One of the most sacred ceremonies of the entire kanzo, the kouche kanzo is the ritual in which the initiation candidates are taken into the seclusion of the holy djevo, a special area of the peristyle where the candidates are kept, and where they are taught secret knowledge. All that a person sees, hears, does, eats, says, or experiences in any way within the djevo is a secret, and no initiate may reveal it. Initiates swear secrecy on pain of death, and are taught passwords and handshakes that enable initaites to recognize one another and prove their status as initiates. There is no worse misdeed in Vodou than telling the secrets of the djevo. But if one keeps the secrets, prosperity and longevity result.

Because this ceremony is so important, great care is taken to methodically create liturgical and physical structure. The peristyle must be ceremonially cleansed and opened, the four directions invoked, the drums saluted - and all this before the songs for Legba! Liturgical skill is the mark of a good Houngan or Mambo, and the Roots Without End Society is full of ceremonial specialists. We don't have to hire our houngenikon, or songleader, from another house as some Houngans must do. We have our own, our beloved Houngan Babou, who serves in the Roots Without End Society along with his two brothers, his wife, his step-daughter, and her husband! In the midst of his extended family, a Vodouisant from birth, Houngan Babou is so at ease and so confident, he sings and dances for hours at a time without missing a step, and smiles all the while. He lives to dance! And his voice is indestructible - long after other singers succumb to hoarseness, he carries on in his rich tenor.

And so we began the kouche kanzo, secure in our competence, filled with love for the new candidates, and charged with beneficent energy. Every member of the house is robed in white satin, and the ceremony begins and ends in Rada, there is no Petro dancing on this night of holy nights. The candidates, who have been kept behind a white curtain following their sacred baths, are brought out into the peristyle space.



Houngan Wolmer prays as he salutes all the powers of the Universe - God, the ancestors, the lwa. He employs ceremonial gesture to convey reverence.



Houngan Babou, our beloved houngenikon, knows the exact order in which to sing the Vodou liturgy for each particular ceremony. The kouche kanzo is particularly demanding due to the intense fervor of the activities.



The drums must be fed and warmed and saluted. Hountor, lwa of the drums, must be invoked if the drums are to produce the heavenly, deeply powerful vibrations required to transform space and time.



An American Mambo opens the salutes. She is a Mambo asogwe, the highest rank in our religion, and she takes her responsibilities seriously. Beloved by her Haitian and international brothers and sisters, here she is escorted by an armed guard and a water bearer, as she uses the asson to summon the powers of the four directions.



The sacred palm leaf of Ayizan is produced, consecrated, saluted, and then torn. Each leaf is separated into many tiny, tiny strips until the frond, now called the Ayizan, resembles a giant plume.



Those house members who are already initiated wear their kolye, or sacred necklace. Here beautiful hounsi Enoze is entranced by the vibrations of holiness present as she performs her sacred work.



The Ayizan is enthroned, saluted, and fed secret foods. Houngan Babou and Houngan Luckner firmly command liturgical correctness, as they perform the rite with utmost dignity.



Houngan Babou is pressed into double duty as he performs the kouri Ayizan, the running of the Ayizan. He leaps and whirls until the lwa Ayizan possesses him, and then the giant, whirling palm frond becomes a divine emblem of sacredness. It brushes the participants, it flashes into the air and returns to earth trembling with power. Finally the Ayizan flees the public eye and darts into the protective secrecy of the djevo. Once Ayizan has entered the djevo, the initiates may be taken inside. Then the assembled people bid farewell to the candidates, with weeping and long handshakes, for the initiates are now dead, utterly dead, and the men and women who come out of the djevo will be new people.

Go on to the next page to view the continuing ceremonies of initiation.

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