Mystic Lands. Disc 2, Burma, Taj Majal, Anasazi, Haiti

• Historical Origins: Blend of African tribal religion and Catholicism.

• Rituals: Incorporate both African and Catholic elements.

• Lwa Spirits: Synthesis of African and colonial religious figures.

• Annette's Experience: Spirits advised her through dreams and rituals.

• Cultural Complexities: Reflect the blend of African and colonial influences in Voodoo.

What are the historical origins of Haitian vodou? How have these origins shaped vodou? Give examples. In what sense does this religion synthesize African and colonial religions? What is a Lwa? Who is Ezili, Ogou, Danbala, and Gede? How does each one synthesize African and colonial religions?

Haitian Voodoo, according to the film Mystic Lands: Dance of the Spirits, is an amalgam of African tribal religion and Catholicism.  The population in Haiti is descended from African slaves and heavily influenced by the Christian religion brought along by 15th century colonizers.  Over the past 500 years, modern Voodoo has evolved as a “dance of the spirits” whereby supernatural elements of both African tribal religions and Catholic traditions are expressed in ritual, communion, and ceremony.  The film notes that death rites for practitioners of Voodoo are heavily influenced by Catholic ritual, but that others, such as the use of Voodoo ‘dolls’ or displays of possession, run counter to Christian orthodoxy.  Due to these differences French and Catholic authorities tried to stamp out Voodoo during the 19th and 20th centuries, but the religion continues to thrive today.

Voodoo also borrows the concepts of saints and angels from Catholicism to construct its own canon of spirits and demons.  The spirits, known as lwa, “choose their faithful…are invited… [and mount] the individual [eliciting a] psychophysiological state, for which the individual will later be amnesic” (Mageo 2003: 140).  This amnesic state is known as possession in the Catholic faith.  Many of these spirits are named, including Ezili, representing in Annette’s dreams the Mater Dolorosa, Ogou, a husband of Ezili, and Danbala, known as St. Patrick of Catholic tradition.  Gede, another popular named spirit, may represent very black persons who are poor.  These spirits are present in the dreams of Haitian people and also possess them, as in the case of one Annette.

Who is Annette? What is her religious experience in Port-au-Prince? Discuss Annette’s dream and the various messages it conveys. How does her dream concern her relationship to her boyfriend and to Bourguignon? How does it give insight into the self in Haiti?

Annette, an individual with whom social scientist Erika Bourguignon spent time and interviewed extensively, was one such possessed Haitian woman.  Annette had been born in the countryside, but also had a home in the slums of Port-au-Prince.  The pull of working in the countryside with Bourguignon on the one hand, and concerns in the city on the other, were expressed by Annette through the Voodoo spirits in her dreams.  Upon arriving in Port-au-Prince, she explained to Bourguignon that she erected a shrine to Ezili, Ogou, and Danbala, each one reflected in her dreams as advising and cajoling Annette to return to the city after she had been away working in the countryside (Mageo 2003:142).  In communion with these spirits via her dreams and Voodoo ritual, Annette could find catharsis and guidance, even while surmounting difficult life challenges. 

References

Duncan, Chip., Olmos, Edward James, and Duncan Group, Inc. Mystic Lands. Disc 2, Burma, Taj Majal, Anasazi, Haiti. Collector's ed. Milwaukee, Wis.: Duncan Group, 2005. Print.

Mageo, Jeannette Marie. Dreaming and the Self : New Perspectives on Subjectivity, Identity, and Emotion. Albany: State U of New York, 2003. Print. SUNY Ser. in Dream Studies.