12962: Is Vodou a Religion? Mambo Racine responds (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Senou <senou@yahoo.com> surely is either joking, or baiting, to have written:

<<I heard close to 60% of Haitian practice voodoo.  Where these folks worship?>>

While the Vodou religion has nothing to "prove" to Senou or anyone else, I will do Senou the favor of making the following comments, since I am a Mambo asogwe of the Vodou with over a decade of experience in that role.

The figure for Haitian participation in Vodou is actually closer to 90% according to the US State Department website, which I think is right.  We worship in peristyles.

<< In Haiti I saw huge Catholic churches, Adventist, protestant, Jehovah witnesses and so on. I have not yet seen a Voodoo church.>>

Go immediately to the local optometrist and have your vision checked!  Vodou peristyles are everywhere - we usually have red and blue Haitian flags flying over the roof, the exterior and interior walls are usually brightly painted with multicolored murals and vevers.  They're impossible to miss.

<<I saw Protestant, Catholic giving away free food to the people, build school and provide some healthcare.  I have not heard seen the most predominant Haitian religion doing these stuffs for its members.>>

While it is true that we do not have "religion-wide" social services, such as the Adventist Hospital or the Catholic schools, we do indeed provide social services to our members on a peristyle by peristyle basis.  A Houngan or Mambo is expected to provide traditional medical care to sick or injured members AND to pay for "modern" medical treatment as best we are able.  We are expected to give our hungry members money for food, provide sleeping quarters to members who are temporarily homeless, and help to pay the school fees of members' children.

We are also expected to intervene in favor of our members in cases of domestic violence, livestock thievery and land disputes.  When I started to kanzo (initiate) Haitians here in Haiti, my responsibilities and my rights were explained to me very carefully by more experienced Houngans and Mambos, and I am proud to say that I have lived up to what is expected of me - as have my initiates, who owe me what a child owes a parent.

<<how to contact members of the voodoo religion? Is there a list? Who is in charge of that religion?>>

It is our greatest strength that we are de-centralized, there is no "Pope" in Vodou, no head of the religion.  Each peristyle is autonomous.  Each Houngan and Mambo owes obedience and respect to the person who initiated us, and while there is not exactly a telephone directory of clergy, each of us knows who the other Houngans and Mambos in our area are.

For example, in Jacmel, I, Kathy Grey, am known as "Mambo Kati" or Mambo Racine.  There are also the following:

Houngan Sebento, owner of the Paradise nightclub
Houngan Ti-Pierre, owner of the Purgatoire hotel
Houngan Medin, owner of an infamous bordel
Houngan Friztner Georges, my assistant when I perform initiations
Houngan Catolin
Houngan Somerville at the Bremen crossroads
Houngan Ti-George of St. Helene
Houngan Clement Beauvais near the bus station
Bokor Sinol of Monchil
Mambo Madame Nerva
Mambo Esperanta "Ti-Nounoun" Frederique in Raquette
Mambo Simone
Mambo Melanie near the cemetery
Mambo Vierge near the river

... and many many others.  This is only a partial list of the better known Houngans and Mambos in Jacmel.  Most of them have their own congregations ranging in size from a dozen to over eighty hounsis kanzo, not to mention the uninitiated participants who attend dances at their peristyles.

<<When these folks convene to discuss new issues>>

Whenever we choose!  Generally in Jacmel we have large meetings before Fet Gede in November, to plan our annual procession.

This is not "yo di" (they say), this is what *I* SAY.  Do you doubt me?  Do you think the people I have named are fictional?

<<I don?t believe 60% of Haitian practice voodoo>>

Neither do I, I repeat that the figure is much closer to 90%, and that is not counting the Protestant pastors and Catholic priests who come to us in secret to work magic for them.

<<I?m avdiehard Catholic>>

Most Vodouisants are also Catholics, Senou, it's not an either/or proposition in our view.  Maybe the Catholic church has a problem with that, but we don't - we are much more theologically sophisticated than they are.

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)