The Priyè Ginen is the standard opening of a Vodou ceremony and it is long — commonly an hour and sometimes considerably more. It begins with Catholic material: the sign of the cross, the Our Father, Hail Marys, the Apostles' Creed, the litany of the saints, French hymns, often led by a specialist called the pè savann, the bush priest, who has learned the Catholic liturgy. It then moves into Kreyòl and into the African portion — a chanted roll call of the nanchon and of individual lwa, in order, which must be complete. Legba is saluted first among the lwa and nothing proceeds until the gate is open. Outsiders have persistently tried to treat the Catholic hour as detachable colonial residue. Practitioners do not, and a service that omitted it would be understood as not properly begun. Learning the whole sequence takes years and is a mark of competence.