"Christianized"), and historians of the day tell us that they were most often 
white women.  Therefore it is not surprising that a female pre-Christian 
goddess made her way into the Vodou pantheon.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra", 
     Good is rare - Haitian Proverb

The VODOU Page - <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html";>http://
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