served to bind more closely the various groups of
Africans who shared a common plantation expe-
rience, eventually leading to the development of
a collective consciousness. Vodou was the vital
spiritual force that provided respite from the daily
torture and degradation of slavery because it
allowed Africans on the territory of Saint
Domingue, despite the cruel and methodical
efforts of the colonists, to see themselves as inde-
pendent beings. It can be said that, above all,
Vodou allowed the Africans a sense of human dig-
nity and the capacity to survive. As the great
Haitian intellectual Dr. Jean Price-Mars once
wrote, “1804 est issu du Vodou,” that is, “1804
derives from Vodou.”
From the beginning, Vodou had figured promi-
nently in African resistance schemes on the
colony of Saint Domingue, and the French under-
stood quite well because they greatly feared the
revolutionary potential of Vodou. Thus, unsur-
prisingly, from the start of the French occupation
of Saint Domingue, Vodou was forbidden as the
colonists tried, in vain, to crush it. Not only was
Vodou forbidden among the Africans, but also
the popular dance called the calendas, which
often served as a cover for Vodou gatherings, was
prohibited. Despite these restrictions, however,
Vodou survived and in fact thrived under slavery
for more than 200 years. On the eve of the revo-
lution, it had gained considerable strength and
was a more formidable force than in the early
days of the colony.
Vodou’s role in the making of Haiti is indistin-
guishably linked to marronage, the most consistent
form of resistance to slavery on the territory of
Saint Domingue. Because Vodou was outlawed in
the colony, its proliferation and practice was often
maintained in the context of marronage. As a con-
sequence, the maroon leaders, but for a few excep-
tions, were almost always Vodou priests or, at
least, Vodou devotees. Indeed, the most illustrious
and extraordinary of these maroon leaders was
François Makandal. Makandal was born in
Guinea to a distinguished family that undertook
his education at an early age. It is said that he was
raised in the Muslim faith and had an exceptional
command of Arabic. He was gifted in the leisure
arts of music, painting, and sculpture. In addition,
despite his young age, he had acquired consider-
able knowledge of tropical herbal medicine. He
was eventually captured at the age of 12 as a pris-
oner of war and was sold into slavery. While in
Saint Domingue, he escaped from his master and
began a notorious career, spanning nearly 18 years,
as a prerevolutionary maroon leader. During those
18 years, he established an extensive network of
followers who resisted slavery at almost every
point on the colony. His primary tool of resistance
was poison. Makandal, although not an initiated
Vodou priest, adhered to African religious thought
and practices, and he was able to extract the most
devotional allegiance from his followers. He plot-
ted to poison the water of all the houses in the
capital, le Cap, to kill the whites and ignite a rev-
olution that would overthrow the white oppressive
regime in Saint Domingue. Ultimately, and unfor-
tunately, he was betrayed and captured in
November 1757.
After his capture and death, many blacks
believed Makandal was still alive and that he
would return to fulfill his prophecies of liberat-
ing the blacks. Because of his legendary status,
his name became synonymous with fetishism,
poisoning, sorcery, and African dances. Indeed,
houngans, or Vodou priests, were often referred
to asmakandals. Among other maroon leaders
or enslaved Africans who resisted slavery and
who are also closely associated with Vodou were
Jean-François and Georges Biassou Romaine,
who operated in the west of the colony;
Hyacinthe, who distinguished himself at the bat-
tle of Croix des Bouquets; and Jérôme and
Télémaque in the north. In the end, Makandal’s
grand poisoning plan was not an isolated affair.
Other black leaders, assisted by Vodou, created
an atmosphere of total panic as planters were
periodically plagued by the ravages of poison on
their plantations (e.g., Médor—a domestic on
the Lavaud plantation). Many leaders were seen
to possess supernatural powers and convinced
their followers that they had nothing to fear
from cannons. Vodou provided the Africans
with amulets and talismans meant to protect
the holder against any harm while in battle.
Moreover, Vodou, poisoning, and rampant
attacks on plantations created an atmosphere of
terror among the white colonists, which eventu-
ally resulted in fostering a sense of vulnerability,
insecurity, and even paranoia among the white
population.690 Vodou and the Haitian Revolution