{62} Magie et médecine, pp. 36-37.
{63} The rôle of the dream in Voodoo is the subject of a study by BOURGUIGNON, Dreams and Dream Interpretation. On the symbolism of dreams, see MÉTRAUX, Croyances et pratiques magiques dans la vallee de Marbial, pp. 165-70.
{64} Marie-Noël’s dream has been published by MENNESSON-RIGAUD and DENIS, Quelques notes sur la vie mystique de Marie-Noël.
{65} Many details concerning the cult of twins have been taken from ODETTE MENNESSON-RIGAUD’S excellent study of the subject (Etude sur le culte des marassa en Haïti), PRICE-MARS and HERSKOVITS may also be consulted with profit: Culte des marassa and Life in a Haitian Valley, pp. 201-5.
{66} Life in a Haitian Valley, p. 204.
{67} A gourde is worth $0.20.
{68} All works on Voodoo include descriptions of rites, but there exist few systematic studies of the ritual as a whole. It is, however, well worth consulting DENIS and DUVALIER, L’Evolution stadiale du vaudou, and RIGAUD, La Tradition vaudoo.
{69} Soft drink prepared with maize starch and flour.
{70} La Religion populaire, pp. 18-19.
{71} Le Sacrifice du tambour assoto(r), p. 18.
{72} Sacrifice d’un taureau, pp. 33-34.
{73} There are many descriptions of the musical instruments used in Voodoo. Among the most notable are COURLANDER, Musical Instruments of Haiti; DENIS and PAUL, Essai d’organographie haïtienne; and COMHAIRE-SYLVAIN, La chanson haïtienne.
{74} La Tradition vaudoo, p. 387.
{75} HERSKOVITS, In a Haitian Valley, pp. 273-76.
{76} Le Sacrifice du tambour assoto(r), pp. 10-11; 58-59.
{77} Divine Horsemen, p. 236.
{78} Sources for this chapter are quoted in MÉTRAUX, Les Rites d’initiation dans le vaudou haïtien.
{79} For mystical marriage in Voodoo, see also MENNESSON-RIGAUD, Notes on Two Marriages with Voodoo Loa in DEREN, Divine Horsemen, pp. 263-70.
{80} This expression refers to the seclusion period of initiation.
{81} These ceremonies have been described in greater detail by MÉTRAUX, Le Noël vaudou en Haïti. Madame ODETTE MENNESSON-RIGAUD has also given a good description of Christmas celebrations in the country, in an article entitled Noël vaudou en Haïti.
{82} For the cult of the dead in Haiti, see DENIS, Le Cimetière; DEREN, Divine Horsemen, pp. 41-46; HERSKOVITS, Life in a Haitian Valley, pp. 205-18; MARCELIN, Coûtumes funéraires; MÉTRAUX, Rites funéraires des paysans haïtiens; ODDON, Une cérémonie funéraire haïtienne; ROUSSEAU, Un enterrement à la campagne. Much information on this theme will also be found in SIMPSON’S articles on Voodoo in the north of Haiti.
{83} The receptacle had been ‘cross-signed’ and consecrated with dry food offerings.
{84} Le Service des loa, pp. 71-75.
{85} Magic and witchcraft have held the attention of most writers who have dealt with Voodoo. There is an excellent exposition of the question in HERSKOVITS, Life in a Haitian Valley, pp. 219-48, and in SIMPSON, Magical Practices in Northern Haiti.
{86} HERSKOVITS, Life in a Haitian Valley, p. 222.
{87} Quoted by MARCELIN, Les Grands dieux du vaudou haïtien, p. 122.
{88} Mythologie vaudou, v. 2, p. 166.
{89} The same ceremony is described by RIGAUD, La Tradition vaudoo, pp. 167-204.
{90} Voodoo Gods, pp. 184-5.
{91} Magic Island, pp. 92-103.
{92} In the making of wanga great store is set by objects associated with the Catholic religion. The Host is much sought after and goes into the making of the most powerful of wanga.
{93} Common law wife.
{94} The operation which prevents a loa from doing harm by paralysing it, is called ‘limiting’ (borner). Bottles containing magic liquid are buried round sanctuaries or houses and constitute ‘limits’; and the crosses which stick up at the approaches to dwellings are called ‘limit crosses’ (croix d’arrestation). A loa is limited by burying it in a hole with offerings which include eyeless needles so that he may spend his time trying to thread them. They may also be driven off into the woods (renvoi de loa) or implored to return to Africa (Guinée).
{95} Rituel observé en vue de la protection du nouveau-né.
{96} Le Vaudou haïtien, p. 186.
{97} Balai stalks bunched into a sheaf have the strange property of interlacing in such a way that it is not easy to undo them. Whoever is concluding the ordeal has only to bring the two sheaves in his hands together for them to interlock and thus form a vice round someone’s neck.
{98} LEIRIS, Note sur l’usage de chromolithographies, p. 207.
{99} The Belief System of Haitian Vodun, pp. 36-37.
{100} Life in a Haitian Valley, p. 281.
{101} Nouveau voyage aux îles de l’Amérique, v. 6, pp. 330-31.
{102} Description topographique, v. I, p. 35.
{103} This subject has been dealt with more fully by MÉTRAUX, Vaudou et protestantisme.
{104} Immigration et métamorphose d’un dieu.
{105} On the idea of Dā in Dahomey, see MERCIER, The Fon of Dahomey, pp. 220-22.
Voodoo in Haiti Page 43
