- Aimee Levitt
- A pe, or vodou altar
Before we go any further, it should be made clear that the name of the Field Museum’s new exhibit is pronounced “voh-DOO.” Also, vodouists don’t make those little cloth dolls to curse their enemies; they use them to carry messages to their ancestors and other deceased loved ones. And finally, oungan and manbo, vodou priests and priestesses, cannot raise the dead. A zonbi is not a reanimated corpse, but a body that’s been robbed of its soul and enslaved by a master—and given the history of both vodou and Haiti, which are inextricably intertwined, that’s about the worst thing that can happen to anybody.
- Canadian Museum of History, Frank Wimart
- Workroom of a vodou secret society, where vodouists consult with spirits to solve community problems
Haitian independence was declared on January 1, 1804. August 14 is still a major vodou festival. But soon after independence, Catholicism was declared the official state religion, and vodouists went underground, forming secret societies in order to avoid persecution. (The exhibit contains a replica of a badji, a secret society workroom.) In 1941, President Èlie Lescot instituted an antisuperstition campaign that required vodouists to officially renounce their religion in favor of Catholicism. (The vodouists outwitted the government by beginning their oath with the word Zomangay, or “I promise,” which also happens to be the name of a vodou spirit, or lwa.) President Jean-Bertrand Aristede officially recognized vodou as a state religion in 2003, but vodouists still feel like outsiders, and secret societies still exist.
