Haitian Day of Mourning -- Catholics, Protestant, Voodoo Practitioners Pray Together

Mario Tama / Getty Images

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI - FEBRUARY 12: Haitian earthquake survivors pray while gathered in Champ de Mars on the first of three days of mourning February 12, 2010 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The current official estimated death toll stands at 217,000 with around 1.2 million living in temporary encampments. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Haiti had a national day of mourning and prayer. Below is an article from the Washington Post about it (click on the headline to see the original story). Note the following quote:

"Everybody is praying together -- Catholics, Protestants and voodoo believers," said Joseph Ardouin Dubois, an evangelical Protestant who attended the service with his New Testament in hand. "There is only one God."

It is quite amazing how the pluralism of today is not all that different than the pluralism of ancient Greece or Rome. Everyone can gather together and pray to his own god. One difference with the pluralism of the 21st century is that people declare that everyone is praying to the same god. At least, the ancient world recognized people were praying to different gods, if only as a matter of respect to the various gods.

In Haitian voodoo, the supreme god is called Bondye, from the French bon dieu, "good God". The supreme god is so powerful and so transcendent that ordinary people cannot reach him or get him to hear their prayers. For this reason, voodoo calls upon lesser spirits or gods to intercede for people to Bondye. These lesser gods or spirits are called loa or lwa and they exist in a hierarchy, some being immensely powerful others relatively weak. There are hundreds of thousands of lwa called upon in voodoo, some even have their own holidays. When Roman Catholicism came to Haiti, some voodoo practitioners adopted the names of Roman saints as lwa.  So in some cases there is quite a mixture (syncretism) of voodoo and Roman Catholicism in the religious life of people. In any case, it is hard to defend the claim that everyone is worshiping the same god.

The day of mourning in Haiti recalls the prayer service held in Yankee Stadium after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 when various religious groups including Christians of various sorts, Muslims, Jews, et al. gathered to pray. Similar arguments were put forth that everyone worships the same god. While we need to be respectful of various religious beliefs, to declare that everyone worships the same god does not give proper respect to different religions. Of course for Christians there is an even greater issue at stake -- that of honoring the 1st Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before me." Enough has been said on this in the past. Indeed it is a challenge to be faithful in a pluralistic society but nothing the church has not faced in the past.

Lutheran Service Book uses Luke 13 and the parable of the fig tree as the text for a National Day of Mourning. More on this in another post.

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Haiti's day of mourning mixes prayer, anger at government
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, February 13, 2010; A08

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI -- Reeling from the earthquake that devastated their country one month ago, Haitians have turned to their vivid and sometimes quirky spiritual life in a search not only for consolation but also for an explanation of why such a catastrophe was visited upon them.

The depth and breadth of Haiti's spirituality was put on display Friday, the first of three days of mourning decreed by the government of President René Préval. In the largest of many such gatherings, thousands of people gathered on the Champ de Mars, a broad esplanade in front of the collapsed National Palace, to pray, sing religious songs and listen to Roman Catholic, Protestant and voodoo preachers in a government-organized memorial service for the more than 200,000 killed.

"Everybody is praying together -- Catholics, Protestants and voodoo believers," said Joseph Ardouin Dubois, an evangelical Protestant who attended the service with his New Testament in hand. "There is only one God."

But in the crowd pressing toward the stage, and among the nearby tents and plastic shelters where homeless families by the thousands have taken refuge, many blamed the Jan. 12 quake on the government, saying Haiti's leadership was evil because it ignored spirituality and refused to grant a higher minimum wage to the poor.

The sentiments, freely expressed, suggested that political repercussions from the earthquake could extend beyond the immediate question of whether Préval and his government are effectively presiding over relief efforts.

"If this tragedy has befallen Haiti, it is because our leaders, our politicians, are not spiritual people," said Pastor Vladimir Justal, 34, an evangelical minister who walked among the tents in a white linen suit. "They have no religion."

"They are pagans, that's what they are," said a teenager standing nearby.

"Yes, that's it," Justal agreed. "We are going to ask God to give us spiritual men to lead us. Otherwise, we are heading for another catastrophe."

Four women sitting on the ground nearby waved their arms back and forth and sang a traditional Haitian hymn: "Now I know my life is safe," their voices floated out in soft Creole, "no matter what happens tomorrow."

But Patrick Edouard, a 41-year-old refrigerator repairman who lost his wife and 14-year-old daughter in the earthquake, was less confident. He said God visited the tragedy on Haiti because "Haitians are all mean." He added, "The worst of them all, it's the government. There is no work, no food, nothing to do."

Edouard, propping his swollen injured leg on a block of wood, said the main proof of the government's evil nature was its refusal to grant long-standing demands for an increase in the minimum wage to $6 a day. But the broader affirmation that all Haitians were somehow evil also suggested that he was uncomfortable with underground voodoo practices, which some Haitians consider immoral.

The sight of voodoo priests among other religious leaders startled many Haitians, aware of the hostility that the secretive practice arouses among the Roman Catholic hierarchy and many in the government. Officially, nearly 80 percent of Haiti's 9 million people are Catholic, but a majority practice voodoo at the same time. In more recent times, more than 15 percent of the population has gravitated toward an evangelical Protestantism that steers its followers away from traditional voodoo rites.

But in a country where half the population remains illiterate, particularly in the dirt-poor villages and towns outside Port-au-Prince, voodoo and other forms of spiritual mystery have retained a hold on people's imaginations. Several explanations have arisen for the quake that might appear fanciful to outsiders but have gained currency among many Haitians.

One of the speakers at Friday's memorial, for instance, was Jinou Brutus, known as Sister Jinou, who announced on Haitian television that she had visited Préval months ago to inform him that an angel had come to her in a dream and told her that Haiti would soon suffer an earthquake. Sister Jinou, a Haitian who reportedly lives in Orlando, went on television again after the quake to announce that the country would soon fall victim to a volcanic eruption, a prediction that, some Haitians explained, led Préval to declare the three-day mourning period to get right with God despite the urgency of recovery efforts.
After recalling her earthquake prediction to the crowd, however, Sister Jinou announced she had some good news: The angel had again appeared in her dream, she said, and told her that within seven years Haiti would be so prosperous it would export food to other countries.

Despite such efforts to understand why Haiti was forced to suffer so, Delva Loisdel, his hair white and his skin burnished dark brown, said he had no faith in any of the complicated explanations. Speaking through an opening in his little tent, the 84-year-old laborer said, "Only God knows."

Haiti calls upon voodoo priests for help - The Boston Globe

Some people call upon God in a disaster, others upon voodoo. According to the story below, one half of Haiti's population practices voodoo. Other statistics say that 80% of the country is Roman Catholic. The reality is syncretism -- a mixture of traditional African religion with Christianity, particularly Roman Catholicism. The "spirits" (Lwa) frequently took the names of "saints" from Christianity. According to the article below, the United Nations is seeking out voodoo priests because they are leaders in the community.

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Haiti calls upon voodoo priests for help - The Boston Globe

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Rodrigue Bienaime worked on an idol at a sanctuary in Mariani, Haiti, last week. More than half Haiti’s population is believed to practice voodoo. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff)

MARIANI, Haiti - To the outside world, their faith has long been shrouded in mystery, ministering as much to the dead as the living, and associated with images of animal sacrifices and human skulls.

But in postquake Haiti, the practitioners of voodoo have taken on a more practical role, enlisted by the government to help count the dead, tend to the injured, and soothe the psychologically damaged.

“One must understand that Haiti is voodoo,’’ said Max Beauvoir, 75, the “pope’’ of Haitian voodoo and a former biochemical engineer who once worked for Digital Equipment in Maynard, Mass. “Helping Haitians is nothing else but helping ourselves.’’

To make use of that resource, the United Nations has reached out to the vast and influential network of about 60,000 voodoo priests in Haiti, Beauvoir said. And the priests, firmly entrenched in their displaced communities, are eager to lend a hand.

“Priests are considered to be leaders,’’ David Wimhurst, a UN spokesman here, said of the voodoo hierarchy. “And community leaders obviously have a role to play to help the humanitarian effort.’’

Eno Mondesir, a public health researcher in Boston and native of Haiti who serves as chairman of Haitian Americans United, conceded that voodoo priests “do play a role in national life,’’ but he is concerned they could come up with inaccurate data. “I’d like to know what scientific markers they would be using to gather and document that information.’’

Beauvoir said the priests are counting among their own people, so they expect accurate numbers. He is confident the religious and scientific perspectives will not clash.

In a nation where government barely functions, and where more than half the population of 9 million is believed to practice voodoo in some form, the assistance of these priests is considered critical to better assess the situation. The priests in Haiti dispense unofficial justice and cater to religious needs.

The religion, born in Africa but melded with elements of Christianity by colonial slaves to mask its “pagan’’ veneer, is a nature-based belief that venerates one’s ancestors, calls on their spirits, and promotes a fervent love of family and community.

“In fact, we are the country,’’ Beauvoir said of Haiti’s voodoo followers. “Many people do not want to see it that way.’’

As a result, the voodoo priests - “houngan’’ if a man, “mambo’’ if a woman - are conducting an informal national census of the dead and injured, Beauvoir said. They also will participate in a national ecumenical memorial service that has been scheduled over six days beginning Friday.

“Today, we are down on the ground, and our back is broken,’’ Beauvoir said. “We need to stand up as soon as possible.’’

In addition to the census, the priests have been busy practicing their healing arts. In a tent city in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville, the local mambo, Lamercie Charles Pierre, recently stood beside a pregnant woman who had been bleeding heavily. After a treatment of voodoo medicine, Pierre said, the bleeding stopped.

Another woman, ambling into the conversation, said that she had been traumatized by the earthquake, but that Pierre and a voodoo ritual involving coffee leaves had restored her sanity.

“If not for her,’’ the woman said of Pierre, “I would be running crazy in the street. I would be hit by a car.’’

After the Jan. 12 earthquake, Pierre, who projects a calm, serene authority amid the devastation, gathered her neighbors onto the nearby grounds of the shattered Italian Embassy. There, they pitched makeshift tents from tarps, wood, and sheets. Soon, after reaching out to a French relief agency, Pierre obtained portable toilets for their new home.

The living are the priority, of course, but the dead hold an essential place in voodoo culture. A few hundred yards down a steep hill, in a voodoo sanctuary that survived while all around it disintegrated, Pierre walked among three “spirit rooms,’’ where human skulls, voodoo dolls, murals of dancing skeletons, and the belongings of the newly dead had been stored.

Garlands of flowers hung from chandeliers, paintings of Christian saints adorned the walls, and tall voodoo drums lay stacked for safekeeping in a small, secure room.

“This is where we call the spirits,’’ Pierre said. “In the voodoo, we only do good.’’

That version of voodoo, far different from the dark imagery with which the religion is sometimes painted, was echoed by Marc Yves Louis, 59, who works as a groundskeeper at Beauvoir’s lush estate about 10 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

“Voodoo is our culture, our roots, and our strength,’’ Louis said. “Voodoo is our heart.’’

Beauvoir, a native of Haiti, returned to his roots after a 20-year odyssey that took him to City College of New York, to France for further study, and finally to Massachusetts, where he lived in Stow in 1973 and 1974 while working for Digital.

Then, Haiti beckoned. And as the self-styled “pope’’ of Haiti voodoo, Beauvoir adjudicates domestic and other disputes from an ornate concrete chair set under a towering ficus tree. On the back of the seat is a “carrefour,’’ which resembles the Christian crucifix but represents the crossroads to which the plaintiffs and defendants have arrived.

On the right arm of the chair, inside a sculpted fist, is a stone dagger that represents Beauvoir’s power as a voodoo judge.

“I do it on a constant basis,’’ Beauvoir said of these duties.

Beauvoir stressed that he respects all religions, despite what he sees as others’ disrespect for voodoo. Christian televangelist Pat Robertson, for example, said that Haitians had been cursed by the earthquake because of a “pact with the devil,’’ referring to a 1791 voodoo ceremony that began their revolution against the French.

“Do we sacrifice animals? Of course we do,’’ Beauvoir said. “There is nothing we do that does not implicate nature.’’

Haitian voodoo holds that a single spirit has 16 lives, equally divided between male and female lives.

After each death, the spirit returns to the sea, Beauvoir said, where it is cleansed before “a proper body’’ can be found for the next incarnation.

Throughout the cycle, he said, the spirits of the dead are a constant, accessible presence. In a striking symbol of that belief, a sculpture in the sanctuary’s amphitheater shows a skeleton locked in an embrace with a woman who represents Haiti.

“She dances with her tradition,’’ Beauvoir said, “and with all of her ancestors who are dead.’’

The calamity, Beauvoir believes, is a chance for Haiti’s voodoo culture to reassert itself by taking a prominent role in the recovery.

“It is inconceivable,’’ Beauvoir said he hopes, “that people will think about Haiti without thinking about voodoo.’’

Meghan Irons of the Globe staff contributed to this report. 

© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.