All language subtitles for ENG SUB Divine Horsemen The Living Gods of Haiti

There is a creole expression :
"to walk together".

Where life is hard, people
depend upon and help each other,

Haiti amalgamated different tribes

in a common religion
known as Voudoun,

so that men may pray together

to praise the same moral principles
and together reaffirm them.

In Haiti, a divine spirit
is called a Loa.

Legba is a Loa who is the link

between the visible mortal world
and the invisible, immortal realms.

He is the means and
avenue between them,

the vertical axis of the Universe.

As guardian of the sacred gateway,

it is he who grants contact
with the other Loa.

Legba must be the first Loa
to be ritually saluted

if this is to be achieved.

For this reason,
the crossroads

is the most important
of all ritual figures.

Whether drawn in flower
on flat ground

or traced in the air,
the sign of the crossroads

is always the juncture where communication
between worlds is established,

where the traffic of energies
and forces between them is set up.

Through the center post,
the potomiton, the gods enter.

At its base,
the vevers are drawn.

Around the center post,

all ritual movements
and dances revolve.

The Rada rites are
a basic African tradition

in which the deities
play a protective role.

They are benevolent and paternal.

The la-place, who is an apprentice
and assistant to the priest,

carries a sword representing
the guardian god of the temple.

He is flanked by two flag bearers
who represent the congregation.

Priest, holding
his sacred rattle,

and the trio seem to engage
in some strange mock battle.

There is no question,

but that it is a competition
between the power of the Loa

and the congregation together
against that of the hungan.

The la-place bows and kisses
the earth at the priest's feet

as a mark of respect.

The priest kisses
the hilt of the sword.

He kisses the tops of the flags.

From this action, we see
the priest's responsibility

towards the congregation
as well as towards the gods.

And now another priest salutes
the trio in the same manner.

A voudoun priest
is called a hungan,

HUN meaning "of the spirits"
and GAN meaning "chief",

from the language of
the Fon people of Africa.

He gives advice
concerning spiritual

as well as economic, political
and medical problems.

A strong hungan enjoys
a quality and degree of respect

which the Haitian
extends to no one else.

When two hungan salute,

they mirror each other
with their sacred rattles.

The rattle is a calabash covered
with a loose web of clay beads

and snake vertebrae
with a bell attached.

It is used to summon the Loa
and is a sign of priesthood.

There are many subtle
gradations of salutation,

and these indicate the relative
authority of the persons involved.

Possession is a psychic phenomenon

wich occurs when the divinity
becomes manifest.

In the terminology of Voudoun,

it is said that the Loa
mounts a person,

or that a person
is mounted by the Loa.

The metaphor is drawn
from a horse and his rider,

and the actions
and events which result

are the expression
of the will of the rider.

It is the center towards which
all roads of Voudoun converge.

It is the point which one travels

by the most visible
and physical means.

Yet to the traveler,
it is itself invisible.

Damballa, the Snake,

arched in the path that
the sun travels across the sky.

The primordial source
of all life wisdom.

At once, the ancient past
and the assurance of the future.

The positive force
which encircles the universe.

In Voudoun, it is not
the sea that is sacred,

but the spirit of the sea
who is divine.

This ceremony celebrates
the wedding of Agwe,

sovereign of the sea,
to the goddess of love.

It is Agwe who is in a sense
the ideal husband and lover,

being as the sea is, a ready
strength and deep peace.

The ceremony is conducted
by a female priestess called mambo.

It is perhaps the most elaborate
of all ritual undertakings.

The Barque (boat) d'Agwe
holds offerings of cake,

bottles of liqueur,
and even champagne.

Days of preparation are spent
building and painting the raft

before it is dedicated
with love to Agwe.

There, was the sailboat
which awaited us.

Bright trimmings
dancing in the wind.

They sang,
and the drums beat,

and the trumpet and conch shell
called over and over.

The mambo stood near
the mast sounding her rattle.

They chanted songs in praise of Agwe.

But especially,
they repeated several times

the most haunting songs of all.

Protect your children,

with these voices,
owned by this melody,

ruffling the waves
of each of them,

calling Agwe over the vast
reaches of his domain.

We are now directly over
the sacred island beneath the sea

where the souls of the dead go
and also where the Loa live.

When the water lay
almost level with the ray of,

the men slid the boat
onto the surface of the sea.

As we all watched it silently,
it seemed to hesitate to a stop.

And then,

as if a great hand had reached up
from below and grasped it,

it disappeared abruptly
into the quiet water.

Ogoun has given woman
in the figure of Erzuli

exclusive title

to that wich distinguishes humans
from all other forms,

their capacity
to conceive beyond reality,

to desire beyond adequacy,

to create beyond need.

In a crowded peristyle,

and among all these bodies
which move with such homogeneity,

there may be one whose movements
are exceedingly spectacular.

This is a sign that a Loa arrives.

In Erzuli, Voudoun salutes woman
as the divinity of the dream,

the goddess of love,
the muse of beauty.

She is identified
with the Virgin Mary

as mother of man's myth of life.

In a sense, she is
that very principle

by which man conceives
and creates divinity.

To man himself,
she is as mistress.

Erzuli move in an atmosphere
of infinite luxury,

a perfume of refinement.

Her arrival pervades the very air.

All anxieties,
all urgencies vanish.

Tempo of movements
becomes more leisurely.

Tensions dissolve,
and the voices soften.

One has the impression
that a fresh, cooling breeze

has sprung up somewhere,

and that the heat
has become less intense.

Ogoun is a Loa of might,
power, authority, triumph.

He is in fact a hero type
and often a political figure.

Ogoun can strengthen
a devotee in ways of healing,

prophecy and magic.

Guede, the god of life and death,
that eternal figure in black,

posted at the timeless crossroads

at which all men and
even the sun one day arrive.

The cross upon a tomb
is his symbol.

He is keeper of the cemetery,

the guardian of the history
and heritage of the race.

The future stems from the past,

so life and death
become one and the same.

The Catholic litany
called "Action de Gr?ce"

precedes a Voudoun ceremony.

Libations are poured
as a mark of respect,

a first offering.

It is a gesture of the hand
inviting the gods.

The chicken is passed over
the head and shoulders of the devotee,

as if it were a large feather cloth

to wipe away any impurity or evil.

When everyone has been cleansed,

the chicken is oriented
to the cardinal points,

after which it eats food
which lies in the cornmeal drawing.

When it eats that food,
it becomes identified with the Loa.

This is a signal it may be
sacrificed and accepted by the Loa.

The wings and legs are broken,

so that any impurities that it may
have symbolically collected

may not fly free.

The attitude of the Haitians
towards the death and blood

of these sacrificial beasts
is never morbid.

The intent and emphasis of sacrifice
is not upon the death of the animal.

It is upon the transfusion
of its life to the Loa.

For the understanding
is that flesh and blood

are of the essence
of life and vigor,

and these will restore
the divine energy of the God.

Similarly, the goat
is offered to Guede.

Just before it is killed,

it is castrated
and its beard is cut off.

The physical feasting of the Loa

is at once the most common
and the most important

of the obligations of a worshiper.

To have great power
is to need great energy.

And so the gods,
like living matter,

have an unrelenting need for food

if their life energies
are to be maintained.

The spirit of Guede is mounting
the body of the priest.

He's known to be a trickster

and delights in playing games
to confuse others.

Here, he pretends
to hand out money.

He may be playing the clown,

but if you will call him aside,

and humbly ask him
in all seriousness

an important question,

he will generally answer you
thoughtfully and carefully,

and it will usually be
the best possible advice.

Clown though he be,
and trickster,

he is also history,

the experience from which
the living learn.

And in this role,

he is as deeply responsible
and trustworthy

as he is bizarre
in his other aspects.

Guede is also a god of fertility
and protector of children.

The women bump against him
to ensure healthy children.

As guardian
of the history of the race,

the continuity of its Loa lines,

he is particularly interested
in seeing that a child does not die

before it has developed a soul
which can be immortal.

Azaka,
the god of agriculture,

appears in the form
of a work peasant.

He's a very hard worker,

and is frequently feasted
by the grateful farmers.

The actions and utterances
of the possessed person

are not of his own expression,

but of the god's.

In this way,

the god gives instruction
and exercises his authority.

Guede poses most frequently
as a poor wandering beggar.

He often arrives unasked
at a ceremony for another Loa.

Banda is a suggestive dance,

usually beaten
by the request of a Loa,

often Guede, who feels
like doing a gay dance.

Many of the participants
are receiving the spirit of Guede.

Guede is ready to depart.

It is the custom

to remove all accoutrements
of the guard when he leaves.

As they reach for his
glasses, Guede says :

"Don't touch my glasses,
I'm not finished."

The intimate relation
between Loa and worshiper,

the dependence
as it were of the Loa

upon the very blood of the serviteur
for existence and transmission

has been the guarantee
of the Loa's life.

By placing the hat and bag
on another person,

Azucar transmits his spirit.

The Loa greets the other
with a handshake.

Through the left hand,
psychic contact is made.

The shoes are removed

because the guard likes
to dance in bare feet.

Again, the Loa greets
with a double handshake.

The spin takes her
on a special journey

which inevitably
leads to possession.

Sometimes there is a period
of physical movement

which is very intense
and seems violent.

This reflects the inner conflict
of the soul of the person with the Loa

over the possession
of the physical body.

Once the Loa is installed,

this conflict resolves
and subsides.

It is the God who is the virtuoso,
not the human being.

And indeed, a Loa is capable
of putting its horse

through paces which the
individual in a normal state

could never achieve.

The God departs the body,

and the man returns
to the physical world.

The Kongo Tribe of Africa,
which came to Haiti,

is known for
its elegance and style.

Tribesmen brought
their particular rituals,

their drumbeats and dances.

These have a strong influence
in secular music.

In fact, their roots hold firmly
in modern day jazz.

The rythm and sound of the drum

brings out the movements
of the dancing.

It is the drumming
which fuses together

the 50 or more individuals
into a single body,

making them move as one,

as if all had become linked
on the thread of a single pulse.

This dance of rejoicing
is a dance of celebration.

Although dancers
may follow a ceremonial,

their form and purpose
is religious, not secular.

If the Rada Loa represents
the protective guardian powers,

the Petro Loa are the patrons
of aggressive action.

The Petro cult was born
out of a cosmic rage.

It is the rage
against the evil fate

which the African suffered
because of his enslavement.

The energy from that rage
enabled him to regain his freedom

by winning the revolution
against the Napoleonic forces.

The bull is run at full speed

around the eight sides
of the temple

with everyone in full pursuit.

The chase ends at a given
tree in the courtyard.

The sacrifice of the bull
is the ultimate feast for the God,

an offering which
as sheer nourishment

will most invigorate
the Loa.

The cross is the symbol
of life and death,

the axis of the physical
cycle of generation

and the metaphysical cycle
of resurrection.

Life, for Guede,
is a destiny,

the inevitable and erotic in man.

He is lord of that eroticism,

which being inevitable
is beyond good and evil,

and beyond the elations
and despairs of love.

Of this he is neither
proud nor ashamed.

If anything, he is amused

by eternal persistence
of the erotic,

and by man's eternally
persistent pretense

that it is something else.

These men are talented performers

rather than possessed
by divine spirits.

The spirit of Guede, however,
the god of life and death,

does preside over the Spring
Festival called Rara.

The twirling of the baton

suggests a Hunter
or Warrior Festival.

The baton perhaps
replacing weapons.

Carnival celebrates
a triumph over Death,

of Spring life over the Winter,

which was death for the Earth.

A time for putting the Past behind,

of excitement,
of hope and promise

of fresh start
and a clean beginning.

All the fantasies of the people

can come to life in this period
of joyous festivities.

And through all this,

the spirit of life, Papa Guede,
reigns supreme.