On Vodou And HooDoo And Haiti

As regular readers know, for brief/glorious period of time, right before I came home to Asheboro, I lived and worked in the New Orleans area.

And New Orleans before the storm was a wonderful, magical place to be. One day, I hope to go back.

During that time, as a bit of student of other faiths and religions (while still managing to stay firmly grounded in the one I was born to), I immersed myself in the local culture. I encountered vodou and hoodoo, and met people who believed in and practiced some fairly dark arts. And, as open-minded and respectful as I try to be of someone else's spiritual faith (I expect the same in kind), I must say that what I saw and read about made an impression. You could say the spirits moved me.

I already believed in evil as a palpable presence in the world.

But it is one thing to believe, and yet another to feel it.

Many folks are wailing and gnashing over Pat Roberton's recent remarks about Haiti's alleged "pact with the devil".

Pat will be Pat. Playing devil's advocate (get it?), Robertson has deeply-held beliefs (which I respect as much as anyone else's) and very good intentions, combined with the God-given ability to put his foot in his mouth faster than any TV evangelist I've ever seen. On the other hand, I'm thinking that if what he said made people mad and galvanized them to donate even more to relief efforts, ALL THE BETTER.

The Lord uses all things for good and works in mysterious ways.

But the thing is (and it's a big but), as soon as I heard about Pat's "gaffe", I remembered hearing variations of this story . . . in bits and pieces . . . way back when I once roamed the French Quarter and trolled around in its shops.

I don't have access to my library right now . . . which houses the books I bought in New Orleans that might served as references. But being a girl who prefers facts, I did a little online research, trying to find the basis for the story. I came up with two fairly decent/straight-forward links.

I present them now - if only as food for thought.

The first is a primer on Vodou from the New Orleans Mystic.

The second is an actual scholarly article published in the Stockholm Review of Latin American Studies this past March (2009) entitled, “Our Government is in Bwa Kayiman:” A Vodou Ceremony in 1791 and its Contemporary Significations.

And, as you contemplate all of that, please remember that there are hard times and there is Hell and give what you can to the earthquake relief efforts.

Comments are closed on this one. I don't care what you think. I just want you to think.

You could say it's about practicing tolerance for "diversity".

It would be particularly nice if some folks thought before they spoke.

1/18 Update: From CNN.

1/18 Afternoon Update: A Wesleyan Professor weighs in.