Muddling Through a Mire
Chapter 3
I pulled a Marlboro from the crushproof pack in the breast pocket of my leisure suit. I lit the cigarette and drew in the smoke several times in quick succession to calm my nerves. After accepting the assignment, I was having some third thoughts about what I’d just agreed to do for God, country, Jersey and my checkbook, but not necessarily in that order.
So, a diabolical conspiracy was underway orchestrated by the Russians, facilitated by the Cubans and executed by Haitian voodooists. Could it get any more confusing and multinational in scope and design? I hoped not for my sake.
I needed some insight into the voodoo religion; its history, rights, rituals and significance in the modern world where such things shouldn’t exist. I knew many people in West Africa and the Caribbean still believed in its power and wondered if it was more than mere superstitious nonsense. I was to learn the hard way it was more than met the ole eye.
And the funny, State Department tag for the project: MONTECRISTO. They were cigars supposedly hand rolled on the inner thighs of virgins as I recalled from popular lore. At least that was what I wanted to believe. Although I had doubts about the claim since I suspected there was a dearth of them in Cuba. And I didn’t mean cigars.
***
Jersey kindly arranged a meeting for me with Dr. Emil Jenkins, Professor Emeritus at Georgetown University’s Department of Comparative Religions. More relevant was the fact he was a recognized authority on voodoo. His office was only a short distance from my studio apartment in Foggy Bottom in the District. The walk and my cigarettes helped clear my mind for what I thought would be an important introduction to the mysterious religion, at least a mystery to me.
I introduced myself to the gentleman and mentioned sotto voce that I was from the government and here to help him. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use the old saw and it elicited the laughter I expected. In response, he said he got such help last year when his taxes were audited by the IRS! It was my turn to laugh, although he probably saw nothing funny.
He wore a tweed sports coat with the de rigueur, leather elbow patches and clenched an unlit pipe between his teeth. He looked…well, he looked professorial! He probably thought my houndstooth leisure suit looked tacky by comparison. No matter, not everyone could be a dashing fashionista. Only those of us lucky enough to have the huevos and panache could qualify.
“I understand from your friend Mr. Briggs you’re researching the subject of voodoo for an upcoming trip to Haiti. Is that correct, Mr. Avery?”
“Yes, it is and I’d appreciate learning the basics of the religion. I’m a freelance writer and my friend Jersey volunteered to help me find someone knowledgeable on the topic. I think I hit pay dirt with you as a recognized expert. That’s more than I expected.”
I was trying to schmooze since he might have taken offense with my laughing about his tax situation. I was actually pretty good at it because it was an essential attribute if one wanted to survive in the Foreign Service. And I was a survivor and schmoozer par excellence.
“Okay, I have a few minutes before my next class so I can at least impart the basics of the religion. Let me know if I start going off on tangents as I tend to do from time to time. My grad students always chide me about the habit. Old age I guess,” laughing as he mentioned the last line.
“It’s best to start at the beginning, as the pundits say, and that would be in West Africa in the 1400s, specifically in the region of what is now called Nigeria. Voodoo is a monotheistic religion with one God head or a supreme being. He is a rather benign, unknowable figure called Bondye who does not directly interact with humans. Rather, humans develop relationships with spirits called Loa who control and influence everyday activities through their powers. So, the Loa serve as intermediaries or messengers between humans and Bondye.”
“There are many different Loa, as many as there are human desires, emotions and needs. And each has a specific role to play in the religion to the believers. However, the Loa are finicky spirits which not only want to be prayed to, but served by the humans who beseech them for intervention in their daily lives. For example, each Loa has its own favorite dances, music, prayers, animals and other totems that the beseecher must satisfy in order to have their wish or desire or plea delivered to Bondye and hopefully granted.”
“From West Africa, the religion spread to the Americas through the slave trade. The plantation owners, particularly in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and Brazil, needed labor to harvest the sugar cane crops. With the later movement to convert heathens into good Christians, Roman Catholicism, especially some of its rituals and rites, became intertwined with voodoo.”
“However, the Catholic and protestant churches renounce any association with voodoo. Yet certain Catholic practices continue as part of the religion to this day. I did my master’s thesis on the subject and it’s available in the university library if you wish to read it.”
I didn’t and needed the professor to stay on track and tract.
“Do you believe in voodoo professor?”
“Yes, I do and don’t. Since this is Washington, D.C., I can get away with that answer. I do believe in the power of voodoo over the true believers. In Haiti, I saw many strange rituals and the effects they had on those present during ceremonies. People entranced and speaking in tongues. And people throwing their bodies about and writhing in either joy or agony. And I saw more that I don’t want to talk about. There’s a certain hysterical element in many of these ceremonies that both fascinated and frightened at the same time. I’ve witnessed things that I can’t explain. One time, I saw a man supposedly raised from the dead, a zombie. He appeared to be totally comatose at first, dead by all appearance, and then gradually awakened, convulsing several times and then appearing normal. Maybe it was a cheap, theatrical trick and nothing more.”
“So, I’m unsure of its purported supernatural powers. However, even those who don’t believe in voodoo still are psychologically influenced by it. It’s the old shtick: don’t walk under a ladder and avoid black cats sort of superstitions we all laugh about. But the nonbelievers in Haiti still respect the powers of the religion and the influence it exerts over their countrymen. It’s not something to be ridiculed or demeaned there. That would be bad karma, as they say,” giving me a big wink as he said it.
“Sorry Mr. Avery, but I’m already late for class. I hope my brief monolog helped in some way. I only began to scratch the surface of this fascinating subject. You’ll have to do much more research before you get a good understanding of the religion. I wish you well.”
“Oh, just a word of caution, be careful poking around the religion during your visit. Voodoo has the elements of both white and black magic and there are unscrupulous people who use the religion for their own purposes. And remember that voodoo is real as long as people believe in its powers. And many do.”
I thanked the good professor as I helped him put on his sports coat and his blue and gray scarf: the official colors of the Georgetown Hoyas.
***
I sat on a bench outside the professor’s office and lit up a ciggy. It was a nonsmoking section of the campus, but I didn’t mind as long as no one complained.
I pondered what I’d just heard along with what I’d already read online about voodoo. I tried to reconcile the bizarre trappings and rituals of the religion such as animal sacrifices, votives, zombies, spells, hexes, offerings to the Loa and the like. I found everything strange and unsettling. Perhaps, as an agnostic pragmatist brought up on the teachings of science rather than spiritual beliefs, I would never understand.