Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1889-04-13
vOODOO WORSHIP.


euing serpent Alteration.
What Is voodooismp
The whole subject OF vaudaux, as the
word is spelled in Hayti, is delicate
and offensive one to the people. was
forewarned that it is considered bad
form to introduce the topic in conver-
sation among the upper classes.
Tho story of Vaudaux is too we'll
known to be rccountcd in detail here.
Sufficient to mention that 1t is the re-
ligion Of II considerable portion of the
savage tribes of Africa. In the king
dom OF Dahomcy hundreds Of thousands
Of human victims have first and last
been offered up to the yellow god. In
Ashantce the serpent is possessed OF
supernatural powers in the minds or
the followers OF Obi. There is "a large
yellow snake which is used as the mo-
dunn OF the mysterious power OF Vau.
daux. Vauduax is the God on high, |
but the all-powcrful controller of the
negro's universe dsigns to employ i'm
termediaries, and the serpent becomes
the black savages jesus OF Nazareth. |
The priest OF Vaudaux is called papaloi. |
|
He shares his regal honors with a
dusky dame, who is generally his
placed wife, as they say in lIayti,
} which means no wife at all in u legal or
religious sense. She is known as
! mamanloi, and she plays a highly i'm
; portant part in the midnight conclave
: will be seen as this story proceeds.
II you are awake ut alate hour of tho
: evening at Port-au-Prince you will hear
a dull monotonous sound waited down
I the heavy air from the direction of that
3 portion of the town which lies near tho
7 plain OF the Cul-de-Sac. 1t is the noise
Of the bamboula or Congo drum-weird,
t uncanny and suggestive. Tho beats
Q are low and at regular intervals.
: Black men and women dance the un-
h couth measures they witnessed in their
n childhood, the same as their fathers
o and mothers beheld in their childhood
Il in Africa. To dance the bamboula is
n one of the few apparent pastimes the
d Haytian negro enjoys. The drum is
|, also an invariable associate to vau-
: daux meeting. Without it the black
= intimate friend.
t st. John relates in great detail the
% case Of the Bizzoton cannibals who
% were executed at Port-au-Prince for
81 the murder OF II child at the vaudaux
/ gathering. AS l have heard wcll-in-
/, formed Haytians, who were or ought to
e be familiar with the whole story, denJ
h, q Pal
h took steps to discover on my own nc.
d count the truth of the alleged hor-
D rible and disgusting crime. The
person l addressed at Port-au-Prince
le answered sententiously: The story ID
true. Go to b. He will show you
I'd photograph OF the accused which was
IS taken after the trial"
IS / soon afterward had the opportunity
IL Of studying the faces of the criminals.
r They were Jeanne Pelle, who was
1t mamanloi; Neveide Francois, Beyarf
y Prosper and Roseide Sumera. women
D! and Julius Nicholas. Floreal Apollon
Rs both papolol; Congo Pelier and Gun
t. nier Francois, all blacks. and belong
r. ing to the suburban peasantry class
o' | Onc nnu Dcen II HaFuencr one carrier
and the women were house servants
lie and washers. Their faces were NJ
more brutal or depraved than the aver
ts age Haytian type The story OF thei
as crime in brief is as follows:
IN Congo Pel1er, wishing to advance
We his situation in life, called on his siste
Tn Jeanne the mamanloi, to aid him b.
eh her necromancy. They talked the sub
40 ject over and resolved to devise
IS. :cheme to assuage the presumed wratl
!; OF the serpent in the case of Congo.
IS There are several stated periods who
IL the votaries of the goat without horns
n hold their meetings. Me favorite oc
casion is Twelfth Night, but Christmas
New Years and Easter are also popula
epochs OF the vaudaux year. The tw
nj papaloi were taken into necessary con
or fdence. The grizzly quartet cast abou
"a for "a suitable victim. Congo had
q, niece, girl of about eight years st
), John says twelve years She was dc
~. coyed to the hut of the papaloi, Juliu
i. Nicholas. and was bound and gagged
, Her mother was absent from home a
the time. Cor. Cincinnati Enquirer.
'o
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