Haitian-Americans have become the targets of disinformation and even hate this political season. Some of this is based on long-standing stereotypes and misunderstanding of their religious beliefs and spiritual practices.
A photo exhibition recently opened in Miami tries to shed some light on faith practices and ceremonies among Haitian-Americans and others that have connections to the Caribbean and Africa. The show, featuring work by photographer Woosler Delisfort, documents some of Miami’s vodou traditions.
The exhibition, “Sanctuary: Our Sacred Place” at HistoryMiami Museum showcases traditions actively practiced by communities throughout South Florida. Delisfort, a Haitian-American photographer who grew up in Little Haiti and was raised Catholic, became fascinated by the many ways people in his community expressed their spirituality. He says, “This is part of my culture. This is part of my tradition.”
Many of the nearly 150 photos in the exhibition focus on ceremonies from vodou, santeria and ifa traditions that have their origins among West Africa’s Yoruba people. All the images were captured in south Florida. He says, “There’s vodou ceremonies happening in Miami Shores, Pembroke Pines, West Miramar, the different places where you never would have thought… there’s ceremonies happening over here.”
In the gallery, one of Delisfort’s photos is of a vodou ceremony he attended in the backyard of a home in a Ft. Lauderdale suburb. A dozen women circle a decorated post called a poto mitan. “Most of these women are mambos,” he says. A mambo is a priestess in the vodou tradition. The poto mitan, Delisfort says, “is the charge between, the connection between the earthly world and… the ancestor world.”
Delisfort says he was always was aware of vodou growing up and had friends and family who took part in its ceremonies and traditions. It’s about spirituality, he says but also about culture. Many who practice vodou he says, are observing Catholics or members of other Christian faiths. “At the end of the day,” he says, “vodou is a way of life. And that’s how most people view it. It’s a way of life.”
An altar from the Yoruba ifa tradition is part of the exhibition. It’s covered with sea shells, fruit, flowers and other offerings to Yemaya, an orisha or divine spirit who’s considered the mother and embodies the oceans. It was created by Michelle Murray, a choreographer and ifa practitioner. She says there’s a lot of misunderstanding surrounding ifa, vodou and santeria. “People make it seem magical and mystical and demonized,” she says. “What we’re actually doing is taking care of the Earth and honoring all that comes with that.”
Another part of the exhibition documents a ceremony held on a Miami beach on Juneteenth every year at dawn. The show’s curator, Marie Vickles says practitioners of vodou, ifa and other faiths come together to send out on the water an offering of fruits, vegetables and flowers laid on a flotilla of palm fronds. Vickles says, “As it goes out, it’s meant to commemorate those who did not survive the middle passage, who were lost to the waters.” She says it also honors “those that made it and were able to create a new life here.”
Other faiths and religious practices documented in Delisfort’s exhibition include Catholic San Lazaro Day and Ethiopian Orthodox Holy Week ceremonies, Santeria practices and Day of the Dead altars. They’re ceremonies not always open to outsiders. Delisfort spent years building relationships with religious leaders and practitioners and collaborated with them in this exhibition. Vickles says, “This is a project that not only celebrates spiritual practice, but also is documenting it for history, for the future. So, people can look back and say, ‘Oh, this existed in Miami,’ and hopefully still exists.”
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