Vodun practitioners attacked at ceremony for Haiti earthquake victimsBy The Associated Press, February 23, 2010, 5:00PM
http://bit.ly/cR1ukz Angry crowds in a seaside slum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, attacked a group of
Voodoo (Vodun) practitioners Tuesday, pelting them with rocks and halting a
ceremony meant to honor victims of last month's deadly earthquake.
Vodouists gathered in Cite Soleil where thousands of quake survivors live in
tents and depend on food aid. Praying and singing, the group was trying to
conjure spirits to guide lost souls when a crowd of evangelicals started
shouting. Some threw rocks while others urinated on Voodoo (Vodun)symbols. When
police left, the crowd destroyed the altars and Voodoo (Vodun) offerings of
food and rum.
(Photo: Voodoo (Vodun) followers watch as a crowd screams at them Tuesday as
they try to hold a ceremony in the Cite Soleil neighborhood of Port-au-Prince,
Haiti.
http://bit.ly/cR1ukz)"We were here preparing for prayer when these others came and took over," said
Sante Joseph, an evangelical worshipper in Cite Soleil, near the capital's
port, who joined the angry crowd in a concrete outdoor civic center.
Tensions have been running high since the Jan. 12 earthquake killed an
estimated 200,000 people and left more than 1 million homeless. More than 150
machete-wielding men attacked a World Food Program convoy Monday on the road
between Haiti's second-largest city of Cap-Haitien and Port-au-Prince. There
were no injuries but Chilean peacekeepers could not prevent the men from
stealing the food, U.N. spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux said.
Religious tension has also increased: Baptists, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses,
Scientologists, Mormons and other missionaries have flocked to Haiti in droves
since the earthquake to feed the homeless, treat the injured and jockey for
souls. Some Voodoo (Vodun)practitioners have said they've converted to
Christianity for fear they will lose out on aid or a belief that the earthquake
was a warning from God.
"Much of this has to do with the aid coming in," said Max Beauvoir, a Voodoo
(Vodun) priest and head of a Voodoo (Vodun) association. "Many missionaries
oppose Voodoo (Vodun). I hope this does not start a war of religions because
many of our practitioners are being harassed now unlike any other time that I
remember."
Voodoo, or Vodou as preferred by Haitians, evolved in the 17th century when the
French brought slaves to Haiti from West Africa. Slaves forced to practice
Catholicism remained loyal to their African spirits in secret by adopting
Catholic saints to coincide with African spirits, and today many Haitians
consider themselves followers of both religions. Voodoo's followers believe in
reincarnation, one God and a pantheon of spirits. Voodoo (Vodun)leaders say
that although they do not believe in evil spirits, some followers pray for the
spirits to do evil.
"There's absolutely a heightened spiritual conflict between Christianity and
Voodoo (Vodun) since the quake," said Pastor Frank Amedia of the Miami-based
Touch Heaven Ministries who has been distributing food in Haiti and
proselytizing.
"We would give food to the needy in the short term, but if they refused to give
up Voodoo (Vodun), I'm not sure we would continue to support them in the long
term because we wouldn't want to perpetuate that practice. We equate it with
witchcraft, which is contrary to the Gospel."
A magnitude-4.7 quake, meanwhile, rattled the capital at 1:26 a.m. Tuesday,
followed by a smaller aftershock whose magnitude was still unknown, said Eric
Calais, a geophysicist from Purdue University who is studying seismic activity
in Haiti.
A magnitude-4.7 aftershock struck Monday, followed by two other small tremors.
Both Tuesday's quake and Monday's aftershock struck near the epicenter of the
Jan. 12 quake. The U.S. Geological Survey in Colorado usually detects Haitian
quakes of magnitude 4 and above, but smaller tremors often are not detected due
to a lack of seismometers in Haiti.
Some walls that had toppled in last month's quake spilled onto the street
Tuesday and damaged telephone polls split in half. There were no reports of
injuries.
"It feels like the earth is shaking all the time since last month," said
Ermithe Josephe, 48, who is still sleeping outside in a tent next to her
crumpled house. "We can't sleep with all of these aftershocks and we're too
afraid to go to work sometimes."
Last month's earthquake occurred along the east-west Enriquillo Fault, where
two pieces of the Earth's crust slide by each other in opposite directions. The
USGS said Tuesday there is between a 5 percent and 15 percent probability that
another magnitude-7 quake would occur on the Enriquillo in the next 50 years.
Paisley Dodds of The Associated Press wrote this report.
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Forwarded by Ezili's Haitian Lawyers Leadership Network
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Vodun Practitioners Attacked At Ceremony For Haiti Earthquake Victims
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