Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

by Zora Neale Hurston

  “Ela Lecba Atibon, Sin Dior e’, Ela Lecba Atibon, Sin dior docor Ague’, Ela Lecba Atibon si’ m nan min bon Dieu O Sain ’en.”

  We were led on to chant to Loco Atisson, Ela Aizan Velequiete, Ela Sobo, Ela Badere, Ela Agassou, Ela Ague’ Ta-Royo, Ela Bosou, Ela Agaron, Ela Azacca, Ela Erzulie, Freda, Ela Ogoun Bodagris, Ela Ogoun Feraille, Ela Ogoun Shango, Ela Ogoun Taus Sam, Ela Ogoun Achade’, Ela Ogoun Palama, Ela Ossage, Ela Baron Carrefour, Ela Baron La Croix, Ela Baron Cimeterre, Ela Guede’ Nibo, Ela Papa Cimby, Ela Nanchon Congo, Ela Nanchon Sine’gal, Ela Nanchon Ibo, Ela Nanchon Caplarou, Ela Nanchon Annine, Ela Papa Brise’, Ela Contes Loas Petros, Ela Contes Boccos, Ela Contes Houngenicons, Ela Contes Laplaces, Ela Contes Port-Drapeaux, Ela Contes Ounci Canzos, Ela Ounci Des-sounins, Ela Contes Ounci Bossales, Ela Contes Hounfort, Ela Contes Oganiers.

  Now inside a room of the hounfort, decorated for the occasion, we found a large table on which was placed food and drinks of all the gods to be honored along with the food of Legba, for Legba is never honored alone. He opens the gate so that the other gods come to their worshippers. All over the table there were plates, couis (pronounced Kwee) bottles and flacons. Under the table were the terrines, that is the baked clay containers like crude plates, cruches (little baked clay water-jugs), the chickens dedicated to the different gods, the perfumes and aromatics and leaves which would be used in the ceremonies. All of these were grouped about a watch light whose fuel is olive oil.

  Here there was an interruption. Three women entered all dressed in black. They looked like a mother and her two daughters. The service was promptly stopped and the Mambo sent them away almost harshly. The older woman tried to argue, but they were hustled on out. I asked in a whisper why this was done and they said, “They have on black for mourning and so they cannot come in here. This is for the living. Baron Samedi must not be present.”

  I asked, “But suppose he manifests himself in some of the adepts? There must be some here consecrated to him.”

  “In that case, we would make a ceremony to drive him away. This is not the day of the dead. This is for the living. All the work would go wrong if he were here.”

  Dieu Donnez sprinkled the water in the direction of the four quarters of the world. The Canzos and the houncis followed his example. They all faced the door which looks toward the north and chanted, “Afrique-Guinin Atibon Legba, ouvrir barriere pour nous.” Dieu Donnez then took the coui of corn meal and drew a design on the ground in the center of which he poured a little of each of the drinks dedicated to Legba. He took a piece of the baked banana, herring, a few grains of corn, a bit of watermelon, a bit of cake and placed them all in a single little heap within the design. Until then Dieu Donnez had done all these things seated in a very low chair. Now he arose and took two “poule Zinga” (speckled chickens), one in each hand. These he elevated to the east, the west, the north and the south in turn, saying: “Au nom du Grand Maitre, Tocan Frieda Dahomey, Marassas, Dossou, Dossa, toute l’Esprits, Atibon, Ogoun, Locos, Negue, fait, Negue Defait.” The assistants knelt down. The houngan passed the two chickens over the heads of the kneeling Canzos and houncis. Then he turned to a niche dedicated to Legba and saluted it. Returning then to that north-facing door, he took the two chickens in one hand and a firebrand in the other, and set fire to the three heaps of gunpowder placed around the design or signature of Legba while the adepts were chanting:

  “Ce Letbah, qui ap vini, ce papa Legba laissez barriere l’our.”

  The moment had come to consecrate the chickens to Legba. Dieu Donnez knelt and kissed the earth. He kissed three times the signature of Legba. The whole crowd followed his example. The drums woke up. First the tenor boulatier, then the sirgonh and last the thundering hountah, which controls the mood and the movement of the dancers. Some of the hounci began the Jean Valou. Dieu Donnez broke the wings of one of the chickens, then its legs, holding the throat of the fowl in such a way that it did not cry out as the sickening sound of cracking bones broke through the singing. Then he wrung its neck. In every other ceremony the throat is cut. The supposedly dead bird was placed upon the signature, but after what seemed like a full minute, even with its broken thighs, it leaped in its death agony and crashed into me. My heart flinched and my flesh drew up like tripe. With averted eyes I heard the next song begin with the rattle of the Ascon:

  “Ouanga te’ papa Legba, Legba Touton, Legba Atibon—” they began with a list and ended, “Toute hounci fait Croix.”

  The order of the ceremonies to the gods continued according to the rhythm of the offerings. The next god honored was Aisan who walks with the Marassas, Yumeaux ad Trumeaux and the child who follows the twins which is called the Dossou. They are the gods of the little joined plates that one finds displayed all over Haiti. The full name is Marassas Cinigal (black twins) Dahomey.

  Mambo Etienne shook her Ascon and sang:

  “Aisan, hey! Onape’ laisse’ coule’

  Aisan, hey! Oua te’ Corone’ Gis.”

  We were now in full ceremony. Dieu Donnez bowed himself twice toward the altar. He took a white pigeon and lifted it to the four quarters of the earth before he killed it. Then all of the good angels and twins were supposed to enter the hounfort. This ceremony to the twins is observed by all who have or have had twins in the family. It is believed that twins have some special power to harm if they are not appeased. It seems that everyone in Haiti has been involved with twins in one way or another, so that the ceremony is universal. The food was all on white plates and divided into two parts. One part for the Marassas and the other for the adepts.

  Mambo Mabo Aizan, who walks with the Marassas, the twins, is the wife of Papa Loco, whose full name is Loco Atison Goue’ Azambloguide’, Loa Atinoque’, and he is always accompanied by a Nanchon-Aan-Hizo-Yan-go. In the ceremonies of the days of Grand Fete, when all of the mysteries are honored and saluted, the ceremony to Loco comes immediately after the Marassas. So Dieu Donnez took a grayish cock in his two hands and lifted it toward the altar at the same time that he bowed himself. Then he turned toward the east, toward the south and toward the west. He poured the libation of rum and clairin on the ground and chanted:

  “Loco Anbe’! Ce Loco Azambloguidi

  Loca Anhe’! Loco Atinogue’ Apoyoci

  Loco, Loco Atinis do guidi, Loco

  Azamblonguidi Atinogue’, Loco he’!”

  The houngan saluted the white pot on the altar that was dedicated to Loco. The Mambo and several servitors became possessed and the crowd became excited because they were glad that the god was manifesting himself so freely. In this exalted condition these “horses” of Loco dressed an altar to him. They placed a table and placed on it the sacred stone dedicated to Loco, his white pot, chapilets, images of St. Joseph and his drinks. A visiting houngan became possessed and the cry went up that “Papa Loco ‘Amarre les points’”—that is, he was “tying the points.” That means that the loa was personally taking a hand in execution of the things asked of him by his followers. For instance, a man came to Dieu Donnez to make good in a business venture. He had come to the houngan to find out what he must do to insure success. He wanted the houngan to invoke the “Master of his head,” to give him the information and assistance needed. The houngan summoned his loa and he came and it was Papa Loco. He demanded certain articles and indicated to Dieu Donnez which ceremony to observe and how to conduct it. The loa then left the houngan and he informed the man who had asked the favor what the loa had demanded. The man gave the houngan the money to buy the things and to celebrate the ceremony. The supplicant, of course, would not be present at this. But when Dieu Donnez went to perform the rites, Loco took possession of the body of the houngan and performed the ceremony himself. Then he was “tying the points.” The reason it was known that Loco was there himself, was because he said with the lips of the houngan, “Vivant yo pas rainmin loa, yo rabi voodoo ce’ ouanga yo rainmin.”

  But Loco can be terrible sometimes. He refuses to answer when he pleases. He refused to a
nswer the very next applicant. The man was very eager for an answer but the houngan told him to wait until another time. But for two women who had asked health favors of Loco Papa Loco indicated a ceremony out under the tree that was his repository. So we took our chairs and went out under the tree. We marched three times around the tree carrying the chairs and singing. The little baskets with the offerings were hanging from the limbs. The houngans intoned the ceremony and we answered. Two live chickens were passed all about the heads and the shoulders of the two kneeling women. Dieu Donnez made a cross on top of the heads of both women with the corn meal. Both women were made to stand and were faced both ways as they danced around the tree. When they had danced so far, the priest faced them the other way. Finally the chicken of each woman was surrendered to the priest and killed with a knife—their heads bent far back to expose their throats. More singing with four women marching around the tree picking the chickens as they went. The loose feathers in the lamp light made a pattern of a loose tumbling circle in the air like playful little clouds or like suntracks in the sky. Some of the cooked chicken was returned and the two women executed a wild dance about the tree and the signature of Loco on the ground. Then some of the food was put in the hollow of the tree for the god.

  There was a new note on the Rada drums. We went into the hounfort to the altar of Ogoun. There are many Ogouns. Ogoun Badagris, Ogoun Ferraille, Ogoun Shango or Chango. Ogoun Balingio. But this ceremony was to Ogoun Badagris. Before his altar there were eggs and corn meal, the signs of fertility. There were sweets, and parched corn and peanuts. Of course, the water dedicated to the dead and the liqueurs, cognac, red wine, rum clairin and a red cock. The same one that I had seen tied all day by one leg before the bath house of ceremony. I felt I knew that rooster because another had attacked him while he was tethered there and while he showed plenty of courage, being tied by the leg hindered his movements, and I had driven off his assailant. I looked into his round brown eye in the hounfort and looked away. A sword was stuck into the earth at the central pole and a round black hat something like a Turkish fez was hung on the handle of it. Joswee, the sabreur (sword-bearer) who belonged to the compound of Dieu Donnez, engaged Pierre Charles the sabreur of Annee’ La Cour in mock combat. It was a very lively encounter and brought wild cheering. As Pierre Charles was forced to give away before Joswee, a figure leaped into the door. It was all in blazing red from head to foot. The skirts of the robes were very full and trimmed in white lace. This figure rushed forward, put on the fez, seized the sword and challenged Joswee fiercely. The crowd went mad as the clever dance went on. Neither really conquered the other. It was not done to prove strength and courage. It was done as a symbol of Ogoun’s power to help warriors and for the magnificent and spirited grotesque.

  The Man in red dress was Ogoun. At a point, both lowered their blades and Ogoun planted a ceremonial kiss on the brow of Joswee. The drums commenced to walk with the songs and Dieu Donnez took the red rooster from Joswee. He surprised the fowl by setting off a little heap of gunpowder near him and the rooster leaped high. The crowd called that “foula poule.” The servitors following Mambo Etienne knelt and kissed the earth. One female hounci, when she knelt before Madame Etienne received a good kick in the behind for not behaving properly. The second prayer was chanted and the tongue of the red rooster is torn out before it is killed with a sharp knife. Some of its blood is smeared on the wall with a cluster of feathers from the throat. The body of the rooster was placed before the altar. The drums changed their tempo and Dieu Donnez left the hounfort and crossed the peristyle followed by everybody because he was going to salute all the repositories in the place. Several servitors became possessed during this part of the ceremony. There was a great deal of spirited dancing under the peristyle after the repositories had been honored. The figure of Ogoun dominated the movement. Dieu Donnez was beating the hountah, the greatest Rada drum, women wishing children prostrated themselves before Ogoun and when he danced with them in a way to symbolize sex and procreation there was joy and even ecstasy in their faces. He did not always approach them from the front. He sometimes approached them from the rear as they danced face to face with someone else and made his motions of promise.

  We then honored Damballa, the great and the pure. He was given the sweet soft drinks and white chickens. He it is who looks after peace and love in the home so that a pair of white chickens, a hen and a rooster, are offered him. They must be bought a month in advance and dedicated to his intention. When they have been sacrificed, they are laid side by side before the altar.

  The last deity to be honored was Brave Guedé, who is a sort of messenger of all the gods. Then we danced for the rest of the night. We knew that the next day a Petro ceremony, “A day of promise,” was in store for us but we danced the sun out of bed just the same. After daylight, the nattes or sleeping mats were full of people that looked like dead bodies getting some sleep before the ceremonies of the day should begin. Lamissier woke me up to hand me a cup of chanelle tea and to tell me that Dieu Donnez wanted me.

  I had about two hours of instruction in the nature of the gods and something about their origins. I had some practise in drawing with corn meal the verver or signatures of various loa. Then he let me see him work on the Paquettes de Congo. They are those figures which must be present at a baptism and the new drapeaux (flags) and the new sabre were to be baptized on Sunday.

  Before we go into the description of the outdoor altar to Petro, let me give you some idea of the differences between a Rada god and a Petro divinity.

  As has been said before, Damballa and his suite are high and pure. They do only good things for people, but they are slow and lacking in power. The Petro gods on the other hand are terrible and wicked, but they are more powerful and quick. They can be made to do good things, however, as well as evil. They give big doses of medicine and effect quick cures. So these Petro gods are resorted to by a vast number of people who wish to gain something but fear them at the same time. The Rada spirits demand nothing more than chickens and pigeons, and there are no consequences or hereafter to what they do for you, while the Petros demand hogs, goats, sheep, cows, dogs and in some instances they have been known to take dead bodies from the tombs. The Petros work for you only if you make a promise of service to them. You can promise a service to be fulfilled as far away as thirty years, but at the end of that time, the promise must be kept or the spirits begin to take revenge. It seems that they actually do collect on the debt owed to them, for first the domestic animals of the family begin to die and when all these are gone, the children fall ill and die if the service is still not done and finally the head of the house. If you make a promise to the Petros it is going to be kept.

  The Petros and the Congos, who sometimes unite, are the cults who make use of charms, ouangas (pronounced wanga). The Petro Quita Sec have the power to take human life. There is a long list of these spirits who have the same names as the Rada gods except that the second name distinguishes them from the rada. “Ge-rouge” after a name places that god in the Petros or the Congos. For instance we find Damballa Ge-rouge, which means “red-eyed,” Erzulle, ge-rouge, Ogoun ge-rouge, Damballa-la-flambeau. The list included the Congos Savanne, that is, Congos of the open field or woods, such as Congo Mazambi, Congo Zandor, Marinette-pied-seche (dry foot), Erzulie Mapiangue, Bacca loup-gerow, Petit Jean Petro. They are recognized as evil, but one must feed them to have better luck than others. Louis Romin says, “All these mysteres make big cures and do heavy work. When you have a big sickness case about which Rada mysteres are too helpless to bring recovery Petro will undertake the treatment and cure the party. They give you luck to find a job or to start any kind of trading. They lend you big support or give you something to protect you in order that nothing will happen to you and that no one will cause you to be sick, and the demons or the devil will be unable to do you anything at night.”

  Therefore, since these evil mysteres are so useful, it is necessary for the houngan to have them unde
r his control. Many, many families have their day of promise to the Petros for health, wealth or advancement in life.

  The Petros make great use of fire. When a Petro ceremony is going on, there is always a big fire close by the hounfort with a bar of iron stuck into the middle of the flames.

  Every Christmas, the Petros fix baths for all of those for whom they have worked during the year. They also give them “guards.” Sometimes they dose their followers with machettas. Sometimes they cut a piece out of your body and put something in the hole and close it up. Two minutes afterwards, you feel nothing and know nothing about the wound. Neither can anyone see it again.

  No Petro ceremony is held in the hounfort where the niche or repository of Damballa is. Even the door to the hounfort must be kept closed while the Petro service is going on. Neither can the two services be held in the same day.

  The Petro ceremony of promise or of service to Petro is held in the open air.

  Two large draperies or curtains are joined together at one end by a large hoop or circle of some kind and suspended from a limb of a tree. Beside this is a partition built to that end formed by the two sides of the niche. The loose ends opposite fall about a table which is covered by the curtains. A picture representing Maitresse Erzulie, St. Joseph and Loco is hung at the bottom of the niche which is decorated by a knot of red ribbon. A white plate is on the table with a knife, fork and spoon. As many different kinds of perfume as the supplicant can afford are on the table also with bouquets of flowers. At a little distance from the draped niche is the tonnelle, a palm thatched shed open on all sides which contains the two Petro drums. It must be ten metres from the niche. That distance is fixed.

  The animals consecrated to Petro Quita Moudong are the pig, the goat, male and female; and the dog.