the Day of the Dead

Sitting on the roof of our compound, we can hear that the festivities of the evening (and that of the upcoming 2 days) are well underway.  Around the community is the sound of commotion and "pop pop", and my first thought is gunfire.  A Haitian friend also gets up a couple times to look nervously out over the community, then finally realizes that this is the sound of firecrackers, a sound that is not as familiar as the first.  November 1st and 2nd is the celebration of the 'Day of the Dead'.  On these days Voodoo believers go to cemeteries to pray to dead spirits with candles, food and alcohol, followed by dancing all night in Voodoo temples.

Since coming to Haiti, we have heard a number of stories involving the Voodoo belief; and even those who don't practice believe strongly in the "results" of Voodoo.  It is common to hear claims of family members being cursed, then dying.  People who don't practice will even go to Voodoo priests to have curses reversed.  Twins are dangerous in Haiti as they only have to link fingers together and are then able to curse another person; thus, (it was told to me that) people try to kill off one of the twins to remove that personal power.
We have heard accounts from friends who have seen Voodoo priests change into animals, then back into people.  There have been a couple different individuals who describe the gang members as having a protective curse over them, where bullets are unable to pierce their skin; for the this reason the gangs were able to take over Cite Soleil in 2004.  (The police were unable to shoot and kill the gang members. Apparent witnesses claim that bullets bounce off the bodies of these gang members; therefore any time someone tries to take out a gang member, the gang will turn around unharmed and come after that individual).

Even though Haiti is predominately Christian, Voodoo goes hand in hand with the Catholic religion.  Jeremy asked a friend jokingly if a Christian pastor did Voodoo at home, and his response was, "I don't know what he does at home."  Voodoo is just so prevalent here…. it is part of the majority of Haitian's worldview, and is engrained into their culture.