Dutty Boukman, Voodoo priest of the Haitian Revolution

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http://www.bondye.com/top-10-vodou-priests/



http://www.jesterbear.com/Aradia/HaitianImages.html

Although this picture has been described
as an image of Boukman Dutty, it was actually
the rebel general Biassou (J.-C. Dorsainvil,
Histoire d'Haiti, Henri Deschamps,
Port-au-Prince, 1934 ff, p. 78). Boukman
was beheaded fairly early in the revolution
and no portraits of him survived.



Bois Caïman

Bois Caïman is the site of the Vodou ceremony during which the first major slave insurrection of the Haitian Revolution was planned. Wikipedia







There may be no man more important in the Haitian Revolution than Dutty Boukman. A native Jamaican, his name literally meant “Dirty Bookman,” a likely reference to a secret book of occult lore he always kept close. He was an educated man, although a slave, who was sold by his British master to a French plantation in Haiti. Dutty Boukman would teach other slaves to read as well as instruct in closely guarded Vodou lore. But his fame would come in August 14, 1791 at the Bwa Kayman ceremony. Boukman was the leading Vodou Priest and called for sacrifice and slave rebellion. It is said that the Petro Lwa family was born from these rituals and from the Haitian Revolution itself. Only eight days later, on August 22, the rebellion began in the Haitian mountains in the north. Boukman was quickly captured and beheaded, but the Revolution had started and would lead to Haiti becoming the first independent Republic of Haiti. Boukman lives on today, immortalized as a Lwa in his own

http://waronthehorizon.com/site/?m=201002&cat=1

Boukman Dutty began the rebellion with a prayer to the people:

Boukman’s Prayer
Good God who created the Sun which shines on us from above, who rouses the sea and makes the thunder rumble; Listen!
God though hidden in a cloud watches over us.
The god of the white man calls forth crime but our God wills good works.
Our God who is good commands us to vengeance. He will direct our arms and help us.
Throw away the likeness of the white man’s god who has so often brought us to tears and listen to liberty which speaks in all our hearts.


Boukman’s philosophy was “Conquer or Die.” He was eventually killed and replaced by less effective, Negro, accommodationist leadership. As a result, Haitian independence took much longer than it should have.
By 1802, the revolution had fallen into the hands of a man of the same ilk as Boukman Dutty. He was an Afrikan War General named Jean-Jaques Dessalines. He became the liberator of Haiti.

Comparing the Legends of Bois Caiman


Comparing the Legends of Bois Caiman
WHO SAYS WE DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, PAT ROBERTSON

OK, so what “probably” happened at Bois Caiman in August 1791?
Boukman probably set up the meeting at Bois Caiman to jump-start the uprising.
There probably was a religious ceremony. It probably was a Vodou ritual, which Boukman and Mambo Cécile Fatiman presided over. It probably involved the slaughter of a domestic black pig. The ritual probably also involved drumming and spirit dancing.
The meeting is reported to have included about 300 slaves. Many spoke in turn about their grievances with their French masters and the oppression they were under.
Boukman is believed to have been of Dahomey extract, although his followers were known to have called him “Zamba” Boukman. (A curious name, because Zamba was also the name that the Yaounde people of the Cameroons called their High God.)
Boukman was also known as a powerful Houngan or priest of Vodou. He may have been familiar with the Jamaican practice of Cumina, but was certainly familiar with some of the religious practices of the Dahomey people and others from around the Gold Coast.
Boukman, probably acting as a Houngan, offered an invocation to the Good God.
 
The Boukman Rebellion - providing the spark for the Haitian Revolution
If the revolution in Saint-Domingue was a roaring fire, then Boukman's rebellion was the spark. In many senses the revolution was already under way by August 1791, but that month's vodou ceremony has become a convenient landmark to date the "official" start of the uprising. The only contemporary historian of the Boukman Rebellion who mentions the ceremony, is Antoine Dalmas writing an account around 1793, later published in: Histoire de la révolution de Saint-Domingue (1814). 2 Volumes. Paris: Mame Frères, Vol. I, p. 117. (Zeuske, Footnotes) The details of the Bois Caïman ceremony have been retold and embellished over the years into a dramatic tale of epic proportions. The actual story of what happened that August may not be as dramatic as the popular retelling, yet it is as charged with the electricity of a historic turning point. In this article, we'll examine both the legend and the historical facts.

The Legend
It is widely believed that Boukman Dutty started the revolution. In a place called Bois Caiman (Gator Wood), in the north of Saint-Domingue, in a driving rainstorm, with slaves from all the neighboring plantations in attendance. A mountain of a man with a face as etched and chiseled as an African stone carving called out in a voice strong and clear, a Jamaican lilt detectable as he chanted:

Eh! Eh! Bomba! Heu! Heu!
Canga, bafio té!
Canga, mouné de lé!
Canga, do ki la!
Canga, do ki la!
Canga, li!
We swear to destroy the whites
and all they possess.
Let us die rather than fail
to keep this vow.
(Parkinson, p. 40)


As vodou drums beat a hypnotic rhythm and worshipers supplicated and the vodou priestess led then in chanting, Boukman stuck a pig and drank its blood. Then, his voice roaring above the storm, he called upon the assembled slaves to rise up against their masters, saying:

"The god who created the sun which gives us light, who rouses the waves and rules the storm, though hidden in the clouds, he watches us. He sees all that the white man does. The god of the white man inspires him with crime, but our god calls upon us to do good works. Our god who is good to us orders us to revenge our wrongs. He will direct our arms and aid us. Throw away the symbol of the god of the whites who has so often caused us to weep, and listen to the voice of liberty, which speaks in the hearts of us all." 1
And that night -- August 14, 1791... or was it August 20th? 21st? -- the slaves revolted, first at Gallifet plantation, then across the North Plain. (James, pp. 86-87)

The Facts (?)
Or maybe not.

David Patrick Geggus, for one, casts doubt on many of the details which have come to be accepted as fact over the years. Though he does think there's good evidence that a vodou ceremony took place on August 21, 1791, he argues that there's little in the historical record to validate details such as Boukman's chant, or even that a place called Bois Caïman ever existed. The rest of this article draws heavily on Geggus's work in Chapter 6 of Haitian Revolutionary Studies; readers should refer to that book for its excellent critical analysis of what can be known or credibly surmised about the events of August, 1791.

So what did happen? Let's back up for a moment:

The political effects of the French Revolution had been felt in the colony from the moment it began. When the Estates General passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in August of 1789, the slaves had reason to hope that emancipation might soon follow. For two long years they grew more and more restless. A few small, plantation-wide revolts broke out. Then, on August 14, according to Geggus, "a meeting of slave-drivers, coachmen, and other members of the 'slave elite' from about 100 plantations took place in Plaine du Nord parish" on the Lenormand de Mézy estate. The slaves decided to rebel. (Geggus, pp. 84-85) The colonists apparently knew about the meeting, but it's not clear whether they knew that it was anything more than a large social gathering.

This meeting and the Boukman ceremony were separate but related events. Bois Caïman, or "Alligator Wood" is the legendary location of Boukman's call to arms, but Geggus finds no firm evidence that the place exists. The closest match is apparently "Alligator Lagoon" (or, Lagon å Cayman), a swamp not far from where the Lenormand meeting took place.

Geggus theorizes that the August 14th meeting had set August 24th for the start of the revolution, but that Boukman moved things up a couple of days after a few of the conspirators had been caught. Did he present the speech mentioned above, calling on the slaves to take vengeance on the whites? Geggus presents good evidence that we don't know exactly what Boukman said at that ceremony, and the speech above is certainly bogus, written by a 19th century historian to portray the "feel" of the event. The "Eh! Eh! Bomba! Heu! Heu!" chant is also inauthentic.

It seems, then, that like much of Haitian revolutionary history, the details of the "Bois Caïman" ceremony may be forever lost. There was some sort of ceremony, likely on the 21st of August 1791, and it probably involved the ritual slaughter of a pig. Beyond that, little can be said to be known. Yet what is certain is that after that date the slaves' course was set. Though their path would be as twisted and knurled as the landscape of Saint-Domingue itself, they were beginning here their inexorable march toward freedom.


Note 1: Kreyòl text of Boukman's prayer: "Bon Dje ki fè la tè. Ki fè soley ki klere nou enro. Bon Dje ki soulve lanmè. Ki fè gronde loray. Bon Dje nou ki gen zorey pou tande. Ou ki kache nan niaj. Kap gade nou kote ou ye la. Ou we tout sa blan fè nou sibi. Dje blan yo mande krim. Bon Dje ki nan nou an vle byen fè. Bon Dje nou an ki si bon, ki si jis, li ordone vanjans. Se li kap kondui branou pou nou ranpote la viktwa. Se li kap ba nou asistans. Nou tout fet pou nou jete potre dje Blan yo ki swaf dlo lan zye. Koute vwa la libète k ap chante lan kè nou." (Laurent)

See also
References
  • Geggus, David Patrick (2002). Haitian Revolutionary Studies (Blacks in the Diaspora). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34104-3.
  • James, C.L.R. (1989). The Black Jacobins. Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution. (2nd Ed., Revised) New York: Vintage Press. ISBN 0-679-72467-2.
  • Laurent, Marguerite. The Bwa Kayiman Play. Excerpt available as online text.
  • Parkinson, Wenda (1978). This Gilded African. London: Quartet Books. ISBN 0-7043-2187-4
  • Zeuske, Michael. Handlanger der Globalisierung | Sklaverei, »schwarze« Karibik und Globalgeschichte [accessed: November 9, 2005] - German language article from iz3w magazine where it was originally published in short form. - The articles looks at the connection between slavery and capitalism.
External links
 
Spint off my thread i see. :beer::cheers:


Notice a trend of slave revolt being started by God fearing men....yet it is 2018. People still atheist out here. Like for What?
 
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