Public events cause comment. That is no surprise. Humans love to gossip about their neighbours; the TV blares constantly, and the internet is one vast gossip factory – it's free, and we have nothing better to do, most of the time, than speculate on the doings of this one and that one...why, I heard yesterday that Ms X, the famous, er, famous person, is so addicted to plastic surgery that...

So it is not surprising when a major event, such as an earthquake, sends out shock waves of idiot dialogue and sets the blogs a-nattering. But when it reaches the level of massive insult to already suffering human beings, it is appropriate for us to take umbrage – loudly, and often.

The earthquake in Haiti has prompted a certain American – who shall remain nameless here, and who should bear the shame of his ignorance and mean-spiritedness alone – to comment that the Haitians deserve this trouble, because their ancestors made a pact with the Devil.

Now, other than thinking that such a horrible remark was typical of the American in question, I would have given it no further thought, had not everybody and his baby sister started arguing about it. So I did some checking. Here is the result.

The people of Haiti are no different from any other people when it comes to telling their history. They have a story about how it all started. In their case, the story of their country starts with a slave uprising against the French.

As I understand it, in 1791, the Haitian slaves were getting tired of waiting for the promise of the French Revolution – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity – to reach their shores. They decided to take matters into their own hands. One of their leaders, a coachman named Boukman Dutty – 'Boukman' because he used to be enslaved to an Englishman, and could read; a coachman, because coachmen got all the news, which made them the go-to guys – made a speech at the Voodoo ceremony that sparked the revolt.

Nobody knows for sure what happened that day, but here is the traditional version:

Boukman and the others met at a place called Bois Caiman – Alligator Woods. There was a Voodoo ceremony, at which a pig was sacrificed. Voodoo was their religion, nothing unusual about that, sacrificing a pig was as normal an activity as coffee, cake and cigars in the basement would be for a Dutch Reformed congregation of a Sunday. Boukman is said to have been a houngan, or Voodoo priest, and to have led the ceremony that culminated in this prayer:

'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.'

According to Haitian tradition, that is what started the revolution. History tells us that Haiti got her independence in 1804, after Toussaint L'Ouverture defeated Napoleon's forces. Good for them.

Like many traditions, this story of the Bois Caiman cannot be completely authenticated. All our countries have stories like that, many of them unverifiable – Americans believe some very funny things about the behaviour of George Washington in a boat, for instance, or who Nathan Hale was (such as, not an arsonist with a big mouth). We take these things for granted.

Is a Voodoo ceremony a 'pact with the Devil'? Not unless you're narrow-minded enough to assume that everybody who doesn't worship God the way you do is worshipping the Opposition. From that prayer – authentic or not – it seems obvious that Boukman thought the other people were worshipping the Devil.

Since the other people were enslaving their fellow humans for monetary gain, I would say Boukman had strong evidence on that point.

As for the poor pig, it ended up as barbecue, I'll bet – which is sad, but the way of the world. Those folks were probably hungry after all that dancing and speechifying.

A lot of folks are hungry these days. And there are real needs down there. Let's worry about helping our neighbour out of the rubble, and leave the pontificating about sidereal matters to those with proven track records of representing the Almighty....

...or not, and just ignore their remarks for the foolish gossip they are.

Prayers are wishes – a cry for help, a statement of longing, need, purpose. Sometimes prayers are answered in surprising ways, perhaps by the offer of a helping hand. When we stop trying to figure it out, and do what needs to be done – that is the true miracle.

Fact and Fiction by Dmitri Gheorgheni Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

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