Bread Sandwiches: Folk Magic

Nirva Dept: The subterranean location of the ounfo, or temple, seemed apt. Nirva Cherasard, the mambo priestess who had welcomed the faithful to her home, estimates that around 50 per cent of Montreal's Haitian community are voodooists, many practising the religion alongside Catholicism, "but some people will keep it a secret to the death." Voodoo may be part of everyday life for much of the Haitian diaspora, bringing people together and keeping them connected to their motherland, yet it remains an underground affair, according to Montreal Gazette. Mambo Cherasard notes that curses only work on the weak. "The weaker the person, the more they will be vulnerable to negative forces." Many of the superstitious, she says, are "victims of themselves." One by one, they embraced the poto mitan, the phallic link between the voodoo worlds of the living and the dead. The room resounded to repeated incantations of "Ay bobo!", the voodoo amen. Shortly afterward, the white rum and white-bread sandwiches came out and the ceremony got started. Mention voodoo and the first thing that comes to most people's minds is an image of someone sticking pins into a doll. These dolls do indeed exist, although they are said to be derived from the poppets of European folk magic, later adopted by Louisiana voodooists. As reported in the news.
@t haitian diaspora, montreal gazette