painting by Ernst Prophète
(Haitian/Cap-Haitien, b. 1950)
Dutty Boukman, [aka. Zamba Boukman],
(Haiti, d. 1791)
INDEPENDENCE EVENT & RITUAL
1. Grab a pig
2. Congregate the people & start a
fire
3. Promise to Ezili Dantor –the spirit of vengeance and rage – that all of you will rise
up & defeat the invader.
4. See the mambo priestess be possessed
by the aforementioned spirit.
5. Say the following:
the
god who created
the
giving-light sun the one
who rouses
the ocean & rules
the thunder our God
he
who has ears to hear
you
hidden in
a cloud
you see
all
all the
white man has made
the
white man's god inspires him with crime
the
god within us our
god the just
commands
us to avenge our wrongs
he will
direct our arms to victory
he
will
let’s
cast away the pitiless image
of
the white men's god
listen
to the voice for liberty that speaks within us
5. Slay the pig.
6. Seal the pact by drinking a cup of
its blood.
Reworked
by Javier Taboada.
COMMENTARY
source.
The
Caribbean Oral Tradition: Literature, Performance, and Practice, ed. by Hanétha
Vété-Congolo, Palgrave, Macmillan, 2016, p. 167 & ss.
Bois-Caïman (lit.
“Alligator Forest”) in
northern Haiti was the site for the political, religious & strategic assembly
that on the night of August 14th, 1791, sparked the revolution
against the French colonizers. It is said that Dutty Boukman, a voodoo houngan – shaman or high priest -- led a
sacrificial pig slain along with Cécile Fatiman (a mambo priestess), a ritual
now considered as the official start of the Haitian Independence movement. Many
Haitians believe that it assured their success & up to date Bois-Caïman is
regarded as a holy place.
Addendum
Javier
Taboada (Mexico, b. 1982)
THIS IS A SPECTROGRAM
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12)
A B C
A B C
(this is—graphically—
the voice of a pig
in its last 20 secs. of life)
Key:
The pig is tied by the neck
1)
Pig head at maximum tension:
vocal peak 3)
The pig halts or becomes exhausted
2), 5), 7), 10)
Pig kicks/ pulls/ tries to free itself 4), 6), 8), 11)
A swineherd’s mallet falls on the floor 9)
The pig receives three blows to the head A, B, C
Bloodletting begins 12)
(an appeal
or pace Gombrowicz.: OBJECTIVISM
arising directly from anesthesia
that is
this is no longer
—no no no—
the voice of a tortured pig
the artist
transforms it as
Sacrifice
[capital
S]
just so
Sublime
as
Art should be)
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