Voodoo helps Haitians to recover from the earthquake
Thousands of Haitians have gathered to a voodoo festival in July, chanting special prayers to the voodoo spirits to find them new houses and ease their difficulties only six months after a huge earthquake ravaged the island.
Dressed in white, they clambered up the hill to bathe in a waterfall and join in a yearly ritual which has brought the faithful ones for 200 years to the town of Saut d’Eau in the central Haiti.
On this spot in 1847, the Catholic saint Our Lady of Mount Carmel is believed to have appeared. Fearing the apparition could generate a flood of religious enthusiasm, a Catholic priest cut down the tree where the saint was said to stand during this extraordinary event. But he was too late, and ever since sometimes as many as 20,000 people have made the annual pilgrimage here.
Voodoo remains an official state religion, and it is likely that more than half of Haiti’s population practices at least elements of it.
This year fewer people than usual made it to the gathering, which culminated on Friday. For many Haitians, devastated by earthquake, the trip from the capital Port-au-Prince was beyond their means.
But those who came had enthusiastic prayers for the voodoo spirit Erzulie (the spirit of the waterfalls and the voodoo spirit corresponding to the Virgin Mary) to find them a new home.
“Many people are coming for the first time because of the earthquake,” said Paul-Erick Mereilier, who lost his home and a brother during the quake.
The crowds sacrifice animals, usually chickens and goats, and smear their white clothes in the blood, chanting and dancing, often sending themselves into a trance.
Others bathe in the waters of the waterfall, hoping their wishes will be granted. Shaking in the cold water, Mereilier said he always believed in voodoo, but had never thought of coming here before. “I came to look for possibilities, I would like to ask the spirits for a chance,” he said.
Nearby, a young girl in a bright swimsuit shook in a trance, and as relatives kept her from hitting her head on the rocks, other bathers came to touch her and whisper requests in her ears, believing her to be possessed by the spirit Erzulie.
All around, hundreds of men and women of all ages bathed with soap and mint leaves, some naked, others fully clothed. Some chanted verses from the Bible, while young men sipped rum and children played in the water.
Under a tree by the waterfall, Andre Chevry, a thin 50 year-old dressed in the red and blue colors of voodoo priests, welcomed worshippers to light candles and practiced mystical rituals for a fee. “People come here to find satisfaction and solutions to their problems,” said Chevry, sipping clear liquor and warning listeners that it was God who had brought about the earthquake.
“Everyone finds what they are looking for,” he said, but when asked whether the ritual would suffice to solve Haiti’s problems, he answered, “I can’t guarantee anything.”
Haiti is struggling to cope with the aftermath of the earthquake. But for many, the pilgrimage is part of the healing process.
//Bruce







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