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25 March 2019 10:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
haptalaon Incidentally, I'm talking about vodou because I've had my semi-regular vodou dream nudge.
If it was literally anything else appearing in my dreams so clearly and unambiguously, then I'd be over the moon: the long awaited Sign from the Beyond! It's always out of the blue, always parts of the lore I didn't know or care about (ie it's not Baron Samedi who I could have easily picked up from pop culture
But it's this and
I follow at least one white houngan who I really admire - he is extremely committed & thoughtful, and actively practices with a group both in his home state and Haiti. So it's not exactly that I feel like I "can't" or "mustn't". It just feels *colossoly* inappropriate.
When I first had these dreams I did give it serious thought, and I did a tonne of research; it's still a topic I'm invested in. And what it came down to was:
1. This is clearly an ancestor-centric tradition, but my ancestors are not the same ancestors
2. It's clearly a faith really rooted in the soil/soul of Haiti - I live in London and i'm sat on the bus and it's raining
3. It's history is so intertwined with colonialism and slavery and stuff, and not in a vague "white people shouldn't wear dreads" way but a "im not sure it's a good idea for me to start petitioning spirits who come from that place, time, context" it would be awkward, possibly dangerous
4. It's community centric, and I don't like people
I feel like this kind of thought process is missing from the "closed cultures" conversation. It's often expressed as a Rule: "don't do X if you're Y"; but having done the work and the exploration, I feel it's not wrong or bad, but just kinda...meaningless? Irrelevant? Like showing up at a strangers birthday party? "No white people in vodou" is a shorthand for some pretty hefty, legitimate reasons why honestly, no one should really want to anyway. The more I learn about it, the more I get an "ugh - eeek" off the very idea.
It's like. Not a "closed culture", but there are some rules for entry, and they are necessary, immutable, important, and onerous. Which doesn't really match our religious cultures at all.
I always light a candle for my vodou dream nudge, and it never goes anywhere after that; which can only be a good thing. I suppose, if spirits exist, they exist and there's no reason why some from that tradition shouldn't amble into my space now and then. But im content to keep it as a fierce nerdy interest, because the main thing ive learned about it us, it can't be what it is and simultaneously open to me.
I'm moving to Wales next month, so I'll let you know if Pontypandy happens to have a massive diasporic Haitian community...
If it was literally anything else appearing in my dreams so clearly and unambiguously, then I'd be over the moon: the long awaited Sign from the Beyond! It's always out of the blue, always parts of the lore I didn't know or care about (ie it's not Baron Samedi who I could have easily picked up from pop culture
But it's this and
I follow at least one white houngan who I really admire - he is extremely committed & thoughtful, and actively practices with a group both in his home state and Haiti. So it's not exactly that I feel like I "can't" or "mustn't". It just feels *colossoly* inappropriate.
When I first had these dreams I did give it serious thought, and I did a tonne of research; it's still a topic I'm invested in. And what it came down to was:
1. This is clearly an ancestor-centric tradition, but my ancestors are not the same ancestors
2. It's clearly a faith really rooted in the soil/soul of Haiti - I live in London and i'm sat on the bus and it's raining
3. It's history is so intertwined with colonialism and slavery and stuff, and not in a vague "white people shouldn't wear dreads" way but a "im not sure it's a good idea for me to start petitioning spirits who come from that place, time, context" it would be awkward, possibly dangerous
4. It's community centric, and I don't like people
I feel like this kind of thought process is missing from the "closed cultures" conversation. It's often expressed as a Rule: "don't do X if you're Y"; but having done the work and the exploration, I feel it's not wrong or bad, but just kinda...meaningless? Irrelevant? Like showing up at a strangers birthday party? "No white people in vodou" is a shorthand for some pretty hefty, legitimate reasons why honestly, no one should really want to anyway. The more I learn about it, the more I get an "ugh - eeek" off the very idea.
It's like. Not a "closed culture", but there are some rules for entry, and they are necessary, immutable, important, and onerous. Which doesn't really match our religious cultures at all.
I always light a candle for my vodou dream nudge, and it never goes anywhere after that; which can only be a good thing. I suppose, if spirits exist, they exist and there's no reason why some from that tradition shouldn't amble into my space now and then. But im content to keep it as a fierce nerdy interest, because the main thing ive learned about it us, it can't be what it is and simultaneously open to me.
I'm moving to Wales next month, so I'll let you know if Pontypandy happens to have a massive diasporic Haitian community...
