12447: Subj: 12411: Re: 12400: Re: 12381, Don Pedro, from Mambo Racine (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com


Hi Lois!  Thanks again for good information!  You write:

<<Moreau does fix 1768 as the date Don Pedre was active in Petit Goave.>>

Lois, please forgive me, I am in Jacmel and I don't know where I would find a copy of Moreau's work here, and my books are in Massachusetts.  Does Moreau say "Don Pedre" was active in Petit Goave at that time, or that people were dancing a dance called by that name at that time?  If Moreau says it was the person himself, I think I will go to Ti-Goave and try to dig up some oral history.

<<Michel Lamartiniere Honorat (Les danses folkloriques haitiennes, 1955) interprets "un negre...d'origine espangnol" to mean mixed Spanish and African blood.>>

Oh... it could mean anything, an African who was "Creolized" in Spanish-speaking Hispaniola, a man of mixed Spanish and African blood born in Hispaniola, a man of mixed Spanish and African blood born in Europe or Africa, a "Spanish Moor", anything.

(sigh)

<< I don't really know very much about this--yet--but I thought of the Portugese possibility as I was going through a brief history of the Kongo kingdom.>>

Maybe.  Modern Americans sometimes confuse Spanish and Portuguese language and people, but back at that time... I think European-origin historians might have been less likely to confuse the two.

<<There were seven King Pedros, and the last died in 1955.  I know that Pedro IV was 18th century, but I don't yet know exactly when in that century.  I don't mean to suggest that Moreau's Don Pedro was actually one of the kings.  As I understand it, many of the Kongos used Portugese names.>>

Here's an idea - in the court of the King Pedro of the day, people danced.  They even had a special dance particular to celebrations for the king.  So in the same way as Dahomeyans remembered "Akadja" and the Houngan "Agassou", Kongo people remembered Don Pedro through his dance.

In my last email I omitted the list of Petro lwa, here they are in ceremonial order:

egba Petro, Marassa Petro, Wawangol, Ibo, Senegal, Kongo, Kaplaou, Kanga, Takya, Zoklimo, Simbi Dlo, Gran Simba, Carrefour, Cimitiere, Gran Bwa, Kongo Savanne, Erzulie Dantor (also known as Erzulie Zye-Wouj), Marinette, Don Petro, Ti-Jean Petro, Gro Point, Simbi Andezo, Simbi Makaya.

Again, note that there are actually three groups that would relate to Kongo people - the Kongo lwa proper, the Simbi (Nsambi?) group, and Don Petro/Ti-Jean Petro (if the King Pedro link is correct).

<<Maya Deren lays out her theory of the Amerindian origins of Petwo in an appendix to Divine Horsemen.>>

Yes, I think she is right  that there is a Native American influence - and I think you are right that "The truth could very well be a mix of elements."

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)