by Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

In Haitian Vodou, the lwa La Sirene is the Queen of the Seas — a mermaid deity of enormous power and maternal warmth, patron of the Roots Without End Society and one of the most frequently invoked lwa in Haitian religious practice. She is associated with music, healing, wealth, and the deep sea; her husband is Met Agwe Tawoyo, the lwa of the ocean.

This short narrative, posted in February 2004 from Jacmel in Haiti's Southern Department, describes an incident during a kanzo (initiation ceremony) at a beach near Mambo Racine's peristyle. The drummer Charity (Charite), an elderly man barely four feet tall, follows the initiates into the water when La Sirene arrives — and nearly drowns. La Sirene herself — mounted in Mambo Racine — swims to save him. In the aftermath, the community composes a new Creole song on the spot to commemorate the rescue, which would go on to be sung in the upcoming Rara festival.

The post is a masterwork of documentary writing: vivid sensory detail (the pale beige sand, the crystal-clear turquoise water, the blue satin and white lace of the initiates), a dramatic moment of crisis and divine intervention rendered matter-of-factly, an original liturgical composition with translation, and a closing flourish of humor as the old drummer's belated panic leads him to blame his near-death on a conspiracy between Mambo Racine and Hilaire.

Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen was an American-born mambo asogwe initiated in Haiti, where she ran a peristyle in Jacmel and trained initiates from multiple countries for over two decades.

Yesterday I went to a lovely beach on Haiti's southern coast to offer service to La Sirene, as I do in every kanzo. The beach was beautiful, with its curving coconut palms and pale beige sand. The water was crystal clear and turquoise blue, with a slight surf running.

My initiates and I, all dressed in blue satin and white lace, danced for La Sirene. She came, and so did another lwa, but that is a story for later. Today I am telling you about Charity, the drummer.

Charity (Charite in Creole) is a little tiny old man, barely four feet tall, seventy years old if he is a day. But he is spry! And he can play drums like all get out. Not only that, but when the Sanpwel society in our neighborhood has a dance, he is the one who carries on his shoulder the "sekey madoule" — the sacred coffin of the Sanpwel.

Charity came to the beach with the rest of our drummers, and played. When La Sirene came, she went into the ocean as she usually does, and my children followed her. The drummers too! Everyone wanted to swim with La Sirene, including Charity. He told the other drummers he knows how to swim.

Shortly Charity was in over his four-foot-high head, dog-paddling, gulping water, being carried farther and farther out by the current. I am told La Sirene turned from the group and swam after him like an otter, covering the distance to the drowning man in an incredibly short time. Another young man, also a strong swimmer, came out to assist, and Charite was safely brought to shore.

"The next time you come here," said La Sirene to the assembled, hushed crowd that had witnessed the rescue, "feed me on land before you go into the water. When someone drowns, I send my children, the fish, to eat them. But I will not eat Charite, because he is a drummer and he plays in my service."

Then La Sirene returned to her activities in the sea with the initiates. Later, when she left and I was in my right senses again, all the initiates were so happy that together we made up a song, right on the spot, and we will certainly sing it in the upcoming Rara festival:

La Sirene ki sove Charite nan la me,
La Sirene ki sove Charite nan la me,
Charite! Map noye o!
Charite! Map bwe dlo, amwe!
La Sirene, mama, ki sove Charite nan la me.

La Sirene who saved Charity in the sea,
La Sirene who saved Charity in the sea,
Charity! I'm drowning, oh!
Charity! I'm drinking water, oh help!
La Sirene, mama, who saved Charity in the sea.

Charity went home happy — but late that night, one single fright took him! He began to tremble, his blood ran cold, as the full realization of his near-death came over him. To the enormous amusement of the entire neighborhood, Charity this very morning declared that he will not play drums with Hilaire's group any more, because it must have been Hilaire who sold him as a sacrifice to La Sirene, and Mambo Racine doesn't know!

This morning we practically had to tie cloth around our abdomens, we were laughing so hard our sides were hurting! But the important thing is that poor old Charity is safe.

Colophon

Written by Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen (Kathy Grey), a mambo asogwe of Haitian Vodou, founder of the Roots Without End Society, posted to alt.religion.voodoo, alt.religion.orisha, and soc.culture.haiti in February 2004, from Jacmel, Haiti. Mambo Racine ran a peristyle in Jacmel, Haiti and trained initiates from multiple countries for over two decades.

Preserved from the Usenet archive for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026. Original Message-ID: [email protected]

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