Abstract
In his rather magnificent tribute to the Haitian Revolution called The Black Jacobins, C. L. R. James describes the rather dramatic scene linking black religion and political change on the eve of the revolution in 1791. In forests of the Morne Rouge, the enormously built slave
Boukman, who is also a houngan (a Voodoo priest) is presiding at the ceremonies, thought by some students of this old African religion to be incantations for one of the loa in the Petro rite. Translating the Creole, James renders the incantation as follows:
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.1