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'The voodoo way of life has too often been overlooked, and misunderstood, by the international aid community'
There were no zombies running around or people worshipping the devil and sticking pins into a doll.
The Hollywood stereotype of the voodoo religion was nowhere to be seen when I visited the home and sanctuary of Max Beauvoir, the "Ati" or supreme leader of Haitian voodoo, a 40-minute drive from the capital Port-au-Prince.
“Voodoo is not like Voodoo 1, Voodoo 2, Voodoo 3 or Voodoo XX or whatever the name of the Hollywood films that have misportrayed the voodoo religion,” the gentle and charming priest told me during a recent interview.
Beauvoir, who has been a voodoo priest for nearly four decades, says to understand voodoo is to understand how Haitians live and view life and death.
Around 70 percent of Haiti’s 10 million people are believed to practise voodoo, a religion brought from West Africa several centuries ago by slaves forced to work on sugar cane plantations in what was then the rich French Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue.
“Voodoo is the soul of the Haitian people. It is religious because there’s a link with God, and at the same time it is cultural because almost everything we do obeys voodoo ways. It’s called a voodoo a way of life,” said 78-year-old Beauvoir.
That way of life has too often been overlooked, and misunderstood, by the international aid community, Beauvoir said.
Billions of dollars have been spent in Haiti on humanitarian aid and rebuilding the country after a massive earthquake five years ago that killed more than 220,000 people and flattened much of Port-au-Prince.
Beauvoir says the failure of the international aid community, including the United States, the main aid donor to Haiti, to understand Haitian culture and society through the voodoo faith, in part explains why reconstruction efforts have been slow and have not lived up to the expectations of many Haitians.
A slave revolt led to Haiti becoming the first independent post-colonial black republic in the world in 1804. The Caribbean nation is proud of its history and today what Haitians need most to move on with their lives is greater sovereignty over their destiny, Beauvoir reflects.
"In my judgment the greatest needs of the Haitian people is peace. Peace to be able to live in their own way, the way they see fit to carry on with their best capabilities," said Beauvoir.
"This is a permission that has never been left to the Haitians. In fact everybody coming from all over the world has always wanted to change the Haitian way of life, including voodoo.
"It’s always other people coming from Europe, from France coming from America, now you do this, now you do that, and at no time in history were the Haitian people left to express themselves.”
Loans from international lending organisations, such as the World Bank, have only stifled Haiti’s development, Beauvoir says.
"Many times they pretend to offer you help but those helps were nothing else but bullets put into your leg to prevent you from moving forward."
OASIS
Beauvoir’s spacious coral stone-wall home, adorned with Haitian wood carvings and lush bamboo and palm tree courtyards, is an oasis.
It’s a world away from the anti-government street protests taking place and the daily grind of rampant poverty and rubbish-strewn streets.
Inside a small temple in his home is an altar with candles and the benevolent spirits' favorite drinks in bottles and where cows, goats and chickens are sacrificed to God and the different spirits.
Beauvoir, as well as 60,000 voodoo priests living across the country - both "houngan" priests and female "manbo" priestesses - perform ceremonies and sacrificial rituals.
He describes these ceremonies as an important “exchange” between God and humans, which brings strength and energy to people and helps them understand life and death.
“Voodoo gives an idea of what life and death is, and how you can best use your life. So we all become familiar with life and death. And we’re no longer afraid of dying. Because we believe in reincarnation and know that no-one ever dies.”
Voodoo withstood Catholic missionaries who came to Haiti from the sixteenth century, and sought to eradicate the voodoo religion, which they saw as a pagan heresy.
Beauvoir says it’s the voodoo view of life that Haitians will draw on, along with the Catholic faith, as Haiti holds masses and ceremonies to commemorate the five year anniversary of the earthquake.
He emphasis that voodoo has been around for more than 4,000 years, making it one of the world’s most ancient beliefs, which has all too often been depicted as an “uncivilized” way of life that should be destroyed.
“The biggest misconception in my opinion is not realising that when you deal with voodoo, you’re dealing with a very, very old civilization. It has never been recognised as that.”
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