Bwa Kayiman.
August 1791, a clearing in the woods in the north, a ceremony led by Boukman and a manbo, a black pig sacrificed and an oath sworn. Within days the northern plain was burning. Thirteen years later Haiti was independent, and it remains the only slave revolt in history that produced a state — which Haitians attribute to the religion that was in the clearing.
The ceremony at Bois Caïman — Bwa Kayiman — on the night of 14 August 1791 is the founding event of the Haitian nation and it was a Vodou ceremony. Led by Boukman Dutty, a commandeur and religious leader, and by a manbo whom tradition names variously, it involved the sacrifice of a black pig, the drinking of its blood, and an oath sworn by the assembled delegates from plantations across the northern plain. Within a week the plain was in flames. The revolt became a thirteen-year war against France, Britain and Spain and produced, on 1 January 1804, the second independent state in the Americas and the only one founded by former slaves. Some historians have questioned the details or the date; no serious account disputes that a religious gathering coordinated the rising. Haitians have never permitted the connection to be forgotten, and it is the standing answer to anyone who describes the religion as primitive.
The god of the white man calls him to commit crimes; our god asks only good works of us. But this god who is so good orders vengeance. Listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of all of us.
Oath attributed to Boukman Dutty at Bois Caïman, August 1791, as transmitted in Haitian tradition (rendered)The wording comes down through later Haitian historiography rather than a contemporary record.
The same ground, other faiths
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