User:Mitcht608/Bois Caiman

Before the Bois Caiman ceremony, Voodoo rituals were looked like as an event of social gathering where slaves had the ability to organize. These meetings and opportunities to organize were considered harmless by white slave owners, therefore, they were permitted. Voodoo is also argued that it created a more homogeneous black culture in Haiti.

During the Bois Caiman ceremony, a witness described the presence of 200 African slaves at the event. The event was presided over by Dutty Boukman, a Houngan priest. The African woman figure that appeared declared Boukman the “Supreme Chief” of the rebellion. The slaves were directed by this priestess to drink from a black creole pig’s blood and swear that they must kill every white on the island of Saint-Domingue.

Critics offers the theory that the ceremony never occurred at all. Dr. Leon-Francois Hoffmannn theorizes that the event simply had motivational and unitary roles to politically gather allies throughout Haiti. Where Hoffmannn found the narrative to have a strong impact on shaping the motivations of those involved in the revolution, Hoffmannn feels there is no factual bias for the event occurring.

The event was followed by participants of the Bois Caiman ceremony to go on a white killing spree due to their promise to the mysterious woman who appeared during the ceremony. The participants committed arson to farms throughout the area. The leader of this rebellion, Boukman, had made claims that he had obtained the power of invincibility from divine power. To reduce the social disorder of the rebellion, the French captured Boukman and beheaded him. The French then displayed his head on Cap’s square to prove his mortality and French power.

-Impacts (today)

In pop culture, Bois Caiman has been referenced in music and other artistic works as a symbol of resistance and unity. In the 1970s, Roots Music has referred to the Bois Caiman event as a parallel to resisting the Duvalier totalitarian regime like their ancestors.

Due to the influx of American protestants in Haiti during the 1990s, some neo-evangelical Christians rewrote the events at Bois Caïman as a Haitian "blood pact with Satan"

Pat Robertson cited the ceremony to be largely responsible for the issues of overcrowding, inadequate housing, and dire poverty.