a1041: Bois Caiman, Boukman, and Intellectual Honesty (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

When researchers allow personal feelings to affect their research, the results are predictable.

Bois Caiman,  the site of a traditional ceremony at the beginning of the Haitian Revolution, is named in French, Bois Caiman.  It means Alligator Woods, and that is all.  A place named "Alligator Woods" sounds to me like a good place to sneak off and hold a ceremony, what do you think?  It's no big mystery.

Torturing the word "Caiman" to make it into "Kay Iman" and then saying that because "Iman" sounds a little bit like the word "imam", this indicates a Muslim influence, is just ridiculous.  I am sure that if we went around the world and asked people of every language what the word "iman" means to them, we would find at least twenty languages in which that word meant something - and in each language, it would mean something different.  It's like saying the dog in our lakou likes to sleep in the djevo because "dog" sounds like "dogwe", it's just a meaningless exercise.

The same with Boukman.  We don't know if he was called "Bookman" in Jamaica or if it was his owner who was named Bookman.  Maybe he was a Muslim, maybe he was the slave of a Jewish accountant who kept such good books he was nicknamed The Book Man.   It seems unlikely to me that a Muslim would commit apostasy and serve the lwa of Vodou.  But no one really knows, and all this trying to make poor old Boukman into this or that or the other thing to suit personal preferences is silly.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html

(Posting from Jacmel, Haiti)