24594: Judson (reply) re: Èzili Dantò

[sak-pase@bimini.ws]

Drjudson@aol.com



I have seen Èzili Dantò as a mural on the temple of Hungan Diex Pere in 
Canau (Artibonite Valley).  This picture is almost identical the famous 
painting of Our Lady of Czestochowa (pronounce - ches-to-hova) 
discovered several hundred years ago in central Poland. It is better 
known as the black madonna.  Somehow, this famous painting found its way 
into the culture of Voudon.  My own theory is that Polish army officers 
who came to aid Napoleon in the revolution of 1795-1804, and later 
switched sides, brought the painting with them. The intermingling of 
Catholicism and Voudon known to have occurred in colonial Haiti may have 
extended to the adoption of this icon into Voudon culture.
Does anyone else have any ideas as to the reason for this Polish 
painting to have been incorporated into Haitian culture as Èzili Dantò 
??   John Judson