13197: stanley honorat: on senou and loupgaroup, etc... (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: stanley honorat honorat <shonorat@hotmail.com>


as i was writing a rebuttal to senou's post (#13193), i recieved a post in
which bob wrote most of what i was going to say and some things that i had
not thought of.  in the interest of timeliness, i won't continue with the
rebuttal, but, instead, move on to answer some of the issues that have been
raised.

however, i would like to remind senou that, scientifically, when
an idea reaches the stage of being a hypothesis, it is not rejected.  it
is studied
and either proved or disproved.  if it is disproved, then it is retained for
the purposes of research.  if supporting evidence is found, then it may
progress into theory, etc...

looking at the four words presented by senou, we should realize that they r
not all related.  Mambo is a vodou priestess, or simply put, the female
counterpart of the houngan, or priest.  the term bissango was originally the
name of an african tribe.  a more thorough look into the term to see how it
applies to vodou is required before i venture to say more.  shanpwel is used
in different ways and has come to mean various sorts of people, including
those who venture into dangerous situations, etc.

loupgarou is not a term that originated in vodou.  it is actually a french
word that describes a mythical being that was transformed from man to wolf
and terrifies people at night (wolfman in english).  in essence, senou mixed
terms that have nothing to do with vodou with those that pertain to it.
now, to answer his to his "rejected hypothesis", one look at haitian history
will prove that there is a relationship between vodou and haitian
independance.  i am not refering to matters of faith and belief (as a
nonbeliever, i respectfully leave this item of discussion to those who
believe and/or practice) but to historical fact.  the bois caiman ceremony
of 1791 was the event began the chain reaction that led to jan 1, 1804.  if
for no other reason, this is sufficient to say that vodou has its importance
in haitian independance.

lastly, i'd like to remind senou that one does not have to believe/practice
a religion to recognize its cultural significance.  a citizen of saudi
arabia need not be muslim to recognize the importance of the religion of
islam to his or her culture...




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