The ancestors, zanset yo in
Haitian Creole, are ever with a Vodouisant. He/she lives, breathes and
acts with the awareness of their presence. The national anthem of Haiti
begins, "For the country, and for the ancestors, we walk united...".
In
the countryside of Haiti, each family compound includes a family
graveyard. The tombs of family members are as elaborate as the family
can afford. Some resemble small houses built above ground, with the
crypt below. The structures built for wealthy families may even comprise
a small sitting room, complete with a picture of the deceased and good
quality chairs. When a newcomer enters the family compound for an
extended visit, courtesy requires that her or she make a small libation
of water at the tombs, so that the ancestors will welcome the person.
Family members and guests may also, at any time, make an "illumination".
Candles or beeswax tapers are lighted, placed on the tombs, and a short
prayer is said.In the city, the law requires burial in the city graveyard. Again, structures may be quite elaborate, and large padlocks and other security devices are used to prevent graverobbers from making off with the metal coffin findings, bones, or other articles of the dead person.
The bones of dead individuals are considered to have great magical powers, particularly if the dead person was a Houngan, Mambo, or in any other way notable or distinguished, for good or ill.
A
Vodouisant is buried with Roman Catholic ceremony, and a wake is held
for nine nights after the death. The ninth night is called thedenye priye, the last prayer. After the last prayer, the Catholic part of the death ritual is closed.
At some point either before or after the Roman Catholic ceremony, the Vodou ceremony of desounin is
held. In this ceremony, the component parts of the person's soul and
life force, and the primary lwa in the head of the person, are
ritualistically separated and consigned to their correct destinations.
The desounin of a well known and highly respected Houngan, such as my
initiatory Houngan Luc Gedeon, Bon Houngan Jambe Malheur, may be
attended by hundreds of white robed, weeping mourners. It is at this
time that the inheritor of any family lwa liberated from the deceased is
usually revealed, as the chosen individual becomes briefly possessed.One year and one day after the death of the individual, the ceremony retire mo nan dlo, take the dead out of the water, may be performed. The spirit of the dead person is called up through a vessel of water, under a white sheet, and ritually installed in a clean clay pot called a govi. The voice of the dead individual may speak from the govi, or through the mouth of another person briefly possessed for the purpose. The govi is reverently placed in the djevo, or inner room of the temple.
Sometimes
the spririt of a departed ancestor may return of it's own accord, as a
'lwa Ghede' . My own initiatory Houngan had in his head a Ghede named
Ghede Arapice La Croix, who revealed to me that he had once been a black
Haitian man, born on Nov. 2, All Souls' Day, in the Bel Air district of
Port-au-Prince. His outspoken nature and inability to tolerate
injustice got him murdered by a neighborhood strongman at the age of 21.
Then followed a long spritual odysse. One day, he saw Luc Gedeon in the
woods with the govi of another lwa, Kanga, working on a cure for a sick
person. Arapice asked Kanga for permission to enter the govi with him,
but Kanga refused, and made Arapice hang around immaterially outside Luc
Gedeon's peristyle for another year. Then Kanga required a ceremony of
installation for Ghede Arapice la Croix.When
Luc Gedeon, Bon Houngan Jambe Malheur, became possessed for the first
time by Ghede Arapice la Croix, Arapice demonstrated his power and his
loyalty to Luc by sitting down in the middle of the huge ceremonial
bonfire. Screams of fear from the congregation and tears of terror from
Luc's family did not dissuade him - and in a moment the terror turned to
wonder as not a hair of Luc's head nor a thread of his clothes was
burned. Arapice then entered the peristyle and was reverently installed
in his very own govi, where he remains until today, manifesting through
one of the younger relatives of the late Houngan.
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