HaïtiThe Bois-Caiman Ceremony
The Bois-Caiman Ceremony is often described as a voodoo ritual, in which slaves gathered to invoke their ancestors and protective spirits (loas) to ask for strength in their fight against oppression. Led by Dutty Boukman, a voodoo priest and slave of Jamaican origin, and a priestess named Cécile Fatiman, the ceremony brought together slave leaders and rebels, who vowed to fight to the death for their freedom.
According to tradition, a black pig was sacrificed during this ceremony, a symbolic act representing the rejection of colonial oppression and the sacred connection with the spirits of the land and ancestors. The pig’s blood was shared among the participants, thus sealing their pact of revolt.
The Bois-Caiman ceremony is often considered the starting point of the Haitian Revolution, which would lead to the independence of the world’s first black republic in 1804. The ritual, held on the night of August 14, 1791, near the northern town of Morne-Rouge, is loaded with symbolism and historical significance.
