Haiti Gives New Recognition to Vodou

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (April 6)--A young man, forlorn about his love life, stands in his shorts in front of the cross of Bawon Samdi, who in Vodou tradition heads the family of spirits of the cemetery. A Vodou priest, using herbal mixtures and chicken feathers, performs a ritual to cleanse the man's body and spirit. When the service is complete, the young man changes clothes, pays the priest, and heads home.

For many in the West and in upper Haitian society, Vodou--also spelled Voodoo, Vodoun, and Voudou--evokes a Hollywood stereotype of black magic and dolls stuck with pins.

But for Vodou supporters, what was once an underground practice dating back to slave days is finally being acknowledged as a bona fide religion and recognized for its role in defining Haitian culture. Vodou, which has no written scriptural text, is an amalgam of beliefs taken from African, native, and the colonial cultures that shaped modern Haiti.

The Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in Haiti have a long history of trying to discourage Vodou, seeing aspects of the faith as incompatible with their basic tenets. These include the worship of many spiritual beings, or lwa; a belief in possession; the use spells and incantations for good and, in some cases, for evil; and the use of animal sacrifices for some ceremonies.

Culture minister Jean Robert Vaval is among those working to improve Vodou's image. He recently helped arrange an exhibit of sequined Vodou banners and mock altars at the Musee d'Art Haitien in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

"We have maintained our heritage through Vodou," Mr. Vaval said. "We were brought over here from Africa, from tribes that no longer exist. We got all mixed up into one people. From that point on we created, and a great source of our inspiration has been Vodou."

The Culture Ministry's float for this year's Carnival paid homage to a 1794 Vodou ceremony that led to the country's independence from France 10 years later in a rebellion led by a former slave.

For practitioners, or Vodouisans, Vodou rituals are part of a philosophy that ties individuals to society, their community, and the environment.

Although there are no official statistics, the conventional wisdom is that the country is 80 percent Roman Catholic, 15 percent Protestant--and 100 percent Vodou.

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