*Nan dòmi, le récit d'une initiation vodou.* Mimerose P. Beaubrun. La Roque d'Anthéron: Vents d'Ailleurs, 2010. 287 pp. (Paper €21.00)

The study of Haitian Vodou historically covers three major stages: *bosal*, *kanzo*, and *pridèzye*, corresponding to three progressive levels in understanding the mysteries of Vodou. At the bosal level, a person entering the system wrestles with the myths and superstitions about Vodou to find one's way. One who has undergone the *kanzo* initiation, opened to deeper knowledge, begins to function adequately in the *lakou* or the Vodou community, learns to separate facts from fiction, and is prepared to embark on the lifelong learning process of observation and communion with nature. Those who have been called to minister to the people progress to the *pridèzye* level. Such persons then develop the ability to see into the unknown and to divine. Clark (1982) and Fleurant (1996) have further observed that not only have the study, writing, and research about Vodou gone through those three stages, but 90 percent of the voluminous literature on Vodou falls within the *bosal* category, which explains a great deal of the prejudice about Haiti and its traditional culture.

Vodou originated in West Africa, amalgamating the rituals and practices of 21 ethnic groups or “nanchon” (some say 101 nations). As an initiatory rite, it usually subjects an adept to a period of seclusion varying from three to seven days, followed by a longer period of reclusion lasting 48 days. The initiate goes through a *lave tèt* or washing of the head (a cleansing process) and a *kanzo* or fire ritual to learn to manage gallantly the difficulties of life. Under the guidance of a tutor and with the blessings of the *lakou* community, the person emerges as an *ounsi kanzo*. While the details of initiation have remained largely secret, initiates like Milo Rigaud, Maya Deren, and Katherine Dunham, and academic groups like KOSANBA (the scholarly association for the study of Haitian culture and Vodou) have revealed a fair amount of the surface information. Thus, the fascination with secrecy in Vodou has been considered a settled matter. Then came Mimerose P. Beaubrun's, *Nan dòmi, le recit d'une initiation vodou* (Dreaming: the account of a Vodou initiation), an earth shattering work that recenters the study of Haitian Vodou and heralds a new era in our understanding of Haitian culture, for here details and essence of initiation are the subject matter.

First, using a reflexive anthropological approach, Beaubrun establishes that initiation into Vodou is a lifelong learning process, and that no one
enters that route through a mere ceremony aimed at conferring upon a person the power to do wonders. Her journey, along with her husband Lolo (co-founder of the famous *rasin* or roots music band Boukman Eksperyans), began with visits to many well-known *lakou*, such as Souvenance in Gonaives, and Lamatrie near the town of Ouanaminthe in the northeast. A *lakou*, with its three major functions of conservation, protection, and renewal, she tells us, is a living space, a multidimensional living area where an extended family shares all aspects of life—spiritual, economic, and cultural. Under the tutelage of her spiritual guide, Tante Tansia, a *danti* (elder) who summarizes the essence of the *lakou*, her narrative takes us into the deepest reaches of the teaching of Vodou, and eases us out of the superstitions that have been associated with it for so long. Yet no one can teach another person the road to *Ginen*, the spirits of Vodou, she learns from Tante Tansia. A person receives the call to service and takes one's place in the *lakou*. Dreams became an essential part of Beaubrun's journey, for the *Ginen* are manifest in her dreams. An academic who takes nothing for granted and questions everything, Beaubrun's experience of dreaming overreached her logical and mental capacity. Dreaming has become for her an art that often propels her to another dimension, where the *Ginen* resides. One needs to learn to distinguish between dreaming and the imaginary, for in this context, the dream as a state of the unknown world is real. The learning process, in this regard, is like a marathon where one competes against oneself, and though one is alone in the struggle, one is still connected to the chain of "101 nanchons" (ethnic groups), the seven pillars of the *lakou*, and the three supporting stones of the hearth, the cooking pot. The *Ginen* is The Spirit. It cannot be captured and put at one's service. Vodou, like all religions, has its magic, but *"Ginen pa Bizango"*—*Ginen* is not *Bizango*, the secret societies whose roguish members often deviate from Vodou moral values. Those who use Vodou for material and selfish ends have neither formation nor information.

The information in *Nan dòmi* is not new to the initiate who has chosen to walk on the road of *Ginen*. But it brings us—academics and the larger public—further along in demystifying Vodou and Haitian culture, and confirms the word often heard that “there are no secrets in Vodou, except for the secrets of the *ason*” (symbol of priesthood). And for Beaubrun, the secrets of the *ason*, indeed a mother lode, are there for all to learn, to practice, and to dream. In this regard, she brings us to a new level by changing
the landscape of research on Vodou, and unwittingly challenging many in
the academic community to transcend their limitations, as *bosal*, and to
approach with respect the study of the Haitian *lakou*. *Nan dòmi*, a *pridèzye*
primer for the initiate, academics, and the general public, will take its place
among the great classics of Haitian Vodou and culture. *Ayibobo!*

Gerdes Fleurant
Department of Music, Wellesley College
Wellesley MA 02481, U.S.A.
and
Gawou Ginou Project
Mirebalais, Haiti
gerdes@bellsouth.net

References

Clark, VèVè, 1982. Lecture at “Arts Connections,” New York, April.

Fleurant, Gerdes, 1996. *Dancing Spirits: Rhythms and Rituals of Haitian Vodun, the Rada Rite.* Westport CT: Greenwood Press.