of their own traditional African spiritual system,
but also to adapt the system with the purposeful
intention of protecting it from the plantation
owners and overseers, who constantly sought to
oppress what was then viewed as a dangerous
element in the lives of enslaved Africans.
It was no wonder that the colonial government
and its agents sought to control these systems
because in Haiti, as was the case in other regions
of the African Diaspora, African-derived spiritual
systems as practiced in the Americas may be inter-
preted as a resistant response to the hostility the
Africans experienced during enslavement. Beyond
this, however, Vodou also provides evidence of
what may be considered early Pan Africanist ten-
dencies of African people in the Americas. For in
the rituals of Vodou, including the Bois Caiman
ceremony, there is evidence of contributions of a
number of African ethnicities, including Igbo,
Yoruba, and Fon to name a few.
Although Haitian Vodou combined the experi-
ences and rituals of various African ethnic groups,
it also retained the identities of these individual
groups. This is evidenced by the division of the
lwa, or Vodun deities, into nanchons (nations)
that represent their African places of origin. For
example, the Congo lwa come not only from the
Kongo kingdom, but also from neighboring eth-
nicities found in this region of central Africa. As
such, lwa are generally divided into two nan-
chons: the Rada and the Petwo. The Rada lwa and
their associated rites are generally traced to the
deities and traditions of West Africa, including
those from Dahomey and more specifically from
Allada, whereas the Petwo are generally traced to
central African deities and rituals.
Although bothlwananchons played significant
roles in the Haitian war for independence and in
the minds of many Vodou practitioners, the Petwo
is the pantheon most often considered as more
actively involved in the Revolution. This argument
is often supported by the perceived gentleness of the
Rada lwa, whereas the Petwo lwa are most often
associated with violence and justice. Despite this
commonly held perception, the blood rite of Bois
Caiman could have its roots not only in the violent
nature of Petwo lwa, but also in the ritual traditions
of Dahomey, most often associated with Rada.
Similar rites to the Bois Caiman ceremony
have been found in West Africa, especially among
the Ewe, Adja, Houla, Heda, and Mahi ethnic
groups, among others. In these traditions, the
drinking of a ritual preparation, often infused
with blood, serves the purpose of sealing agree-
ments among participants—the process being
calleddrinking vodun. The Igbo of West Africa
also have a form of the ritual pact, in which
blood may be smeared on kola nuts or infused
with drink and shared among participants to cre-
ate relationships and foster community solidarity.
Other instances of blood rites have been recorded
as occurring in Jamaica, Cuba, and other African
Diasporic communities during the period of
enslavement. Most notably, the oral tradition of
Jamaican Maroons still contains insistence that
their treaties with the British were most often
sealed with such blood rituals.
Although scholars continue to debate the par-
ticulars of Bois Caiman, there is no underestimat-
ing the power of the ceremony in the minds and
hearts of contemporary Haitians, as well as those
linked to the Haitian Vodou tradition.Tiffany D. PogueSee alsoBoukman; Lwa; Vodou and the Haitian
Revolution; Vodou in HaitiFurther Readings
Deren, M. (1953).Divine Horsemen:The Living Gods
of Haiti. New York: Thames & Hudson.
Geggus, D. P. (2002).Haitian Revolutionary Studies
(Blacks in the Diaspora). Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
Law, R. (1999, November 8).On the African Background
to the Slave Insurrection in Saint-Domingue
(Haiti)in 1791:The Bois Caiman Ceremony
and the Dahomian “Blood Pact.” Paper presented
at the Harriet Tubman Seminar, York University,
Toronto, ON, Canada.BOKONON
In Fongbe, the language of the Fon people of
Benin Republic, the Bokonon is an exceptional
diviner, who after several years of arduous and
sustained training is initiated to the Fá rituals and
language. In Africa, particularly in the Republic of132 Bokonon