7116: Re: 7086: Re: 7066: Talking about Vodou (still) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

Laura McPhee <llmcphee@iupui.edu> writes:

<<I would
simply like to use the following sources as evidence for the above
mentioned claim regarding the variances in Vodou practice...

"Vodou has never been codified in writing, never
possessed an institutional structure - a priesthood, a national 
church, an orthodoxy, a seminary, a hymnal, a hierarchy, or a charter."...
 Sidney Mintz and Michel-Rolph Trouillot
"The Social History of Haitian Vodou").>>

Let me take this one example to show how much nonsense is written in books!

This is the first I heard that we do not have a priesthood!  I am sure all of the Mambos and Houngans here in Jacmel will be very surprised to know.

And of course we have a hierarchy - hounsi kanzo, sur point, and asogwe.  Furthermore we are the "petit", or children, of the Houngans or Mambos who initiate us.  In Jacmel, for instance, the majority of Houngans and Mambos are "petit" or "petit petit" of Houngan Marc Elie Desir, which is to say that either he initiated them or he intiated the person who initiated them, and so forth.

Our seminaries are the peristyles in which we are trained.  Our liturgy includes the very intricate Priere Guinea which we all must memorize, and so forth.

The sources Laura cites are NOT Houngans or Mambos, so it's not their fault if they don't know, but since they don't know, they shouldn't act as if they do.

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