#2576: Gran Brijit et al : a reply from Grey

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

In a message dated 2/27/2000 9:21:57 AM Pacific Standard Time,  Bébé Pierre 
Louis writes:

<< Initiation should induce revelations since the lwas who dance in one's 
head 
 should visit the initiates and instruct them.>>

But as you know, Bebe, when a person is possessed they lose consciousness.  
If a person acts as if possessed by a lwa, and then when it is over they can 
repeat what the putative lwa said, the person was faking.

Now, when I conduct initiations, the lwa do come - to MY head, and to the 
head of my partner Houngan, and the initiates presumably receive information 
from them.  The initiates also have lwa, but in our house no faking is 
allowed, so they don't remember what the lwa said, and we have to tell them.
 
 <<>From what I have read, I don't think that anyone has ever been visited by 
 Lasiren.>>

WHAT!  Put down the book and come to our peristyle!  LOL!  Of course people 
are possessed by La Sirene, in fact she is one of the lwa who most frequently 
comes to my head.

<< It is not mandatory since the tradition teaches that:
 
 - she is closely related to Ezili Fréda  with her sister Labalen. 
 - she, among others, belongs to the Agwe escort (eskot Lamè)>>

"Related" to Erzulie Freda?  She is the wife of Met Agwe, and so is Erzulie 
Freda (Freda's other two husbands are Ogoun and Damballah), but that is the 
only "relationship".  La Baleine (The Whale) is not the sister of La Sirene, 
La Baleine is a *praise name* for La Sirene.

 << As for the cult to Gran Brijit, lets just remember that she represents 
the 
 first woman buried on this earth.  In Haiti, she represents the first woman 
 buried in the cemetery where one has his or her devotion. It would be 
 interesting to know where the Scottish deportees of the Stuart wars buried? 
>>

I suppose some of them are in Grand Cimetiere!  Others were no doubt buried 
on the plantations where they labored, or in family compounds.
 
 <<Gran Brijit is usually called Manman Brijit, I don't know of many 
Vodouisant 
 having a filial relation to the Scotts!>>

You don't?  LOL!  Then where do you think those Baillys come from?  All sorts 
of European groups have contributed to the genetic makeup of modern Haitians 
- there are even Haitians named Kowalski, thanks to the Polish merceneries of 
yesteryear.  
 
<< One of her song is very specific about Koushite origin:
 - Manman Brijit Koushé, lap domi, lè la levé denyé, hounsi doba, dlo nan jé.
 (denyé meaning "in illo tempore")  >>

Which proves nothing.

Listen, Brigid is a MAJOR spiritual entity in the pre-Christian Celtic 
traditions which stretched from the British Isles across the Channel into 
France.  It is not at all surprising that she would have manifested in the 
Vodou tradition, since Voou is pragmatic and eclectic in the extreme.  Brigid 
in the Celtic tradition was a healer, among other things, as is Maman 
Brigitte in Vodou.  We even have a song that begins, "Maman Brigitte, li soti 
an Angleterre".  That sounds pretty specific to me.

Denying the European contributions in Vodou is nothing but a racist and 
retrograde attempt to amputate a significant portion of our heritage as 
Vodouisants.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra", 
     Good is rare - Haitian Proverb

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