KOSANBA (the Congress of Santa Barbara) A scholarly association for the study of Haitian Vodou based at the Center for Black Studies Research at UCSB

INTRODUCTION TO HAITIAN VODOU

KOSANBA, the Congress of Santa Barbara, is a scholarly association for the study of Haitian Vodou based at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

The recent trajedy in Haiti has generated new interest in Haiti and Haitian culture, including Vodou. Several years ago, the Center for Black Studies Research developed an online introduction to Haitian Vodou, featuring portraits of the Lwa (spirits) created by Haitian artist Hërsza Barjon. We encourage you to visit DivineHaiti.org for an introduction to this critical aspect of Haitian culture. Barjon's paintings are accompanied by texts explaining the role of each Lwa (by Kyrah M. Daniels) as well as this brief overview of Haitian Vodou (by Dr. Claudine Michel):

excerpt from Ancestral Rays

In an attempt to stop the practice of the Vodou religion, slaves were forbidden to organize public gatherings of any sort and, thus forced to hide their allegiance to their ancestral religion and to secretly worship their African deities. The imposition of European values and Catholicism by force and repression took many forms, from baptism to harsh corporal punishments and the systematic killing of Vodou priests and priestesses. These interdictions and repressive measures which continued throughout Haiti’s history and the clandestine nature of Vodou ceremonies which thus resulted, led to the revalorization of the very African cultural values that both Westerners and the Haitian elite had tried to suppress.  The reality is that these various forms of systematic attempts of assimilation and acculturation of the Haitian people did not destroy our national religion which remains omnipresent, pervasive, strong and continues to perform important functions in all aspects of Haiti’s social life.

The Haitian ancestral religion represents a key element of Haitian consciousness and provides moral coherence through common cosmological understandings. The principles outlined here constitute some of the core moral values emphasized in the Haitian worldview. Vodou offers a particular ethical orientation grounded in both an African ontological conception of life and the Haitian realities—ecological, linguistic, economic, social and political. These religious and moral values pervade all dimensions of the Haitians’ quest for their African past and continue to assure the survival of these cultural and spiritual elements in the New World. Though the essence of these beliefs and principles originate from a worldview deeply rooted in the traditional African value system, they also remain authentically Haitian in their Creolized form.

Holistic Conception of Life All knowledge presupposes a fundamental holism grounded in the idea of oneness and unity of all forces of nature, in the idea of interdependence and interconnectedness of these forces, and in the premise of supremacy of totality over individuality. The universe is a seamless cosmos where every force of nature has meaning, and a connection with other entities. Creating dissonance in nature’s polyrhythms, disturbing the harmonious flow of energy, bringing about division in the community, are all acts which represent moral transgression in the Vodou world.  Due to the web of interconnectedness, a person’s moral violations, distract, disturb, perturb the outer world which ought to seek restoration of its harmonious state and rhythm.  Morality for those who serve the spirits  is a constant effort to maintain social cohesion, harmony, and balance. What is right in the Vodou world is not a function of abstract reasoning, but is relative to what will achieve unity in the community.

Humanism Human beings occupy a central cosmic position in Haitian spirituality which is anthropocentric as well as humanist. Though people are not the rulers of creation, they are at the center of it, which explains why Vodou’s paramount goal is to improve living conditions on earth. The veneration of deities is purposeful and serves humans through blessings extending from good health and well-being, to marriage and love, to work and finances, to rain and plentiful harvest, and children who grow up to be respectful of people and traditions. Human connection is the assumption in the Haitian worldview: there is suppression of unique life history in favor of a collective personhood  from which energy is derived.  Individuals becomes real  persons and true members of society only through their interactions with others; they define themselves and mature by being attentive and responsible in their relationships with family and community.

Centrality of Communality John Mbiti’s paradigm “we are, therefore I am” expresses well the “societary” essence of the Haitian community. It shows the ties that link members of the same community as part of the human web. We are not only accountable for our individual acts, but we are also responsible for people around us in that each of our actions and deeds influences the balance of the outer world. There are major communal expectations in the Vodou world, and the extended family—a highly valued institution which prepares the individual for integration into the larger community—is the first unit where this communal sense manifests itself. Ignoring family responsibilities, jeopardizing communal interests, and neglecting the Lwa are serious moral offenses which trigger the disapproval of the group and may endanger the care and protection of the spirits.  Morality in the absolute sense can never be placed above the welfare of the collectivity.

Honor and Respect for Elders Customs and implicit rules regulate obligations and responsibilities towards the collectivity and the entities which compose it. Allegiance, love, prayers, faithfulness, respect, material support, as determined by seniority, status, and financial means, are due to all members of the group under all circumstances. However, extreme respect and honor are particularly accorded to the elders, the bearers of knowledge and wisdom, the repository of experience.  Respecting them, honoring them, serving them is inherent in the very essence of the religion. To be virtuous is to provide for the elderly, to give them care, food, money, clothing, but also to show them love, respect, deference and appreciation. Failure to give absolute respect to elders may attract imbalance in the life of the person who erred and becomes morally destructive for the entire community.

Other virtues valued for their potential to help develop knowledge and wisdom among adepts of the Haitian religion include: beneficence, benevolence, generosity, hospitality, forbearance, forgiveness, sense of justice, magnanimity, and love, all qualities aiming at supporting the ultimate aim—the well-being and preservation of the community.

Vodou in Haiti is a means of resistance and organization; it has been employed to re-suture social identity, cultural integration and moral authority in the face of social and historical forces which tended towards annihilation for the slaves, and, in modern times, the exploitation of the Haitian masses. Clearly, Vodou, in its affirmation of our traditional moral values and its efforts to sustain a high sense of humanism and communality among the people of Haiti, has been a central thread in the very fabric of the Haitian experience.  As such, it is a true measure and expression of national consciousness and of African continuity in the Americas. Vodou, with its powerful pedagogical methods, its strong democratic tradition, its history of revalorization of Haitian traditions and its contribution to the struggle for national identity and racial pride, might well be the link needed to help re-stitch the loose seams of Haitian culture and history.

Text by Dr. Claudine Michel, Professor Department of Black Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara and Editor, Journal of Haitian Studies