=?x-unknown?q?27845=3A__jhudicourtb=28reply=29Re=3A=5BISO-8859-1=5D?==?x-unknown?q?_27796=3A=A0_LeGrace_Benson_Opinion_=28fwd=29?=

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JHUDICOURTB@aol.com

I agree with Legrace Benson that there is no evidence of Human Sacrifice as
being part of Vodou ceremonies.   There is a linguistic ambiguity in the term
"manje".   I believe that "M'ap fè manje ou" which could be translated as "I
will have you eaten" acually means, "I will have you distroyed."   When people
say "Lougawou manje timoun" they do not refer to an actual act of the eating a
child, but rather of sending a "spell"   or bad spirit to take the child's
life.
There are often stories of human sacrifices in periods of great fear like at
the end of the Aristide administration.   People were talking about a baby
having disappeared from the General Hospital, with some woman later telling a
story of Aristide needing baby bones to do some magic.   Around that time
bodies
and heads were being found on street corners.   I saw a well dressed male body
with no traces of blood on December 29 2003 on the Nationale #1.   At that
time there were tow trucks and police everywhere clearing the road for the
official   drive to Gonaives on January 1 2004.   Yet, a friend told me that
the
body was still there on December 31 in the morning.   I believe that there was
a
campaign to terrorize the population with scary stories and scary appearances
at the end of 2003.   Where these were coming from remains to be clarified.

Whether the use of bones in magic potion really happens, I wouldn't know but
I think that although human sacrifices are not part of vodou ceremonies, the
sacrifice of lives for some benefit is something people believe happens.
Every small Haitian child has a story of an encounter with a lougawou.   It is
often told to the children that they were so beautiful and fat as babies that
a
Lougawou neighbor wanted their life.   I believe that these are beliefs based
on sincere fears in families.   Evidence for which they find in high infant
mortality.   Accidents like the drowning of President Boniface's grandchild in
the Palace bathtub, and premature deaths of young people in general are often
intrepreted as the work of evil spirits.   Lougawou's don't travel to the US
fortunately.   Their wings wont't take them far enough and health care is more
easily accessible.

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