Bwa Kayiman, 2008: Reclaiming the Haitian People’s Vodun Narrative at Bwa Kayiman
The Haitian struggle – the greatest David vs. Goliath battle being played out on this plane
“Linyon Fè la Fòs” coalition: The Haitian union forged at Bwa Kayiman has never wavered
Ezili Dantò onstage performing "Journey of the Serpent and the Moon" in Red, Black & Moonlight: Between Falling and Hitting the Ground (Buy the 90-performance DVD) - RBM Video Reel - Miami RBM Video Reel / More info on - Ezili Dantò/Aset/Isis
Vodun means sacred energies in the Fon language. Vodun is the spiritual imperative and way of life of Haitians. It’s psychology, cosmology, phylosophy, art, and a healing way of life.
The Bwa Kayiman Battle Cry, Prophecy and Call:
E, e, Mbomba, e, e! Kanga Bafyòti. Kanga Mundele. Kanga Ndòki. Kanga yo!
At Bwa Kayiman, on August 14, 1791, the enslaved Haitian rejected bougeois freedom and fought for universal justice and freedom. The Haitian Revolution continues, today – The call remains the same: E, e, Mbomba, e, e! Kanga Bafyòti. Kanga Mundele. Kanga Ndòki. Kanga yo! – Stop the black collaborators, the white imperialist, all their evil forces, kill/stop them! – See also Boukman’s Bwa Kayiman Prayer.
This Bwa Kayiman Vodun call/invocation, along with Boukman’s Prayer, started the Haitian revolution on August 14, 1791 (For the full Ezili Dantò’s translation, go to: Bwa Kayiman, 2008: Reclaiming the Haitian People’s Vodun Narrative at Bwa Kayiman ).
In the article, Bwa Kayiman, 2008, we learn: “Ginen Poze. All is calm in the collective African-Ayisyen soul because in spite of the imposed enslavement, hunger, repression, UN occupation and containment in povery, Haiti’s wholesome Vodun culture, epistemology and psychology orders the life of the Haitian masses. The journey of the sun people continues. 80 to 200 thousand years out of Africa is a whole lot longer and makes 500plus-years of European conquest or even 1,000 years of Arab conquest seem fairly nanosecond minute.” Some say the Taino-Ayisyen understood that, the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs too. But the sacred African Chronicles and Living African Libraries still in existence evidence how Africans are used to studying one great sun/lunar cycle of 29 or so thousand years know the Ancestors line goes too far back to eternity to erase. Ginen poze. Death doesn’t scare the African, only how one lives and the energies (values/principles/ archetypes) one allows to mount and be extended. Haitians are an ancient people as old as Vodun. This generation of Haitians are in the process of reclaiming the Haitian narrative…” (Go to Lasou O M Pwale – Going Back to the Source, the Root; HLLN’s counter-colonial narrative on deforestation; Ezili’s counter-colonial narrative on Vodun; Blacks were the original peoples in the Americas; Dessalines’ Three Ideals; Ezili and Isis, and Background – Vodun Links).
On August 14, 1791, at Bwa Kayiman, the amalgamated African tribes, the 21 African Nations, the enslaved African-Haitian, forged the Haitian union ‘Linyon Fè La Fòs’ that has never wavered, rejected bougeois freedom and fought for universal justice and freedom. The Haitian Revolution continues today. The call to battle remains the same: E, e, Mbomba, e, e! Kanga Bafyòti. Kanga Mundele. Kanga Ndòki. Kanga yo! (Kill the black collaborators, the white imperialist, all their evil forces. Kill/stop them!)
Bourgeoisie Freedom – “..Generally Haitians have always seen how liberty, brotherhood, equality and democracy exist alongside or even in virtually the same space as slavery, genocide, exploitation, intolerance and tyranny – notably Black enslavement, exploitation and disenfranchisement in the Americas. This is what Ezili’s HLLN calls “Bourgeoisie Freedom”. And, from Bwa Kayiman to now, Haitians have rejected this structure of human interaction, governance and communication. Haitians, as a people, struggle to transform this below, knowing no matter the misery, loss and suffering in time, that out of time, Lan Ginen, our safety lies – lives- wholly unformed by any storylines, (even our own), since before this “New World’s” time began…” (Excerpted Bwa Kayiman 2007 and the case of Lovinsky Pierre Antoine Pierre ).
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Vodun Links:
Learn more about Vodun and Haitian culture, go to:
Bwa Kayman 2009 – Brooklyn Photo Gallery by Kesler Pierre
Bwa Kay Iman Broadcast (Kreyòl) by Jafrikayiti, August 16, 2009
Ezili Dantò/Aset/Isis (photos) and Ezili, Aset, Isis -The Mother God
Bio of Ezili Dantò, 1791
The Goddess Remembered at Bwa Kayiman
Mulatto Oligarchs’ definition of liberty
For Margaret Mitchell Armand – One love (Nou se Ginen, nou fè yon sèl kò)
l. Lasous O M Pwale – Going Back to Source
2. Bwa Kayiman, 2008: Reclaiming the Haitian People’s Vodun Narrative at Bwa Kayiman
3. Bwa Kayiman play and performance texts
4. Performance text – Anba Dlo, Nan Guinen and Intro to Anba Dlo, Lan Ginen
5. Boukman’s Righteous Prayer – Lapriyè Boukman and
6. Haiti’s Linyon Fè la Fòs; In Unity Lies Our Strenght- “Linyon Fè la Fòs” coalition: The Haitian union forged at Bwa Kayiman has never wavered
7. Chèn Sa Pap Janm Kase! – The three powers lifted up at Bwa Kayiman: Fòs, Pouvwa, Linyon,
8. Bourgeoisie Freedom
9 . Ezili’s counter-colonial narrative on Vodun and Background – Vodun Links
10. HLLN’s counter-colonial narrative on deforestation
11. Ezili Dantò live in Miami with Sanba Yatande, Ti Rouj & Manno
12. The Haitian struggle – the greatest David vs. Goliath battle being played out on this planet
13. Ezili on why it’s critical to re-create and adapt the Ancestors’ Vodun Psychology
14. Petwo – Kongo Vodun
15. Journey of the Serpent and the Moon by Marguerite Laurent
16. Basic Haitian Cosmology – Lè Marasa, lè Mò e lè Mistè
17. Black Woman: Mother of All the Races- HOW THAT BLACK WOMAN CAME TO BE
18. The Sanba Movement
19. The complete “Lapriyè Ginen” as edited by Max G. Beauvoir is available by ordering. Send an email.
20 . Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodun, American Museum of Natural History. ( Book: Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, Donald J. Cosentino (Editor), Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural history, 1995)
21. See also, Performance poet, Marguerite Laurent (in RBM) onstage as Ezili Dantò:
22. Divine Haiti: Portraits of the Lwa at the UCSB Center for Black Studies (An Exhibit of the Haitian gods and goddessesof Haiti) by artist, Hersza Barjon
23. Hersza Barjon – www.hersza.com
24. Ancestral Rays: Journey through Haitian History & Culture
Illustrated with the Works of Hërsza Barjon
Edited by Claudine Michel
Exhibition curated by Ernestine A. Ray
25. The Descent of the Lwa, Journey Through Haitian Mythology: The Works of
Hërsza Barjon
26. To learn more on Haitian Vodun, Ezili Dantò and view a rendition of the Lwa, Ezili Dantò, as illustrated by Hersza Barjon, go to: http://research.ucsb.edu/cbs/projects/divinehaiti.html, then click on “Lwa” and then the lady with the child in her dress…..
27. Haitian dance – Dances of the gods. Classes and workshops by the Ezili Danto Spoken Word Dance Theater (Dance and drumming workshop descriptions)
28. Audio Interview – Patrick Bellegarge Smith on Living Vodun – (mp3, 53:07)
29. Living Vodun
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/vodou/index.shtml
“The word “Vodou” evokes images of sorcery and sticking pins into dolls. In fact, it’s a living tradition wherever Haitians are found based on ancestral religions in Africa. We walk through this mysterious tradition — one with dramatic rituals of trances and dreaming and of belief in spirits, who speak through human beings, with both good and evil potential.” (Krista Journals, Speaking of Faith from American Public Media)
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Unheard Cuts from Krista’s Journal on Speaking of Faith – Raw, Unedited Interviews
30 . Audio Interview – Claudine Michel on Living Vodun:
http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/speakingoffaith/
20070628_vodou_uc-michel.mp3
Claudine Michel is professor of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She co-edited Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality and Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture.
31. Audio Interview – Patrick Bellegarge Smith on Living Vodun – (mp3, 1:23.42) interview by Krista http://download.publicradio.org/podcast/speakingoffaith/
20070628_vodou_uc-smith.mp3
Patrick Bellegarde-Smith is chairman of the Department of Africology at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. He’s co-edited several books, including Vodou in Haitian Life and Culture and Haitian Vodou: Spirit, Myth, and Reality.
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32 . “Vodun Brooklyn”
A Photographer’s Journey into a Haitian Community in the U.S. – an Audio slideshow.
Stephanie Keith met a Vodou priest at a Buddhist interfaith event. He invited her to photograph and experience the religious world of his Haitian culture. Ten ceremonies later, she offers her images and reflections on these late-night rituals.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/vodou/audiogallery
/soundseen.shtml#slideshow
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33 . Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti (book and film) by Myra Deren. But be sure to read this first for the book errors corrected at: Ezili’s counter-colonial narrative on Vodun
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34. The Drums of Vodou by Lois E. Wilcken; and
Review of Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Lois E. Wilcken
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35. The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti by
Professor Leslie G. Desmangles, Ph.D., Chair, Department of Religion & International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT
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36. Flash of the Spirit: African & Afro-American Art & Philosophy by Robert Farris Thompson
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37. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn by Karen McCarthy Brown
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38. Lafimen: Listwa Pèp Ayisyen Depi Nan Ginen
http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/lafimen.html and Jafrikayiti.com
“Anmezi y ap eseye toufe l, anmezi l ap fofile fè pasaj pou li monte: LAFIMEN, se listwa pèp Ayisyen depi nan Ginen !”
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