On Looking at a Vodou Altar

On Looking at a Vodou Altar
Author(s): Donald J. Cosentino
Source: African Arts, Vol. 29, No. 2, Special Issue: Arts of Vodou (Spring, 1996), pp. 67-70
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3337370
Accessed: 28/02/2010 12:16
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jscasc.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to African Arts.
http://www.jstor.org
Altars
On
Looking
Vodou
Happen
at
a
Altar
KARENMcCARTHYBROWN
DONALDJ. COSENTINO
wantto change yourview of altarsby tellingyou a few things about
them in HaitianVodou. Altarshappen. Altarsmust be fed. Altars
must be awakened.Altarswax and wane in potency.Altarsbreathe.
Altarstell stories. Altarsrevealthe state of being of individualsand
communities.Altarscan be in a bottle,or underyourskin, or buriedin
youryard.They can be hung in the raftersof a house or the limbsof a
tree, or they can be placed on the ground,on a table, or at the foot of a
tree. A grave can even be an altar.Altarsare places wherethe livingand
the dead, the humanand the divine,meet. Altarsare places wherehealing happens. To understandwhat I mean by healing, we need a few
basic terms.
In Vodoucircles konesans refersto sacred knowledge, the knowledge of how to heal. It is a word witha wide referentialfield including
complex informationabout herbs and arcane teachings. Most importantis the fact thatkonesans refersto open channels of communication
withthe ancestors and the spiritswho providethe healerwithinformation about what is going on at the deepest levels of persons, or even
about what willhappen to them in the future.
"Heatingup"is anothertermused in relationto healing. It is always
used in an active mode, as in:"Thespiritswillnot come to help us until
the ceremonyis byen shofe,"well heated up. Itis onlywhen the singers,
dancers, and drummersat a Vodouceremonyare performingenthusiasticallythatthe spiritswillbe enticed to "ride"one of the faithful.Yetit
is not only large groups that are able to heat things up sufficientlyto
bring about transformation.A healer's own energy can be similarly
raised and heated by gazing into a candle flame when she wishes to
call one of the spiritsfor help in performinga treatment.And if charms
are expected to workover time, they also must be periodically"heated
up"by being focused on and prayedover.Oftena candle is lightedby
the charmor "point"as partof this process.
A point,or pwen, is the ritualcondensationof a thing.Whenhealing
charms are called pwen, it means that, in them, human and divine
energies have been broughtto an exquisitefocus so they can be used
to bring about healing transformations.When change is desired in a
relationshiphot with anger, a pwen can be made containingice and
sugar syrupto cool it down and sweeten it up.
Withthe concepts "point,""knowledge,"and "heatingup,"we move
close to the rootmetaphorsthat shape the HaitianVodouunderstanding of healing, and also the Vodou understandingof what an altaris.
Altarsare pwen, points of contact between the human realmand the
spirits.They are places where someone with sufficientkonesans can
D
orchestrateenergy, humanand divine,to bringabout healing.
A heap of rubble,piled up at random,is the fairestuniverse.
Heraclitus
Youdon'tmake art,you findit. Youaccept everythingas
its material.
CharlesSimic
t is throughthe perspective of Vodouthat Haitiansconstructtheir
peculiar weltanschauung:a way of seeing history,contemporary
society, and the superstructureof religionin one master narrative.
Fromthis perspective, historycollapses into myth,the secular into
the sacred, the momentaryinto the durative. This totalizingvision
belongs to Vodou,which doesn't blinkbefore any of Haiti'sbrutal,and
often obscene, history.The visiondoesn't lie, but it does force meaning
out of everyevent, includingthose whichmoresecularsocieties repress,
or even deny. To look at a Vodoualtarclutteredwithsequined whiskey
bottles,satinpomanders,clay pots dressed in lace, plasterstatues of St.
Anthonyand the laughingBuddha,holycards, politicalkitsch,Dresden
clocks, bottlesof Moet&Chandon,rosaries,crucifixes,Masonicinsignia,
eye-shadowed kewpiedolls, atomizersof Anais-Anais,wooden phalluses, goat skulls,Christmastree ornaments,and Arawakcelts is to gauge
the achievementof slaves and freemenwho imagineda narrativebroad
enough and fabricateda ritualcomplex enough to encompass all this
disparatestuff.
Forcedintothe sugar plantation,mansion,hellhole,cathedral,whorehouse, Masonic lodge, armory, and opera palace of colonial St.
Domingue,Africansreassembled the objets trouves according to an
aestheticthey carriedintheirheads, theirhearts,theirentirebodies. Out
of torn lace, sequins, feathers, and empty whiskey bottles they made
workingmodelsof heaven, Guineesof crackedcrystal.Theirsis the work
of artists. "Frozenwaterfalls"and "dances for the eyes" is how David
Byrne,musicianand impresario,describes theiraltarassemblages. He
detritusto "visualjazz, constantly
compares sacralizedAfro-Caribbean
reworkedand reactivated."Altarsare played, likea musicalinstrument,
augmented through constant use. Their aesthetic is improvisational.
They are never "finished."Behind the musician'sdescriptionlurksthe
iconoclast'snightmare:the suggestion thatreligion,liketheater,depends
on artifice.Altarsare stages and priests are actors. Vestmentsare costumes, sacramentalsare props, and all liturgiesenact a provincialversion of the divinecomedy.
Vodou has exemplifiedthe intense artificiality
of ritualobservance
for a very long time. Withinits heterogeneity,Derek Walcottdiscerns
the model for all Caribbeanart:
Breaka vase, and the love thatreassemblesthe fragments
is strongerthanthatlove whichtook its symmetryforgranted when it was whole....Thisgatheringof brokenpieces is
the care and pain of the Antilles,and ifthe pieces are dis-
* spring1996
african
africanarts
arts'spring
67
67
I
t
-;
0
_
.-^
--
, l
4
f't
.4
,
-U
i1
,r;
4 --
:
;A
'
: l
I
I
his altar is set to serve the Iwaof the Rada "nation,"who are considered "pure"African, sweet-natured, and cool. Here ritual specialists
may invoke the spirits, make offerings, leave petitions, and do healings
on behalf of the Vodou "family."
Liquor,perfume, jewelry, soap, money, and
other such luxuries are left on the altar as gifts for the Iwa.
Catholicchromolithographsare understood to manifest the spirits'divine
attributes.EziliFredaas "OurLadyof Lourdes"presides over all the other Iwa
from h erniche. St. Peter with the keys to heaven images Legba, who opens
an, sepaet-nate
all barriers.Gede is given
the to the left. Pots
wall,
space against
petitions,
and On
do he
for the Marasa (Sacred Twins)can beave
below.
the side
uxuries are dressingthe lwa whenthey the
wall
"mount ir horses"duringceremonies.
This altar was designed by David Mayo in consultation withoungan Wilfred
Ignace. Most of the objects come from the Port-au-Princealtar of Sauveur
St. Cyr.The museum installationroughlyadheres to the originalmodel.
68african
68
1996
spring
africanarts
arts * spring1996
'
..i l
'*
:^jj
-
'.^"
U
^
.. .-
.-
t
^1-
I
A
E
i
-
.
+:
e -
,
4
PHOTO GARY GARNICK. COURTESY OF THE UCLA FOWLER MUSEUM OF CULTURALHISTORY
Petwo/Kongo Altar
P
etwo/Kongo rites honor creolized Iwa with assertive Kongo-derived
imagery.Bound medicine packets known as paket kongo, consecrated
to spirits such as Simbi Makayaand Ren Kongo, proclaimtheir Kongo
identity.Fewer chromolithsappear in Petwo sanctuaries than in Rada ones,
though Ezili Danto and Ogou Balendjo (a Petwo warrior)are present in
Catholic form. So is St. Expedite, who is set upside down as an inducement
to "work"on behalf of his devotee. A framed photo of Jean-BertrandAristide
sits next to a statue of Ezili.He is there because, as President of Haiti,he too
has lots of "work"to do.
The figures standing to either side of the Petwo altar are said to represent male and female Indianchiefs royally"dressed"in ribbons and feathers.
But their names and costumes also evoke the royal lineages of Central
Africa:Wa Wangol (Kingof Angola), wearing chains, and Ren Kongo (Queen
of Kongo), wearing beads. Divination,associated with Petwo rites, is often
effected through playing cards like those spread out on the table. The tchatcha (rattle)may be used to summon the Iwafor assistance.
This altar was designed by David Mayo in consultation with oungan Wilfred
Ignace. Most of the objects come from the Port-au-Prince altars of Silva
Joseph and Edner Pierre. The installationroughly adheres to arrangements
on Joseph's altar.
african
arts*spring
spring
1996
africanarts
*
69
69
parate,ill-fitting,
they containmorepainthantheiroriginal
sculpture,those icons and sacred vessels takenforgranted in theirancestralplaces. Antilleanartis this restoration
of our shatteredhistories,our shards of vocabulary,our
archipelagobecoming a synonymfor pieces brokenoff
fromthe originalcontinent....Thisis the basis of the Antillean experience, this shipwreck of fragments, these
echoes, these shards of a huge tribalvocabulary,these
partiallyrememberedcustoms, and they are not decayed
butstrong.Theysurvivedthe MiddlePassage.
(TheAntilles:Fragmentsof
an Epic Memory,1992, p. 2)
Haveany people been confrontedwitha moreheterogeneousrepertoire of materialsfor spiritualreconstruction?Which bricoleurshave
been so fortunate?Is this the revenge of the Caribbees-that forallthe
preposterouscrueltyof slavery,and in partbecause of it,the interiorof
an ounfo recalls the extravaganzaof temple life in the Alexandriaof
Cleopatra(or Cecil B. De Mille);or the Romeof Isis and Mithras,when
was only one of several mysticismschallengingthe hegeChristianity
of
a
mony
fadingpantheon?Does the positionof Haitiat the crossroads
of the most cosmopolitanroutesof the eighteenthcenturyaccount for
the odd congruencebetweenso muchof Vodou(as the exemplaryAfroCaribbeanreligion)and otheragglutinatingreligions:Fon, Kongo,and
butalso distantcognates likeHinduism,withits
Catholicismhistorically;
overlapof Aryanand Dravidiandeities;orthe Cao Daiof Vietnam,which
D
canonizes Joan of Arc,Confucius,and MadameCurie?
FromSacred Artsof HaitianVodou,pp. 27-28.
I Married
a
Voodoo
Altar
DAVIDMAYO
reatingan installationfor "SacredArts of HaitianVodou"
was one of the most unusualand satisfyingexperiences of
my career.Itbecame a relationshipwitha subjectthatpossesses a remarkablehuman spirit and an aesthetic to
which I was immediatelydrawn.
The design startedas they all start.A floorplan. Itdesignates three
altars. Key elements. The interpretiveculminationof an exhibition
whichwe hope willbe the definitiveexplorationof a beliefsystem long
malignedand generallymisunderstood.Threesmall bubbles in 6,000
square feet of presentation.The complexityhas grown and steadily
taken shape afteryears of conceptual planning.I'veused this time to
get inside the head of curatorDonald Cosentino. Where does the
scholar'spassion intersectwiththe realityof this thing called Vodou?
70african
70
I'mhaulingthe same stereotypicalbaggage as anyonewho has grown
up groovingto the B-moviebliss of / Walkedwitha Zombie,voodoo
curses, dolls and pins.
The artof Vodouhas reachedout and grabbed me. Thisis serious,
lay-it-out-the-way-you-feel-it,
no-excuses-no-apologies,get-out-of-theartwhose sole purpose is to change the
way-if-you-don't-want-to-play
way you see, feel, live. I'msold. Butwhatdoes this have to do withthe
exhibition?Timeto reel in the visceral attachmentsand try to understand whatthis all means and what I can do to translatethese feelings
intoan exhibition.
I nowhave a basic understandingof Vodou.
June 1993,Port-au-Prince.
I'mstuffedwithhistory,personalities,aesthetics, and interrelationships,
but now it is all going to become very real.The consultantshave gathered in the Haitiancapitalto reviewthe organizationof the exhibition.
Mydesign accommodates the projectedinventoryof materials,interpretivemoments,visualicons, and yes, altars.The assembled experts
poreover every detail.Passionatediscussions synthesizethe physical
aspects of the exhibitionwith the spiritualand lifestyle realitiesof
Vodou.Butthe lookingglass awaits.Myopportunityto get a littlecloser to Vodoumetaphysicswillfollow.
A Vodou ceremony for all the Iwa washes over me. The music
pounds intoevery pore, energy spits throughthe seams of communal
amen
ecstasy. This is not demure,pass-the-host,watered-down-wine,
religion.Thisfeels morelikerock& roll.At the zenithof which I'mushered intoEdnerPierre'sGede altarroom.Altar-the nexus of a cosmic
playground.Powerseems to visiblysteam offthisthing.Theaestheticis
vaguelyhierarchical.Relationshipsdartand merge.Texturesare fueled
by a dizzyingrange of object types. Layersof use are evidenced by
spent offeringsand libations.The light.The lighttweaks it all intofull
motion.Highlightsflicker,seductive shadows weave and dodge, tiny
pinpointsdance on murkyreflectives.Herelies the crossroads. I menwhichtug and cajole,yet revealonly
tallyfollowpaths intonetherworlds
seething power,reverence,function,purpose.Thisis not somethingto
be toyed with.Thisaltaris alive and should not be takenforgranted.I
makemy offeringand back away,humbled,impressed.
November 1994, Port-au-Prince.I'm back in Haitiwith the "Sacred
Arts of HaitianVodou"recoveryteam. The U.S. embargo has been
lifted,allowingus to returnand recoveraltarobjects languishingin a
Port-au-Princewarehouse. We are finallyable to pick up the pieces
of our carefulstrategy laid waste by yet anotherroundof corruption,
politicalposturing,and discriminationthat has plagued Haitithroughout its history.We move fast. This may be our only chance to put the
finalpieces together.
A daunting"to-do"list propels us throughthe streets of Port-auPrince.I'mable to document nearlya dozen altars in additionto the
ones which providedthe bulkof the materialfor the exhibition.Every
altar I see expands my sense of the aesthetic at work here. Vodou
altarslead convolutedlives, expandingand contracting,ever evolving.
The altarswhichearlierprovidedobjects forthe exhibitionhave metamorphosedand floresced.Theystand withrenewed beauty and undiminishedpower.I'mnow lookingfor power points.The confluence of
aesthetic which dictates commonality.A commonalitywhich breeds a
near nuclear visual reaction. Color, light, spatial qualities, texture,
1996
arts* spring
africanarts? spring1996