Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica

In Caribbean folklore, a duppy is the malevolent ghost or spirit of a deceased person. Since duppies are believed capable of causing harm to the living, either of their own volition or at the command of others, great efforts are made in traditional funerary rites to settle and secure the duppy of the newly deceased. There are many contradictory and competing beliefs relating to duppies in the Caribbean, and numerous superstitions detailing how to protect oneself and one’s home against them.

Ethnography is a branch of social anthropology focused on analyzing and comparing human cultures, as well as a method of social research investigating behavior. Hurston was an ethnographer and studied under famed American anthropologist Franz Boas. She undertook fieldwork in Black communities across the Southern USA and the Caribbean. Tell My Horse is a key ethnographic work on the cultures of early 20th century Haiti and Jamaica.

A hounfort (also written as “hounfour” or “oufo”) is a Haitian Voodoo temple. Presided over by a hougan or mambo, the hounfort is used to host Voodoo ceremonies and rites and is its community’s primary place of worship. There is significant variation in the physical qualities of different hounforts, often dependent on the needs and resources of its congregation, but they typically include a “potomitan”, a decorated post or tree, and altars dedicated to particular loa.

A hougan (also written “oungan”) is a priest in the Haitian Voodoo religion, the male equivalent of the female mambo priestess. Hougans typically preside over a hounfort and its congregation and go through rigorous training and preparation in Voodoo beliefs and rites prior to ascension to priesthood. Generally, a hougan comes to their role through inheritance, though they may also be called into service by the loa.

Loa (sometimes spelt “lwa”) are spirits or deities of Haitian Voodoo. There are thousands of regional loa worshipped across Haiti, many of which are associated with particular Catholic saints, and some of which are based on the deities of Western African religions. Loa are divided into two broad categories, Rada (good) and Petra (evil), and are believed capable of aiding, communing with, and possessing practitioners.

A mambo (also written as “manbo”) is a priestess in the Haitian Voodoo religion, the female equivalent of the male hougan. Mambos typically preside over a hounfort and its congregation, and lead believers in religious rites and ceremonies. Mambos go through rigorous training and preparation prior to ascending to priesthood, and usually come to the position through inheritance, though they may instead be called to the role by the loa.

Maroons are descendants of Africans who liberated themselves from enslavement and escaped to settle in rural areas of numerous Caribbean islands. Prior to the abolition of slavery, Maroon communities frequently clashed with colonial forces and were often recaptured or displaced, although several Jamaican communities allied with the British following the First Maroon War (1728-1740). Maroon communities evolved their own distinct cultures based on African and Indigenous Caribbean cultures.

Pocomania is a folk religion popular among the peasant class of Jamaica, combining elements of traditional African religions with aspects of Protestant Christianity. Leaders of the decentralized religion run “Balm Yards” where they offer physical and spiritual healing to their followers, act as intermediaries between supplicants and their gods, and conduct religious ceremonies. The word “pocomania” likely comes from the Spanish “poco” and “mania,” meaning “little” and “crazy” respectively, although Hurston is informed by one of the cult’s leaders that it actually means “something from nothing” (1, 3).

One of the most egregious human rights violations in history, the transatlantic slave trade saw between 10 million and 12 million enslaved Africans transported across the Atlantic Ocean to work in the Americas (Lewis, Thomas. "Transatlantic slave trade". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Feb. 2024.). Lasting from the 16th century to the 19th century, the importation of slave labor was a fundamental element of the plantation agriculture system and contributed heavily to colonial empires’ accumulation of wealth and power.