Rites & Ritual

what its people do — and when Part of Practice →

Daily

The candle and the glass of water. A candle lit in the morning, water poured on the floor for Legba and the ancestors, the Our Father and the Hail Mary, then the lwa greeted by name. Almost all Vodou is this — a household practice conducted in a corner of a room — and not the drum ceremony that outsiders photograph. When daily — morning, at the household altarWho the family, or one person Go deeper — context →

Yearly

A year and a day. At death the desounen separates the gwo bonanj from the body. It then goes to Ginen, under the water, and a year and a day later a second ceremony draws it back up and seats it in a clay govi where the family can consult it. Poverty is the enemy of this: a family unable to afford the second rite knows the spirit is still down there. When once — and then the year afterWho the family and the sosyete Go deeper — context →

Fèt Gede. The first two days of November, in the cemeteries, in black and purple. The Gede mount people by the dozen, drink rum steeped with scotch bonnets, dance the banda explicitly, and mock everyone including the priest and the bereaved. It is the largest religious event in the Haitian year and it is very funny. When annual — 1 and 2 November, in the cemeteriesWho everybody, and the Gede arrive in numbers Go deeper — context →

Saut-d'Eau, and the pilgrimages. In July tens of thousands walk to the waterfall at Sodo, where Ezili is said to have appeared in a palm tree, and bathe under the falls, leaving their old clothes behind in the water. It is a Catholic pilgrimage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a Vodou pilgrimage to Ezili at the same time, made by the same people. held by most When annual — the saint's day of the lwaWho pilgrims in tens of thousands Go deeper — context →

Feeding the lwa. Each lwa eats specific things: Danbala a raw egg on flour, Ezili Freda cake and champagne, Ogou rum and grilled meat, Zaka cornmeal in a straw sack, the Gede rum with peppers. The items are exact and substitutions are noticed. An unfed lwa becomes insistent, and Haitians describe a run of bad luck as a bill arriving. held by most When once a year at minimum, and whenever the lwa asksWho the family, at some expense Go deeper — context →

Once in a life

Kanzo. Initiation: seclusion in the djèvo for a week or more, the washing of the head, ordeals initiates do not describe, and emergence in white with a new name and a permanent tie to a house. It costs a great deal. A large majority of Vodouwizan never take it and are not regarded as lesser for it. held by most When once in a lifetime — a week or more in seclusionWho the initiate, the priest, the sosyete Go deeper — context →

Seating a spirit in a pot. A lwa or a spirit can be fixed in an object — a pot, a stone, a wrapped packet — which then lives in the altar room and is fed on a schedule. The obligation transfers with the object and cannot be walked away from; getting rid of one requires a ceremony of its own, and families inherit them. ⚖ contested within When once — and then it stays in the familyWho the household Go deeper — context →

Ongoing

The sèvis. Drums call the rhythm of the lwa being served, vèvè drawn in cornmeal, songs in order — until the lwa arrives in person. When on the lwa's daysWho the sosyete — drummers, dancers, the served Go deeper — context →

The Priyè Ginen. An hour or more at the start of every ceremony: the rosary, the litany of the saints and French Catholic prayers, then a chanted roll call of African nations and the lwa in Kreyòl. Nothing else can begin until it is done and until Legba has opened the gate. When at the start of every ceremony, without exceptionWho the whole assembly Go deeper — context →

Drawing the vèvè. Cornmeal trickled from between the fingers into an intricate symmetrical figure — every lwa has one, and it functions as both signature and summons. It is drawn on the floor at the start of the service and destroyed by the dancing within the hour. Nobody preserves them. When at every service — drawn on the ground and destroyed by the dancingWho the oungan or manbo Go deeper — context →

Three drums. Manman, segon and boula, interlocking, with each nanchon of lwa having its own rhythms and each lwa its own within them. The kase — the deliberate break in the pattern, aimed at a particular dancer — is the technical instrument of possession, and a drummer who cannot place one is not a drummer. When at every service — three drums, all nightWho the ountògi, and everyone Go deeper — context →

Being mounted. The lwa displaces the person's gwo bonanj and uses the body: it is dressed in its colours, given its food and drink, and it dances, diagnoses illnesses, settles disputes, scolds relatives and gives advice. The person is the chwal, the horse, and remembers nothing. This is the purpose of the ceremony rather than an unusual outcome of it. When at every service, unpredictablyWho whoever the lwa chooses Go deeper — context →

The consultation. People arrive with something specific — an illness, a court case, a visa application, a husband, a debt — and the practitioner works out which lwa is involved and what will settle it. Payment is negotiated openly. The practitioner's reputation depends on results, and Haitians talk about a good manbo the way they would talk about a good lawyer. When as needed — illness, court cases, visas, love, moneyWho the client and the oungan or manbo Go deeper — context →

The bath. Leaves crushed into water with rum, perfume and other ingredients set by the lwa, poured over the body from the head down at a particular hour, sometimes for a set number of days. Every serious practitioner is a herbalist, and the plant knowledge and the ritual knowledge are one subject. When as prescribed — bathing, at particular hoursWho the person, alone or assisted Go deeper — context →