Heart of Voodoo I

Journey into the heart and birthplace of voodoo (part I)

Voodoo, or vodun or vodu, as it is often called, was born in Africa and has since migrated, with the slaves brought across the Atlantic, to Haiti and from there to New Orleans, with each migration taking on a new character, blending with the local beliefs, customs and traditions and become, sometimes, something else entirely. At its heart however voodoo remains a religion - because, regardless what the Catholic church would have you believe, it is very much a polytheistic religion - for the people. Voodoo is different for each person - and that’s a really, really good thing. You can reach out to voodoo if you need help and solace at times of trouble, you can turn it into an instrument of financial mischief and, for some, a vehicle of malice and revenge.

But beyond all the above, voodoo is, by its very nature, structure and process, simply connects communities together. A voodoo ceremony brings out the community spirit, that gathers 3 villages together, brings out so much energy, music, singing and intense experiences in ways almost no other religious ceremony anywhere else in the world will ever do. Why? Because in most minds, religion is a serious, sombre, affair to be presided upon by equally serious, sombre priests and structured in such a way that it puts people in as a distant position as possible. Not voodoo. In a ceremony you experience reverence, sacrifice, prayer, offerings, singing, dancing, possibly possession, more dancing, masks, colourful costumes, kids running around, women singing, men creating a veritably cacophony of sounds and music and oh so much more…

Now, having said that, there are a lot - and unfortunately I do mean a LOT - of “ceremonies” out there, pretty much designed to appeal to the casual tourist - do 10’ of the ceremonial part while all the time being careful not to offend anyone’s sensibilities by performing any real sacrifices (please read more on this below), perform a scripted 20’ dance performance with the associated masks and that’s pretty much it. Sure, some are longer and some shorter and there’s always time for photos, but in essence those are, for lack of a better term, simulated performances and, as such, are simply not the full experience.When I researched voodoo - and let me tell you, that took almost six months and involved a lot of web meetings with priests and adepts from Benin, Togo and New Orleans, different books and articles, university lectures and more - I realised one truth: you could not find the base structure of a voodoo ceremony anywhere. Even speaking with my local guides and fixers, it soon because apparent that nobody could agree on this. So it was with a lot of uncertainty and, admittedly, trepidation that I packed my bags and headed out to - hopefully - experience truly authentic, roots-level, voodoo. I was scheduled to spend 8 days amidst the small villages, forest temples and cave shrines immersing myself in the real voodoo.

I’m going to gloss over the various elements about logistics, about Benin etc and focus on voodoo. With Ouiddah as our base of operations (trust me, you really do not need to go out to the boondocks - most of the places are within 2-3hrs drive from Ouiddah) we visited, over the course of 6 days, 8 different voodoo temples, shrines and sacred forests and met with more than a dozen priests, adepts, priestesses and hundreds of local people. We witnessed almost a dozen different ceremonies, over 40 different animal sacrifices and 5 masked dances. We met dozens upon dozens of local people who kindly brought us into their lives, explained to us what drove them to voodoo and what role it played in their lives. It was a truly awe-inspiring experience and I thought i’d walk you through the core elements. Because of the wealth of information coming your way, I’ll do this in two parts, so make sure you come back to the site for Part II coming next week. So, here we go.

Despite what the academics and the locals will try to make you believe, a voodoo ceremony is, in its base elements, pretty standard. Let’s have a look: A. The conference stageBefore a priest will ever deign to accept a supplicant and perform a ceremony, he will sit with the supplicant and discuss what they want. The priests claim this is by far the most important part of a ceremony because it is then when the priest will decided IF they will do the ceremony, which deity they will pray to and finally, how to express the supplicant’s desires to the gods. A conference is a very private thing and no external person may witness it, but it is, at the same time, very simple. It’s a conversation and it is where the money changes hands. What is important to note here is that a priest may decided to not perform the ceremony at all if they feel the supplicant’s motives are pure or if their heart is set on evil (important thing to note here: a supplicant may indeed wish harm on someone else - and we did experience two ceremonies like this - but a priest has every right to say that this is not for him and point the supplicant to another priest!) or, simply, if the priest does not align with the appropriate deity the supplicant needs. But, here, let’s assume the conference goes well, the priest accepts and the date is provisionally set for the ceremony.

B. The preparation stageYou must have wondered why I used the term “provisionally” above, so let me explain. On the day when everything is scheduled to happen, the priest will perform an early morning ceremony to ask the permission of the god(s) to perform the main ceremony. While this early morning ceremony is a simple one without any of the frills we’ll describe later, but it always involve at least one - but usually two - sacrifices. This ceremony is also forbidden to anyone outside the priest, his adept(s) and the supplicant. If the priest receives the permission from the deity, then the main ceremony can happen. While admittedly - and according to both supplicants and priests alike - it’s generally unlikely for permission to not be granted, occasions where the day itself is not deemed auspicious and the ceremony is postponed until a more suitable date can be found. I did ask and yes, the supplicant must pay for these additional ceremonies separately - there are no refunds in voodoo!C. The ceremonyThis is the most important part of the ceremony. It comprises of four main parts with some variations depending on the sect or priest who’s performing the ceremony, but essentially they are the same. Let’s look at each one in detail (with visual examples!): - Participant purification. In voodoo not everyone is assumed to be pure. We’ll cover what purity means and how it is achieved further down, but for now suffice it to say that if you are not pure, there’s a tiny bit of ceremony the priest must perform to purify you for the duration of the ceremony. As far as ceremonies go, this is simple: a nut of some kind is whispered on, it is then pressed onto your forehead and the priest then bites into it breaking it in pieces which he throws at the entrance of the shrine. Based on how they fall, the priest will deem you as pure enough to attend the ceremony. You are then provided with a simple white sheet you’re supposed to wrap like a sharong around your waist. Only wearing this one can you attend any ceremony - well, most of them anyway. The good news? If one priest finds you pure and gives you the sheet, then you can claim it and wear it in all other ceremonies and priests will accept it.

- Shrine/temple purification The priest and his abbots will then proceed to purify the shrine. While different between sects, this usually involved praying, touching the various idols in the appropriate order, offerings of gin, smoke, candles and, in some rare cases, palm oil sprinkled over the the shrine and idols. Usually this is done by the adepts - it’s too low level for the main priest - but sometimes the priest is involved. Visually-speaking, this part of the ceremony is not that impressive - it’s procedural, hurried, and usually all about the facts of the preparation not in creating an impressive spectacle for the supplicant or even an awesome offering for the deity. All this comes later. Preparation can take anything from 10 to 50’ (oh yes!) so, for the photographers reading this, I would recommend using this time to soak in the atmosphere, check the position of the throne (where the priest will be sitting) vis-a-vis your position, check for any visual or other distractions and check the lighting. Now, of course, this applies only if you’ve been permitted into the shrine and this is really not something very frequent, but there you have it.

You see, most shrines are really very small - in fact, they’re nearly tiny - spaces, mostly taken over by the dozens of idols and other paraphernalia accumulated over the years. To be honest, there’s scarcely any room for the priest and the adepts, let alone 3 or 4 photographers, but with the proper contacts, even access to the smallest shrine is possible. In fact, I found that my local guide had, over the course of the 6 months we had been working on this, developed all the right relationships which not only allowed me access to even the tiniest or most sacred temple and shrine, but it even allowed me to bring my lights in and create the images you’re seeing here. So, who you know is very important if you want to truly document what voodoo is.

The adept is preparing the shrine by cleaning the area and ensuring all implements are readily available

Spraying spirits - usually gin - is an integral part of preparing the shrine and idols for the ceremony

Offering spirits to the deities themselves must also be done

- The main ceremony This is the big one! It is split into three parts, so we’ll tackle each one separately…(sorry for the many headings and sub-headings, but what can we do?)(i) Preparation of the sacrifice.Depending on what and how many animals will need to be sacrificed, the priest must prepare them. For example, larger animals, such as goats, sheep and dogs (and yes, I got to see all of them) need to be tied down in a special way, different for each type of ceremony, while the smaller ones, such as chickens and cockerels, ducks, lizards and ducklings (and again, I got to see all of them including, believe it or not, a mollusc or oyster). The smaller animals are almost always fed gin (I really should say, force-fed) while some of the larger animals have smoke breathed on them and a brew of various herbs sprinkled all over them. I was not able to ascertain why the difference - aside from the “this is what the god demands” answer. However, this stage takes approximately 5-10’ depending on the animal and the type of ceremony and is followed, pretty seamlessly, by the sacrifice itself.

Adepts are responsible for sourcing and preparing the sacrificial animals

Adepts also have to ensure the animals are calm and not agitated

In some cases, animals are checked for imperfections prior to the sacrifice

Feeding spirits - usually gin - to the birds is pretty much standard in most sacrifices

(ii) the sacrifice…and when I say sacrifice I am not referring to just one animalin most of the ceremonies I experienced the priest would sacrifice at least 2 and sometimes 3 and as many as 5 animals, in other words, whatever the deity had told him was demanded for the specific ask. The sacrifice itself is a truly varying and, in many ways, rough experience. For example, a chicken may be sacrificed in a number of ways, ranging from a straight throat cutting to gutting to - and this is really spooky - being placed upside down on a special altar with the priest praying intently over it until it simply dies. The last one is actually extremely impressive, both in terms of process as well as visually so I would thoroughly recommend asking if the ceremony you’re observing includes this. Larger animals, by their very nature, are different. Goats and sheep are led to the altar and then usually sacrificed by throat slashing while dogs are tied on a t-shaped wooden “scaffold” with twine or wire and are sacrificed, again, through throat slashing. Anything else - lizards, ducklings, etc are simply squeezed until they die.

Chickens and cockerels are sometimes simply sacrificed through the power of faith

The blood of a fresh sacrifice is poured immediately on the shrine or idols of the deity

Sometimes the blood of one sacrifice is used to purify and prepare the next sacrifice

While not gentle, killing a sacrificial animal is still done as quickly and humanely as possible

(iii) the offeringOnce the animal has been sacrificed, it’s blood is then offered to the god by being dripped over the appropriate idols. This is usually the job of the adepts who move around the shrine ensuring the right/appropriate amount of blood is dripped on the right idols. If more than one animal are sacrificed, then the process is repeated. Now, pay attention because this part is over incredibly quickly. Also, as these animals do not produce copious amounts of blood, do not expect what you might have seen in movies - the most amount of blood I was able to see was when a goat was sacrificed over the skulls in the sacred forest. Important to note here is that in a number of ceremonies, we were fortunate enough to be able to speak to the priests before the ceremony and they were, in most cases, willing to accommodate us and our picture-taking requirements. This is a lot more complex than you might think - I had to be extremely extensively prepared so I could communicate to the priest and adepts what I wanted/were hoping to do and also think on my feet with regard to positioning and lighting.(iv) the requestOnce the offering has been made, the priest will then petition the deity. Sometimes - but not always - the petition comes before the sacrifice, but as this is not a hard and fast rule, I’m presenting it the way I experienced most of the ceremonies. This is not that much different from the purification part we described earlier where either seeds or bones are touched by the supplicant and then thrown on the floor by the priest who then interprets the will of the deity. Among the ceremonies I witnessed, the outcome was positive in all but one.(read on for Part II)

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