Haitians Mark Day of the Dead
Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 2, 11:48 PM EST
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Haitians Mark Day of the Dead*
By STEVENSON JACOBS
Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- Bearing rum, flowers and candles,
thousands of Voodoo followers flocked to Haiti's largest cemetery on
Wednesday to rouse sacred spirits and remember lost relatives in raucous
Catholic/Voodoo Day of the Dead celebrations.
Followers passed beneath a crumbling archway adorned with a black
skull-and-crossbone flag that read "Everyone is welcome." As dark rum
flowed freely, they placed flowers and candles at the graves of
relatives while revelers danced and sang to thumping music designed to
awaken Baron Samedi, the god of the dead, and his mischievous offspring,
Gede.
"I came to pour some rum, light my candles and call the dead," said
Delis Charles, a 39-year-old Voodoo priest, or houngan.
Two-thirds of Haiti's 8 million people are said to practice Voodoo, a
blend of Catholic tenets and African religions brought over by slaves.
In 2003, Haiti's government officially sanctioned the faith as a
religion, allowing priests to legally perform baptisms and marriages.
This year's Day of the Dead celebrations come amid ongoing turmoil in
the impoverished Caribbean nation, which is still struggling to recover
from a bloody February 2004 revolt that toppled former president
Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
"We're calling for peace now," Charles said, as followers danced and
chanted around him in the huge municipal cemetery in Port-au-Prince's
downtown.
Voodoo followers integrated some Catholic rites into their practice
before Haiti won independence from slave-holding France in 1804. The
slaves, prohibited from practicing their African rites, disguised their
gods in the trappings of Roman Catholic saints.
Practitioners believe in a supreme god and spirits linking the human and
the divine. Many believe their spirits will return to Africa when they
die. The bodies of slaves were buried without ceremony.
Wednesday's festivities will continue into the night with rowdy,
Carnival-like street parties that last until dawn.