The houngan and mambo are the priest and priestess of vodoun. They are community leaders as well as spiritual leaders and serve many functions within the société. As well as priest and priestess, they can act as confessor, doctor, magician, confidential advisor and prophet for their devotees. They are also experts in fortune-telling. A houngan's or mambo's authority is absolute within the hounfort because they are the only ones trained to interact with the loa and to interpret the complex body of belief of vodoun.
The office of mambo and houngan is usually a hereditary one, which is considered the only true way of becoming a priest or priestess of vodoun. The future mambo or houngan is trained from a young age and not initiated until when in their early thirties, usually at the age of 31. The symbol of the priestly office is the asson, which serves as the voice of invocation and controls the direction of rituals. The asson is a ritual rattle, made from a hollow calabash filled with stones or small bones and with beads on the handle. To be raised to priestly authority is to be "given the asson."
All houngans are also bokors, black magicians. That is, they understand and know how to practice black magic, even if they do not literally practice it. A houngan must know evil in order to combat it. In this way, the houngan balances the forces of the universe, a very important function in vodoun belief.
The hounfort must have many elements present to be a proper place for holding ritual. The peristyle is a roofed but otherwise open space where the rituals take place. It has a floor of beaten earth and is bordered by a low wall, four to five feet high. A perpetual fire burns in the center of the yard, with an in iron bar in the middle of the fire representing the forge of Ogou.
In the center of the peristyle is the poteau-mitan or center-post, a symbol of Legba that is saluted at the beginning of every ritual. At the foot of the post is a flat-topped base of cement called the socle that serves as a place for offerings. Usually a whip hangs on the side of the post. The post is painted in bright, rainbow colors in horizontal or spiral bands that are symbolic of Aida-Wedo. The top of the post is considered to be the center of the sky and the bottom the center of hell. Thus, the loa can travel down the post and enter the hounfort.
Trees in the yard around the peristyle are sanctuaries, called sacred reposoirs, where certain loa live permanently. The trees are honored as divinities. A pedestal at the base of the tree holds a lit candle and consecrated food for the loa who lives there.
Adjacent to the peristyle on one side is a square house, the hounfort proper. Several altars are inside the hounfort, each consecrated to a particular loa.
A model boat hanging from the ceiling symbolizes Erzulie and the moon. Brightly colored ritual drapeaux may hang on the walls or ceiling.
Vévés adorn the walls, along with perhaps a picture of the president of Haiti, who is also considered a divine power. Vévés are elaborate designs that symbolize the loa. They are either permanent or created in cornmeal, flour, gunpowder or ash just before a ceremony. They incorporate the symbols of the particular loa they represent: a cross for Legba, a heart for Erzulie, a snake for Damballah, a coffin for Baron Samedi and so on. Usually drawn around the poteau-mitan or a place of sacrifice, the vévé becomes a ritual magnet, obliging the loa to descend to earth.
In the center of the hounfort is an altar or altar stone called the pé; this platform is the height of a man's chest and is where ritual tools are placed. The pé is covered in offerings like candles, food, money, amulets, ceremonial rattles and flags, beads, drums and sacred stones. Govis occupy the pé, containing loa or the souls of revered ancestors. Also inside is the djévo, a room where vodoun candidates are examined and initiated; it represents a tomb where the initiate dies and is reborn into vodoun.
Copyright
1995 Shannon Turlington Settle disclaimer
Last
revised 9/27/95
