It is within this atmosphere of terror that
emerged Boukman Dutty, the man who was to
ignite the flame that would formally announce the
start of the Haitian Revolution. Boukman, a Vodou
priest, known as “Zamba” Boukman to his devo-
tees, exercised considerable influence over his fol-
lowers. During the memorable rainy thunder-filled
night of August 14, 1791, he and Cécile Fatiman, a
Mambo (i.e., a Vodou priestess), led a Vodou cere-
mony in a thickly wooded area known as Bois-
Caïman, located in the northern part of the island.
Cécile Fatiman is believed to have invoked the
African deities, and Boukman rose to deliver a pas-
sionate call to arms, which ended each refrain with
the words:Koute lalibete nan tout kè nou!(“Listen
to the voice of liberty which speaks in the hearts of
all of us”). In his oration, Boukman called on the
enslaved Africans to rely on the forces of the
Supreme Being found in all African religions, as
opposed to the “false” Christian god of the whites.
This call was nothing less than a call for blacks in
Saint Domingue to draw from within themselves
and from their own beliefs the strength to fight vic-
toriously for their freedom.
With the Bois-Caïman ceremony—a Vodou
ceremony at that!—inaugurating the Haitian
Revolution, it is interesting to note that the first
three black rulers of Haitian independence were
against Vodou or, at the least, held Vodou at arm’s
length. Toussaint, Dessalines, and Christophe had
to drive their people hard to recapture the former
prosperity of the territory under French Colonial
rule; they knew that resentment would be an
inevitable consequence of their actions and, as
such, feared (like the whites before them) the
nightly Vodou gatherings. Toussaint is said to
have been the strictest of the three because during
his reign as nominal governor general, he forbade
all dances and nocturnal assemblage. Dessalines
and Christophe, in contrast, only banned Vodou
dances while permitting the purely social dances.
Dessalines, however, was more suspicious of
Vodou. He feared that his enemies might use
makandalagainst him. As a result, whenever his
police brigade reported meetings of Vodou
worshipers, he had the offenders shot if they
could be caught.
These founding fathers’ public opposition to
Vodou, however, should not be confused with their
private adoration of Vodou and their devotion to
the African deities. Christophe, for example,
showed a great reverence to Roman Catholicism,
but rumor suggested that he had greater faith in
Vodou and the African gods. In the case of
Toussaint, while enslaved, he had practiced the art
of healing with herbs; although “herb doctors” are
neither houngan nor bòkò (sorcerers), they made
use of magical prescriptions. Toussaint knew well
the power of Vodou and respected it. He was
known to say often that if he did not speak through
his nose, it was only because the Vodou (i.e., the
Lwa, the Vodou divinities) had cast an evil spell on
him. In the case of Dessalines, who had labored in
the field while enslaved, he was better acquainted
with Vodou than Toussaint, who had been a coach-
man. Dessalines is said to have frequently consulted
Vodou priests and was a servant of theLwa, with
particular affinity to Ogu, the African god of iron
and war. Unsurprisingly, Dessalines is indeed the
only hero of the struggle for independence to have
been deified in the Vodou religion.Garvey F. LundySeealsoBois Caiman; Boukman; Fatiman, Cécile;
Makandal; Resistance to Enslavement; Vodou in HaitiFurther Readings
Fick, C. E. (1990).The Making of Haiti:The Saint
Domingue Revolution From Below. Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press.
Fouchard, J. (1972).Les marrons de la liberté. Paris: Ecole.
Métraux, A. (1972).Voodoo in Haiti. New York:
Schocken Press.
Pluchon, P. (1987).Vaudou,sorciers,empoisonneurs:De
Saint-Domingue à Haïti. Paris: Karthala.VODOU IN BENIN
The Republic of Benin, West Africa, is the home of
the Vodun religion. In their overwhelming major-
ity, the Beninese people, despite past and current
assaults against Vodun, whether overtly or
covertly, have remained steadfast in their inde-
fectible support of their ancestral Vodun religion.
Benin and Vodun make a natural combination. In
fact, Vodun and the Republic of Benin (formerlyVodou in Benin 691