To Serve the Gods (Outtakes)
odd: label: Local Number
content: HSFA 1992.9.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Karen Kramer Films
label: Collection Creator
content: Kramer, Karen (Karen Susan)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Karen Kramer film collection
physdesc: label: Extent
content: Film reels (color sound; 5400 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1982
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Outtakes from the edited film, TO SERVE THE GODS, document a sevis loua, a week-long ceremony given in honor of a family's ancestral spirits which only happens every twenty to thirty years. Filmed in a rural community in southern Haiti, the footage records dance, song, drumming, possession, animal sacrifice, and sharing of food with family, neighbors, friends, and the gods. Filming project is based on the research of anthropologist Ira Lowenthal and his paper, "Ritual Performances and Religious Experience: A Service for the Gods in Southern Haiti."