The lwa now embodies or rides the male or female
devotee or hounsi. Danbala is verbally uncommu-
nicative. He never speaks, but hisses. He never
stands up or walks about because he shows him-
self in his snake form during his possessions.
Therefore, the “horse,” under the possession of
Danbala, begins to act like a snake, hissing, creep-
ing about in curves along the ground, crawling up
pillars, and hanging about in snake-like form. The
hissing is related to the ancestral, sacred language
of Vodou, which further shows Danbala to be an
intermediary between the Creator and humans
and a facilitator of Africa’s spiritual communica-
tion. Also, when Danbala comes in possession of
a devotee or hounsi, during a Vodou ritual, the
person will be covered with a white sheet. In some
peristyles, four hounsis will hold the four corners
of the white sheet, and they will occasionally cre-
ate ripples in the sheet by shaking it.
Jovan A. BrownSeealsoVodou in Haiti
Further Readings
Crosley, R. (2000).The Vodu Quantum Leap. St. Paul,
MN: Llewellyn.
Deren, M. (1970).Divine Horsemen:Voodoo Gods of
Haiti. New York: Dell.
Jahn, J. (1990)Muntu:African Culture and the Western
World. New York: Grove Press.
Métraux, A. (1958).Le Vaudou Haitien. Paris: Gallimard.
DANCE AND SONG
Dance and song are related to African people’s
most significant cultural expressions, and they
reflect through physical and symbolic means the
archetypal struggle of the mortal being against
exterior forces. Thus, there is a deeply dramatic
and narrative quality to the creation of this physi-
cal and symbolic means of expression.
Dance and song are based on the fundamental
aspects of African life; they are a common
response to the need for social readjustment or
restructuring and the reestablishment of balance
and harmony. They are also linked to people’s
relationship with supernatural powers; they are
aesthetic expressions of Africa’s ontological and
cosmological orientation.
Dance, décor, drumming, music, song, and cos-
tumes are essential and inseparable aspects of every
African dramatic or narrative, religious or secular
performance. In fact, African culture and history have
relied on oral forms of transmission and expressions
that are extremely rich in signs, gestures, colors,
sounds, movement, forms, symbols, and nuances.
These may evoke the spirituality of the sacred
or laughter, the awe of veneration, or the ecstasy of
possession.
Song and dance are always punctuated by the
rhythmic pace of drumming. Together, these pro-
vide a means to communicate with the ancestors
and evoke spiritual forces. Through the kinesthetic
freedom that dance and drumming afford, the
energies of the human being and the world are har-
nessed. Music and movement, rhythm, and words
or sounds invoke a larger primordial force capable
of transforming the human community and restor-
ing balance and harmony. Through dance and
song, African communities have kept their tradi-
tions and passed along the narratives and
metaphors that stitch together the fabric of society.
Dance and song performances—for example,
theebokathat are part of ceremonies among the
BaAka—often incorporate the use of masks to re-
create and symbolize the character of the spirit
dancers impersonate. Masks and the performance
attached to them therefore reflect the community’s
history, as well as the political, social, and eco-
nomic forces that influence its life. Almost all
ancestral dances are masked dances because they
articulate the roles of ancestors that are not seen
by humans. These invisible energies are unleashed
in singing and dancing in the African community,
which express the community’s legacy. Using
masks to demonstrate the invisible power of the
ancestors is universally appreciated in Africa.
The colors and the styles of the masks as well
as the songs, the music, and the dancing are a
form of storytelling, indeed an aesthetic narrative
about the identity of the community, of its place of
origin and creation, of its practices, of the teach-
ings of the ancestors, of the myths and legends,
and of the character, virtues, and morals of the
spirit that the masks symbolize. They reflect the
cosmological orientation of the community.Dance and Song 193