Tag: links

Bonswa!

As of late 2016, I’ve started a Patreon for all things Vodou:
http://www.patreon.com/chitatann

Please join us there. I make at least one public post per week, and many more for my Patreon subscribers, who get to see what I’m doing in my Vodou work and share information about Vodou education, Haitian culture and history, and other topics of interest. Patreons can subscribe to my private blog feed for as little as $1 per month, and for higher subscriptions more neat things are available including discounts and free publications from me, leson (card readings), and even Vodou work like candles and lamps for personalized purposes. Additionally, a percentage of the Patreon subscriptions is being sent as cash directly to my family in Haiti to help support the children and elders who live on our peristyle’s land. If we are able to meet the Patreon’s financial goals, I’ll also be starting a blog about the family and what our financial support is accomplishing there.

Thank you for your consideration, and for joining me as I consolidate my work into one place. The archives here will remain, but future posting will be on the Patreon unless for some reason I end up leaving that service. (Last month’s debacle around fees was a concern, for example, and so I am reserving the right to pull out if need be.)

It was five years ago today that everything changed for Haiti. How is it now? The idiom, m’pa pi mal, couldn’t be more appropriate. Though this is usually what you say in Kreyol to the question koman ou ye or “how are you,” it doesn’t exactly translate as “I’m fine.”

Literally translated, it means: “I’m not any worse.”

Good things have happened, and bad things have also happened, since that terrible afternoon. I can’t say that there is much change in the grief for me, beyond that its jagged shapes are now known rather than lurking and unknown. I don’t wake up from nightmares of bodies under concrete as often as I once did, but it still happens. And I was thousands of miles away at the time. I can’t even begin to imagine how much more intense these feelings are for those who were in Haiti five years ago today.

Five years on, there is still far too much to be done. For those who lost family or home, or often both – and for the 80,000 (!) people still living in “temporary” shelters, tonight will not be magically different from the last five years of nights. Other than a day on a calendar, it is no different and things must still change. There is so much to be done still, and the pace at which my country and the rest of the world has offered its assistance, yet again, is shameful. So too is the response of the United Nations (don’t even get me started) and of Haiti’s government itself. As if there weren’t enough problems with thousands of people needing somewhere safe to live, there is still much political disruption to contend with, including a (potential) return to dictatorship as early as tonight, if Haiti’s parliament can’t get its act together in time.

How do you know what’s happening, if you don’t have family you can call? Here’s an aggregation of various reports on what’s going on, good and bad, in the Land of Mountains. Be aware of context. I’m trying to avoid the worst of the “disaster porn,” but I want to make sure I cover different contexts and angles.

Today’s news from Haiti Libre – many articles here.

Today’s news from the Haitian Times (aggregated from many sources) here.

ABC: “Five Year Anniversary Approaches” video (from 2010) and story here.

Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates): “Haiti Pays Tribute to Quake Tragedy’s Dead” article here.

Boston Globe: “Hope links Haiti, Boston 5 years after quake” article here.

Fusion: “Five years after the Haiti earthquake: protests, voodoo, and rock and roll” article here.

Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates): “Haiti Pays Tribute to Quake Tragedy’s Dead” article here.

Miami Herald: “Tens of thousands still living in tents 5 years after Haiti earthquake” article here.

NBC: “What Does Haiti Have to Show…” video and story here.

Reuters: “Haitians learn to live with disaster upon disaster” article here.

For my Haitian family, I have nothing but love. I miss you every day, but especially today when some of us – far too many of us – went to the angels.

A current trending topic among friends and colleagues is the discussion of sacrifice and its place in religious practice. Far more eloquent people than myself have said some excellent things. I’ve been asked to share my own thoughts, and I’d like to offer an excerpt on this topic from a book I wrote a couple of years ago as my response. It’s still as relevant now as it was then, or when I was asked to speak on a panel about the topic at PantheaCon last February. It’s a long read, but I think it will be helpful.

Excerpted from HAITIAN VODOU, Chapter 3: Sacrifices in Vodou

Getting back to Haitian Vodou, we address perhaps the largest confusion and/or controversy that outsiders to the tradition will confront: the nature of sacrifice, and particularly animal sacrifice. The Lwa of Haitian Vodou request, and are given, many things as offerings or gifts as part of their ceremonies and service. Some Lwa want special candles or tangible objects like perfume, mirrors, or drums. Some Lwa might demand various drinks, from cool water to fiery kleren (pronounced kleh-REN, a high-proof, raw rum). Still other Lwa want various kinds of foods including fruits, vegetables, fancy pastries, breads, candies, and specially prepared dinners. Very few of our Lwa are vegetarians, and most of our Lwa eat meat, just as most Vodouisants eat meat. Remember that the practice of vegetarianism, or other decisions about what to eat or not eat, are generally considered luxuries in a country where food shortages and famines are far too frequent.

Discussion on the PantheaCon sacrifice panel is beginning. Here are two blogs that discuss it:

“A libation without a prayer is a spilled drink” by John Beckett

PantheaCon 2014: A Reflection” by the Anomalous Thracian (See his own website for the uncensored/uncondensed versions here)

Additionally, there’s been some more information on something being fishy in Denmark, notably that neither kosher nor halal have been conducted in the recently-made-illegal manner in Denmark for some time, and some Jewish and Muslim Danes are beginning to wonder if this is just a sneaky way to discriminate against them instead. Additionally, Denmark’s institutional concern for animal rights doesn’t appear to extend to zoo animals.

I’ll keep gathering information. Currently I’m trying to find out if the panel was recorded as it seemed to be, and if that will be made public. I also had a very long follow-up interview with the Coru that will be appearing somewhere soon, along with thoughts from other panel participants, and I’ll post links to that once I have them.

Last weekend at PantheaCon, I was part of a panel discussion on sacrifice (of all kinds, hosted by Coru Cathubodua). I mentioned at one point during the conversation, when we were talking about the utility and place of animal sacrifice in particular, that “any person who has eaten kosher or halal meats has taken part in animal sacrifice.”

When I got home, I found this article about kosher/halal practices in Denmark waiting for me to read. There are many things to say about it, both from the sacrifice standpoint and also the standpoints of religious and animal rights, but right now, I just wanted to post a link before I lose it.

Denmark Ban on Kosher and Halal Slaughter Comes Into Effect as Minister Says ‘Animal Rights Come Before Religion’