Key FiguresThe Bois Caiman ceremony is said to have been
presided over by the revered houngan, Boukman
Dutty. Born in Jamaica, Boukman received his
name because he, unlike many other enslaved
people, was said to have been literate (Book-Man).
He was sold by a British owner to a Frenchman in
the sugar-producing colony of Saint-Domingue.
Perhaps because of his spiritual post and conceiv-
ably also because he was a coachman whose duties
allowed him to create connections to other planta-
tions besides his own, Boukman was able to solicit
the participation of a number of enslaved Africans
at the Bois Caiman ritual.
To these potential rebels Boukman swore, as a
reward for their dedication to the cause, that they
would be returned to their ancestral homeland of
Ginen, or Africa, if they were killed during the
insurrection. To those who may have betrayed the
plot, Boukman promised to remove all spiritual
protection. Acting under this oath of loyalty, hun-
dreds of thousands of enslaved Africans fought
what was then regarded as the world’s greatest
army of the French and won African indepen-
dence in the former colony on January 1, 1804.
The need to create loyalty and unity among the
rebels was critical to the success of the Haitian
Revolution. Perhaps the attendees at Bois Caiman
understood this better than most. In the French
colony of Saint-Domingue, a number of African
ethnic groups were represented among the
enslaved population, including groups from
Senegambia, Angola, and the Bight of Benin;
Africans born in the colony, called Creoles, occa-
sionally viewed themselves as separate from the
bossales, or Africans brought to the colony
directly from Africa. Additionally, it was not
uncommon to findaffranchis, or free people of
color in the colony, acting as large land (and
enslaved Africans) holders. These factors made
insurrection of the enslaved population highly
improbable because of potential rifts. However,
the Bois Caiman ceremony has been said to be
responsible for providing the spiritual energy nec-
essary to overcome these boundaries.
According to some accounts, during the cere-
mony, a great storm rose over those gathered, and
a mambo or priestess appeared and danced with a
blade held high above her head. In this rendition
of the ritual, it is she who actually slaughtered the
pig for sacrifice. Blood from the animal, and some
say from humans as well, was given in a drink to
the attendees to seal their fates and loyalty to
the cause of liberation of Saint-Domingue. The
mambo responsible for this vital element of the
ritual is said to have been Cecile Fatiman, the wife
of Jean-Louis Pierrot, a man who would eventu-
ally become the president of the small island
nation from 1845 to 1846.
Whoever the mambo present actually was, she
was elevated after her death to the status oflwa,
or Vodou deity, and was given the name Marinette
Bwa Chèch. As a member of the Haitian Vodou
Petwo pantheon, Marinette is an incredibly pow-
erful deity whose colors are black and blood red.
Known to ride those she possesses rather violently,
she is feared, but also highly respected for her role
in the fight for Haitian independence. Reminiscent
of her role during the Bois Caiman ceremony, this
lwais often offered black pigs during contempo-
rary Vodou rituals.
By other accounts, Boukman was assisted by
another houngan, Makandal, who was to have
performed similar rituals earlier in the history of
Saint-Domingue. Historians seldom agree on the
particulars of the ceremony because few contem-
porary accounts have been located of the ritual
and its attendees. Some have even suggested that
more than one ritual ceremony has commonly
been misunderstood as a single event in Haitian
history. In fact, it has been argued that there were
actually two rituals held in 1791 with the same
purpose: One was held in Bois Caiman, usually
associated with Boukman and linked to supernat-
ural activity, whereas the other occurred on the
Normand de Mezy plantation, possibly under the
leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture. This asser-
tion, as well as others that place the ceremony
completely in the realm of myth, have been
launched as scholars, usually non-Haitian, attempt
to make sense of what remains a vibrant memory
in Haitian culture and oral tradition.Vodou in Haiti and Africa
Perhaps one of the most thought-of characteristics
when one considers Haiti is its amazingly resilient
religion. In the opinion of some, nothing speaks
more of the incredible tenacity of enslaved
Africans than their ability not only to retain muchBois Caiman 131