Voodoo in Haiti

by Alfred Métraux

  The renonce has had a very definite effect on the Church’s idea of its task in Haiti. The clergy had understood that it was high time the masses received a more solid Christian grounding. An attempt is now made to guarantee clerical influence by means of catechists who are chosen from among the ‘rejectors’. These receive training which makes them useful auxiliaries of the country curés. On the other hand the war declared on Voodoo by the Church has awakened the peasants to the very real opposition which exists between the cult of loa and official Catholicism. The curés of today are much more strict on the question of orthodoxy and they are not allowed that lenience which in the past made it possible for the Voodooists to use the Catholic liturgy for pagan ends.

  THE ANTI-SUPERSTITION CAMPAIGN IN THE MARBIAL VALLEY

  The Marbial valley is one of those few regions of Haiti where Voodoo has not been able to recover entirely from the blows which were dealt it. There the extirpation of idolatry was conducted with brutal energy by a French curé who, by his impetuosity, earned the name of Lavalas (the torrent, the flood) and by a Haitian curé—a man who, brought up in a Voodoo-practising milieu, persecuted the religion of his ancestors with tenacious and penetrating hatred.

  At the time of my stay in Marbial eight years had passed since the events which I am about to relate. I gleaned them from the accounts of the peasants themselves, and I am aware that they may, by then, already have undergone the distortions to which all oral tradition is prone, and may already have become tainted with supernatural incident; but it is precisely because they tell the facts as the peasants see them that I thought it worth putting them down here. By and large these facts are right, for they were confirmed to me by Father L. C. himself. As to the supernatural incidents, they constitute psychological documents which have their own interest.

  The people of Marbial were deeply upset by the anathema hurled down upon their ancestral beliefs from the pulpit. The mystical universe in which they lived was not always so very reassuring, but at least it did not throw up many problems. In it loa, saints, the Virgin and Jesus got on with each other pretty well. Masses, sacraments and mangers-loa were so many well-tried means of obtaining the favour of the invisible ones and neutralizing their malevolence. Now everything was turned upside down. Imagine the dilemma of a peasant who has spent all his life fulfilling his ‘obligations’ to his family loa, suddenly finding himself branded as an idolater and servant of the devil! What seems to have impressed the inhabitants of the valley most were the expeditions organized by Father Lavalas against the ‘houses of the loa’. At the head of a band of fanatical converts the Father burst into the farms and demanded that every article connected with the cult of Voodoo be handed over. No violence was committed but by their shouting and general manner the zealots tried to frighten anyone who dared resist them. Even so, the pillage and destruction of the sanctuary living-rooms would have been impossible without the help of the secular arm. At Marbial this was represented by the Chefs de Section who fulfil the dual functions of justices of the peace and rural policemen. Many of them must certainly have been Voodoo adepts and therefore surely took part in these raids with considerable reluctance. Such, however, is the sense of subordination among the Haitian peasants that not a single Chef de Section seems to have shirked the task assigned to him.

  Usually the priests knew very well where to find the objects which people tried to hide. In this respect their perspicacity, attributed to supernatural power, was in fact due to informers—out to gain their favour, or jealous of richer neighbours. Today the curé at Marbial is still thought to be the possessor of a magic ‘instrument’ which enables him to find out the most secret matters and to divine the innermost thoughts of his parishioners.

  Many peasants who were either frightened or knew they had been denounced came to the chapel of their own accord and handed in musical instruments, costumes or the attributes of the gods and all the cult accessories which they were keeping at home. Those who pretended to a pure Christianity, without mélange, while in fact secretly practising Voodoo, came at night to give up the objects which might have compromised them. Others, fearing a search which might end in a general pillaging of their possessions, took the initiative and themselves asked the curé and his acolytes to free them of all ‘pagan blot’. Those who on the other hand refused to give up the patron spirits of their family and to destroy sacred objects handed down to them by their parents, or bought at their own expense, could resign themselves to seeing their compounds sooner or later invaded by a band of zealots led by the curé or the local police. At first the curé tried to convince them that it was in their own interest to forswear their former ways and agree to the destruction of their sanctuary: but if these exhortations had no effect the invaders resorted to force: the priest’s escort, headed by the Chef de Section, went into the house, took away any suspicious objects, and, according to several of my informants, these self-appointed inquisitors took the opportunity of settling private scores or even of committing small thefts. Then the sacred trees—plentiful round humfo—were exorcized and cut down amid hymn-singing and prayer.

  All who witnessed these scenes were struck by the behaviour of those who had become the agents or tools of the persecution. They attacked the sacralia of Voodoo as though these were their personal dangerous enemies. While the curé was engaged in exorcizing the sacred trees, fanatics threw stones at them, cursed them and blamed them for all the money they had made them throw away on sacrifices and offerings, and of course this rage betrayed their conviction that these trees were in fact duly inhabited by spirits. As to the Voodooists who had to be present during these scenes, which in their eyes were sacrilege, and had to give up with their own hands their talismans—the guarantee of their safety and well-being—they were so dejected, so completely downcast that they burst into tears and showed signs of overwhelming grief. There were, it seems, cases when adepts fainted or were suddenly possessed by the god or spirit whose emblems were being destroyed. These trances gave rise to others. Some of these people were only tipsified (saoulés) by the gods and did no more than stagger, but others, on whom the god had truly alighted, shouted their indignation aloud. It was the loa themselves crying out against this profanation, repeating again and again: ‘I’m not going; I don’t want to go.’ The curé tried to touch the possessed on the forehead with his crucifix but the latter gesticulated and resisted as best they could. Some fled and were brought back by force to the Father, who then exorcized them. When their trance was over these unhappy people wandered about begging for some explanation of what had befallen them.

  Sometimes possessions took place in the middle of a church service. The case of Ludalise, which was told me by someone attached to the chapel, is indicative of a certain mental climate and despite its fairy-tale element is grounded none the less on actual fact. The heroine of this affair, Mademoiselle Ludalise, was a young woman who had served the loa but who, for reasons unknown to me, had decided to renounce. One Sunday in the middle of Mass, at the elevation of the Host, she was possessed by a loa. She was taken to the presbytery where the curé followed her in order to drive off this unclean spirit. The loa defended itself like a very devil against the exorcisms and kept crying out, ‘I shan’t go, no—I’m not going.’ The mother of the demented woman was quickly fetched and asked if by any chance her daughter had forgotten to hand in some Voodoo object to the curé. The mother began by assuring everyone she had got rid of everything that might have the slightest connection with the worship of loa, but when further questions were urged upon her she admitted there was a sacred tree still standing near the house. The curé ordered his sacristan to saddle his mule straight away and go and cut the fetish down. On the way, when this delegate was crossing a dangerous stone-drain, his mount gave a leap which all but unseated its rider. The latter, familiar with the animal’s wariness, let the incident pass without thought. Having reached the farm he cut down the sacred tree and returned to the chapel to give an account of his mission. The g
irl, still possessed, cried out when she saw him: ‘My friend, you’ve had a stroke of luck. For two pins I’d have broken your neck.’ It was not, of course, the girl speaking but the loa inside her. These were his last words. Having spoken them he fled out of her, leaving her exhausted and unconscious. He never came back, but the young woman never quite recovered her sanity.

  A few peasants saw in the renonce the unhoped-for opportunity of ridding themselves forever of the werewolves which infested their country, or at least of breaking their occult power. Women accused of being ‘child-eaters’ were dragged in front of Father X. He questioned them and sent away those he thought were innocent. The rest he took to the sacristy where he exorcized them. One of my informers, directress of a Catholic mission station, was convinced that the curé exposed werewolves by placing the Gospels on their chests. Those who really belonged to this terrible sisterhood let out screams and waved their arms about as though to fly away, but sooner or later they collapsed, conquered by the power of the holy book. Once convinced the demon had fled, he sent them home after making them promise never to revert to their former ways.

  The clergy ordained that all the big crosses in family burial places should be rooted up since they knew well that the peasants regarded them as the symbol of Baron-Samedi, King of the Dead. At the very moment when one great heap of these crosses was about to be fired a crowd of women who had come to watch were possessed by Baron-Samedi, Baron-la-Croix, and other members of the Guédé family. The spirits of the dead, expressing themselves through these women, are said to have uttered the following threats: ‘Do you really think you can get rid of us like this? All you are burning is wood. Us, you will never burn. Today you throw these crosses into the fire but soon you will see another kind of fire burning in this valley.’ Attempts were made to silence them by spattering them with holy water, but they mocked it and went on prophesying catastrophes and abusing the curé. The drought which hit the people of Marbial so hard in the following years was naturally put down to the wrath of the loa. Hence the person who provided the account ended with the following words: ‘The loa spoke the truth, it’s quite a fire they have lighted in Marbial. The sun burns so hot our gardens will no longer grow even millet. The sun burns our harvest and the rain falls no more. Drought is wiping us out.’

  The reaction of the population of Marbial to the anti-superstition campaign was not everywhere the same. Apart from its more or less openly declared opponents, there were quite a few families who ‘rejected’ enthusiastically and joined forces with the curé against their fellow citizens. Some were acting in a spirit of revolt against the bondage of Voodoo, others to gain favour with the curé, still others, under the influence of city life, thought that to practise Voodoo relegated them to the ranks of the ignorant and simple-minded peasantry. And then with many converts economic considerations weighed heavily. Even when they could have returned to the Voodoo fold some people remained faithful to their oath and freely admitted they were glad never again to have to be always paying out small sums of money for manger-loas. True, some complained of the new expenses now imposed on them by the Church. Their tirades on the subject of the occasional fees of the Church were sometimes bitter and showed a secret resentment.

  It remains to be seen to what extent Catholicism triumphed in the Marbial valley. On this question I have some information which seems to me significant. First, the sincerity of the ‘rejectors’ became suspect when they were converted. A woman who described herself as a good Catholic and went regularly to Mass told me she had not deserted the loa ‘who are good spirits and protect us from the devil’. (She said her own loa had never done any harm.) They watched over her and she knew well that if ever she fell ill she must get in touch with them rather than the curé. She had noticed a serious deterioration in her private circumstances after she had ‘renounced’, and a marked improvement only when she had celebrated a costly service to the loa.

  Another informant, who told me without a qualm that she not only believed in the loa, but also served them, had yet openly forsworn them so that her child could be baptized. Furthermore; she was convinced that her loa would not hold this against her for ‘they are immortal, invisible and everywhere’.

  I shall not soon forget the awed and heart-stricken tones of the peasant who, having declared that his family had always revered the loa of Africa, cried out, ‘No, no, my loa are not devils. They have never eaten anyone. On the contrary it is they who protect me against evil spirits and werewolves. I shall never be ungrateful to them. It is not I who created them but God Himself. How could He have made them if they were not good?’

  There can be no doubt that many Voodooists basked in the hope that the loa would prove understanding and would not hold against them the hostile acts of violence for which they were not responsible, nor for an apostasy imposed on them from without and which was repugnant to them. Once the first impact of surprise had worn off many told themselves that after all the loa were too intelligent and powerful to take umbrage for what had happened to their material symbols. A certain Salis, who prided himself on the possession of a pot in which lived a captive spirit, was made to bring it to the presbytery where it went to join musical instruments, sacred pictures and crockery on the pyre. A few days later the spirit in the pot came and told his protégé not to worry about this loss as he was keeping very fit himself and the destruction of his dwelling-place made no difference to him. He even counselled his servant to recant and take communion in the Church, if he thought wise, as this would make no difference to their relationship. Another peasant, on whose ground a tree dedicated to Legba had been cut down, told me that the god had not left his home but had merely moved to another tree.

  Among the obstinately loyal who refused to ‘reject’, there was a hungan who explained to me why he had never wished to abandon the cult of his ancestors. ‘Better the man,’ he told me, ‘who openly says he does not wish to “reject” because he does not believe his loa are devils, than the Catholic or Protestant who practises witchcraft in secret. I am a hungan who serves the loa and I say as much to anyone who wants to hear it. During the anti-superstition campaign “rejectors” came to me, threatened me, abused me and called me a werewolf. They accused me of eating little children. I knew that one day I would expose them. I said to them: “I have only one master, that is Almighty God. Is the cure my master? I’m grown up, not a child.” Those who had “rejected” gave up greeting me.’

  For many Voodooists the ‘renunciation’ became a genuine dilemma of conscience which some solved in a rather subtle way. One of these was Sylvestre who, having sworn never to serve the loa again, identified them ‘in spirit’ with the saints, whose pictures he had retained. He no longer went to the hungan, but he did say Mass which ‘in spirit’ was always addressed to the loa. He put tasty dishes near the pictures of the saints to round the ceremony off. Cynically he admitted: ‘That’s how we fix things, so the curé serves the loa.’

  Certain members of the clergy were anxious to use the confusion created by the anti-superstition campaign as an opportunity for fighting Protestantism. Using the well-known amalgam procedure, they tried to bracket Protestants with impenitent Voodooists. The bands of zealots who overran the countryside stopped at the houses of notorious Protestants and tried by threats to draw them into the bosom of the Church. Hymns composed by the curés for the special hearing of the ‘rejectors’ mix violent denunciation of Voodoo with verses proclaiming: ‘“Protestant” is the religion of Satan—doesn’t lead to Heaven.’

  VOODOO AND PROTESTANTISM

  In the various Protestant sects which abound in Haiti (Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, Adventists, Pentecostists and others) Voodoo found even more formidable and tenacious adversaries than in Roman Catholicism. For ‘paganism’, of whatever kind, is always equated by the various Protestant denominations with ‘satanism’, and treated with total intransigence. Whereas so many Catholics practise Voodoo more or less openly, Protestants must break, not only wit
h the cult itself, but with all that might in any way recall it to their thoughts. One preacher I knew flew into a rage whenever the members of a combite work group stopped in front of his house with their musical instruments. Music and Voodoo were so closely associated in his mind that the mere sight of a trumpet drove him to distraction. It is precisely this refusal to compromise, this naive purism which has attracted so many conversions. Many Voodooists have become Protestants (entré dans le Protestant) not because Voodoo failed to supply their need for a purer, loftier religion, but on the contrary, because they felt themselves to be the target of angry loa and saw in Protestantism a refuge. Hence Protestantism beckons as though it were a shelter, or more precisely a magic circle, where people cannot be got at by loa and demons. Conversion, far from being the result of a crise de conscience, is often no more than the expression of an exaggerated fear of spirits. The rôle of Protestantism among Voodooists was well defined to me in a saying which I heard in Marbial and quote here word for word: ‘If you want the loa to leave you in peace—become a Protestant.’ This same conviction was reported in 1896, in the north of Haiti, by Monseigneur Kersuzan.{103}

  No doubt it is the challenging attitude adopted by Protestants towards the loa which has finally convinced the peasants that this religion confers upon its adepts a sort of supernatural immunity. Conversions are usually inspired by illness, since illness is the commonest manifestation of a loa’s ill-will or anger. When all the resources of Voodoo—services, baths, infusions, driving out of morts—have been exhausted, a really fundamental remedy—conversion to a Protestant sect—is tried as a last resort. Sometimes it is the hungan himself who realizes the ineffectiveness of the cure prescribed and advises the patient or his family to abandon the loa and ‘try Protestantism’.