Greetings in the name of God, the ancestors, and the lwa! I am Mambo Racine Sans Bout, a priestess of the Vodou religion and head of the Roots Without End Society, an international Vodou society based in Jacmel, Haiti, with members all around the world. We are dedicated to the service of Almighty God, the ancestors and the lwa, and to the well-being of the Children of Guinea, the entire human race.

In the summer of 2007, I was blessed to have been able to perform once again the sacrament of the kanzo, the ceremonies of initiation into the Haitian Vodou religion. These ceremonies are empowering, challenging, transforming, for the initiates and the initiators! Six people made the initiatory journey. The photos that follow document their struggles, their excitement, their fatigue, their triumph! Linked to this photoessay are pages offering more information on initiation in Vodou and the opportunity to register online for the December 2008 Kanzo.

On the pages that follow, you will journey with the new initiation candidates of the Roots Without End Society. The excitement of Rada and Petro dances, the shimmering trance-inducing peace of our sea ceremony, the powerful fire ceremony of the brule zen, the joyful rebirth of the new initiates, all are represented. Over one hundred photos and graphics are presented (copyright Mambo Racine) for your enjoyment. We thank you in advance for sharing this experience with us, and we invite your comments, your insights, your questions!

The following pages document:

Vodou School, Day 1 - Vodou Principles
Vodou School, Day 2 - The Ancestors
Vodou School, Banda Lesson
Vodou School, Banda Competition
The Bat Ge, First Night - The Opening Rounds
Vodou School, Day 3 - The Sacred Leaves
The Bat Ge, Second Night - Ti-Jean Petro
Vodou School, Day 4 - Petro Practice
The Bat Ge, Third Night - Petro Magic
The Sacred Necklaces and the Sea Ceremony For La Sirene
The Death of the Initiates
The Kouche Kanzo - The Holy Night
Seclusion
The Brule Zen - Ceremonial Structure
Kanzo! The Passage Through Fire
The Rebirth of the Initiates




Go on to the next page to continue viewing the July 2007 Kanzo of the Roots Without End Society.

For more information about the Vodou religion, see The VODOU Page