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CEREMONY
BWA KAYIMAN, PART 1
Hundreds of years ago, Africans in the
plains and valleys, forced to be passive every second of the day in
order to survive the European planter's lashes, would sneak out in the
dead of night, up the rocky Maroons' mountain roads to secret forest
caves and hidden clearings, for the Vodun ceremonies, where they would
watch their kinfolks practicing the art of war, productively sloughing-off
impacted rage to the Vodun drum's syncopated beats... Haitian children
learned in Vodun ceremonies the uses of cutting and slicing a chicken
and goat's throat, early on in life, for the time when the Petwo nations
would come and mount them, so they would stop being the sacrificial
lambs, the scapegoats whose blood was being lapped up by the white settlers.
So, in Vodun, there is the time before the Petwo nations arrived
to the war dance to unify the cocktail of multilingual African tribes
- and the time after.
The more temperate nations that were there before, subduing Petwo were
called Rada. Originating like Petwo, from West Africa's peoples.
But the Africans who became Haitians in the land of the Taino/Arawak
Amerindians had to pull hard for the psychic energy within themselves
that would allow them to kill the current of negative European energies
swallowing them whole.
And when these Blacks, on a hilltop at a wood clearing called "Bwa
Kayiman," had reached back, past their divisions, past even the
God making impulses that creates dictators. Way back. Past self-gratification.
Past giving any one particular element - spirit or thought abstraction
- omniscient sovereignty; way past these twilights and a thousand eternities.
Then this, this spiritual consensus, this, a new psychic wave, was reached.
The differing African groups in Haiti were then so quickened, that together
as one PSYCHIC FORCE, they had passed Babylon's babbling towers, setting
a new watercourse beyond forever: transmuting mental spasms and a cacophony
of noises into ONE TONGUE, one powerful action - swearing to God and
the Devil to be free or die.
And when Agaou's thunder clapped next, the cosmic sea - home of the
ancestral deities, of all the lwas who had become abstracted
over many generations - that sea opened; Africa's sacred abstractions
had come to life. A new nation called Haitian was formed, where unity
lives in veins reaching the cosmic center - that nexus between the spheres
of the living and dead, between action and reflection. Then, the Haitian
Revolution came, beating back Napoleon's forces, then the English, Spanish
and French again. Twice. This, Petwo's multination red force and strength,
works when Rada is its base. Rada and Petwo, they spewed forth together
as one, each making way for the stronger. They are the Lovers-of-Liberty,
economic democracy-in-action. And their strongest symbol was Ezili Dantò
- the feminine principle who carries a dagger.
I didn't know what
i was. How i came to be created
Kreyòl or much about Vodun until after i had returned
from Haiti and started feeling the tones of Red, textures of Black and
cold distance of the Moonlight.
But, it is the unified Petwo/Rada nations, living within my psychic
heritage, that call to me with this vision of a world that's reached
past its divisions, angers, hatreds and envies to where many "nations"
coexist. I'm practicing remembering that the amalgamated Africans in
Haiti had no money to bribe or amass and wield power with; no gun arsenals
for shows of force to control or subjugate the masses and classes with;
no laws to shoot hope and dreams, forever deferred.
No.
The Africans, who became Haitians, in the land of the Taino/Arawak Amerindians
expected the tools of combat to crawl from their bodies and mind, and
it did. Their veins are the vortexes for a unified African PSYCHIC FORCE:
and they surrendered to that.
****END
OF CEREMONY BWA KAYIMAN, PART 1 MONOLOGUE****
Go to: Bwa Kayiman, Part II- Beyond
2004
See also: Kayiman
Play and Bwa
Kayiman Video Clip
**************
**********
Chèn
Sa Pap Janm Kase!: An Ezili Dantò performance ritual ending the
Bwa Kayiman celebration
"...Boukmann ohh nan Bwa Kayiman.
Nou nome non ohh, nou (sa) pa detounen w. Nou pa fè Bwa Kayiman
pou te sevi etranje...Papa Boukmann ohh, nou soufri ase. Lafami divise.
Lafami do a do...(chèn linyon an kase?). Nou pral mete
Lwa yo devan. Devan, devan. Latibonit ohh, fò nou mete Lwa yo
devan...Nou gen fòs. Nou gen pouvwa. Nou gen lynon pou nou kapab
fè tout travay Ginen mache lan lapè ak kè kontan....
The three powers lifted up at "Bwa Kayiman: Fòs, Pouvwa,
Linyon"
*************
Ezili Dantòs Bwa Kayiman ending ritual first premiered, done
in the month of August, 2006 for the HLLN/Free Haiti Movement, after
Ezili Dantò's performance readings of Red, Black, Moonlight performance
pieces such as Bwa
Kayiman, Beyond
2004 or the Bwa
Kayiman Play used to commemorate the Ancestors who began
the Great Haitian Revolution at Bwa Kayiman, August 14, 1791.
Ezili Dantò's Performance
ritual for remembering Boukman, Dantò, Lwa yo, tout Zanset e
Ti Moun yo in August for Bwa Kayiman:
PERFORMANCE RITUAL:
Chèn Sa Pap Janm Kase!
(Direktyon) Kanpe. Fè yon rond. Mete men nou ansanm. Mix li.
Gason ak fanm kenbe men n ansanm lan yon rond. Tout moun ki ap tande
vwa mwen, ki ap gade mwen - tout moun lan Kanada, Mayami, Ayiti, tout
moun lakou New York, Lan Karayib la, Europe, Afrik...Tout kretyen ki
ap tande mwen oubyen k ap gade mwen kelkeswa, pa radyo, sou entenèt,
oubyen sou konferans vidiyo, - tout moun, tout piti Bondye toupatou
dimond. Nou pral fè yon chèn linyon, tet ansanm. Nou pral fè
yon sèl kò.
Kanpe. Kanpe. Fè yon rond. Mete men nou ansanm. Mix li. Gason
ak fanm kenbe men n ansanm lan yon rond.
Fè yon ti balanse. Ok, balanse,
(a dwat, a goch, a dwat a goch). Men an men. Balanse.
Aksyon sa li senbolik. Men, lè nou retounen lakay nou. Lè
nou pa ansanm konsa, fòk nou toujou kenbe chèn inyon sa
a lan tèt nou toutan. Pa kite'l kase ditou. Men an men. Tèt
ansanm. N'ap fè yon sèl kò. Nou se Ayisyen! Men
an men nap rive fè tout travay Ginen mache lan lapè
ak kè kontan. OK. Kounye a, leve tèt nou, gade enwo.
Alamèmtan, leve men nou anwo. Kenbe rond la solid. Pa kite chèn
sa kase. Yo di lòt Nachon-yo ap sevi ak nou paske nou pa gen
linyon. Pa kite chèn sa kase. Lè l kase, se nou tout l
ap detounen. Se nou tout k ap pran lan pelen Kolon an. Tande lapriyè
Zanset nou yo. Balanse. Tande lapriye
Boukman. Kontinye balanse.
Ok, kounye a, ann chante ansanm (""...Boukmann ohh nan
Bwa Kayiman. Nou nonme non ou ohh, sa pa detounen w. Nou pa fè
Bwa Kayiman pou te sevi etranje...). Aprè chanson sa a,
map fè yon ti lapriyè
Zanset nou yo....Aprè lapriyè sa, nap fè
chèn-men nou an desan ak gran fòs. Chak fwa nou desan men nou.
Nap di: "Fòs," "Pouvwa," "Lynon!"
Moun ki ka wè m. Gade jan mwen fè l. "Fòs,"
"Pouvwa," "Lynon!" Anvan nou fè sa pou fini,
fòk nou salye Dantò, salye Ginen yo. Fòk nou mete
Lwa-yo devan, devan, devan. Nou kwè lan limyè Ginen yo
- limyè Ginen Fran. Djab la di l ap manje nou, se pa vre. Se
pa vre Timoun yo, se pa vre. Gen Bondye. Gen lè sen yo. Gen noumenm.
Gen Lwa racine yo. Nou se Ayisyen Arada, nou pakapab neye. Lamou pa
nou an, li pli fò ke lanmò. Si nou pakapab pase isit,
nap pase lòt bò. Nou se Ginen. Nou pa mele ak Djab yo,
san konsyans yo, kriminel yo ki ap van peyi a bay Kolon. Ginen Fran
yo ap toujou jwen yon chemen. Nou se Ayisyen, kè nou pa sote.
Nou se pitit Papa Desalin, kè nou pa sote lan jou malè
(2006-sa a, 2006-sa a...)
(Direktyon:) Lè mwen di "Nou
fè yon sel kò." Nou tout ap repòn: "Chèn
sa pap janm kase!"
Nou fè yon sel kò. Chèn
sa pap janm kase. Nou fè yon sel kò...
Ok.
Nou se yon sèl kò. Desalin pap janm mouri. Nou sè
yon sel kò. Boukman pap janm mouri. Cecil Fatiman, Katerin Fon,
Marijann, Toya, Defile, yo pakapab janm mouri. Nou se yon sèl
kò, san Lwa yo se san nou. Dantò pakapab janm mouri. San
Lwa yo, se san nou. Gede-yo pakapab mouri. Yo pakapab tiye Rwa Wangol
ak katouch Loni. Yo pakapab achte l, ni van li.
Nou fè yon sel kò. "Chèn sa pap janm kase!"
....
San yo se san nou. Nou fè yon sel kò. "Chèn
sa pap janm kase!"
San yo se san nou. Nou fè yon sel kò. "Chèn
sa pap janm kase!"
(Di Aprè mwen:) Lamou
pa nou an, li pli fò ke lanmò. Si nou pakapab pase isit,
nap pase lòt bò. Nou se Ginen. Nou pa mele ak Djab yo,
san konsyans yo, kriminel yo ki ap van peyi a bay Kolon. Ginen Fran
yo ap toujou jwen yon chemen.
Nou se Ayisyen. Nou fè yon sel kò. "Chèn sa
pap janm kase!"
Wi, se konsa.
Nou se pitit Papa Desalin. Nou fè
yon sel kò ak li e tout lòt zanset yo. Yo pakapab refize
Desalin azil. Yo pakapab mete Boukman lan prizon. Yo pakapab detwi Neges
e Neg Ginen.
Nou fè yon sel kò. "Chèn sa pap janm kase!"
OK. Tande yon ti priye/chanson ke Zanset yo montre-m pou mwen pòte
pou nou jodi jounen sa...
Salu
Dantò Prayer:
1. "Se Ibo Evida."
2. "Se Ibo Evida Nayide."
3. "Danbala viyè, viyè, n ap salu Dantò."
4. "Egiye se Ago Ouse."
5. "Se Ago Ouse."
6. "Ago Lisagondè."
7. "Se Ibo Evida Nayide."
*****
Then say (epi kounye a di): "FOS",
"Pouvwa," "Linyon!"
(Direktyon) Kenbe chè linyon an. Leve men nou an lè, dit
"Fòs" pandan nap desan men nou tout ansanm.
Leve men nou an lè, dit "Pouvwa"
pandan nap desan li.
Leve men nou an lè, dit "Lynon!""
- pandan nap desan li.
Nou fè yon sel kò.
(repons:) "Chèn sa pap janm kase!"
AYIBOBO!
*
END
BWA KAYIMAN PERFORMANCE RITUAL
(c) 2006 Marguerite 'Ezili Danto' Laurent, All Rights Reserved.
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