What Will I Need For My Kanzo?
COPYRIGHT 1999 - Mambo Racine Sans Bout
No reproduction without consent of author
At any grade of initiation, whether kanzo senp, si pwen, or asogwe,
you
will need certain kinds of clothing, and other articles. At higher grades, you will need more and
different items.
Here is a complete list of the things you are responsible to bring for your ceremonies:
Clothing
Several changes of white clothes
Men wear white long sleeved or short sleeved dress shirts, and white pants. Some men wear
white dress shoes, others wear leather sandals.
Women wear big full skirted dresses or skirt and blouse outfits, with plenty of lace and ruffles. If
you are a woman and you are determined to wear pants, you can, at least for the bat
ge part of the ceremonial cycle, but you will still need at least one or two dresses. It is
often difficult to find the type of white dresses required, and so you can have them made on very
short order in Haiti. You will need two cotton dresses for the bat guerre and one satiny dress for
the day of your leve kanzo, your triumphant rebirth from the djevo. Each dress requires five
yards
of cloth, a zipper, two white buttons, and as much lace as you can afford.
Djevo clothes
When you are in seclusion, you will wear pajamas of the type appropriate to your sex. Men do
not wear women's nightdresses, and women do not wear men's pajamas. In fact, women tend to
wear the most beautiful, lacy, silky things they can find, for comfort's sake if nothing else. The
pajamas must be white. Prepare also to have several changes of nice clean white underwear
available for this time.
Leve Kanzo clothes
When you leve
kanzo
and leave seclusion in the djevo, you will again wear
whites, and these must be brand new.
Other clothes
People who become asogwe will need certain other clothes, but they are not available in
the United States. You will need a shirt or a dress of multi-colored cottton calico for the suleliye
ceremony, and again it is best to have this made in Haiti as these type of clothes are all but
impossible to find in the United States. Shirts require two yards of cloth, dresses require five.
You
should get several peices of different colors of calico.
Materials for making ceremonial objects
Pakets
Those who become si pwen or asogwe will make pakets, magical items
covered and decorated in a particular way. They require lightweight white cotton fabric, heavy
silk sateen fabric, seed beads, sequins, straight pins, feathers dyed in various colors, and colored
silk ribbon.
Those who become si pwen will make three packets, and thus their fabric colors should be
white, red, and black; or possibly another color based on which lwa is their patron lwa. Ribbon
colors should be purple, blue-green, and pink, or another color as noted above. A yard of each
color of cloth, three yards of each color of ribbon, plus three yards of white cotton, will be
sufficient. A good supply of multicolored sequins, feathers, and seed beads will be fine, don't
worry about specific colors.
Those who become asogwe will make seven packets, and thus the fabric colors should be
white, red, blue, black or lavendar, gold, pink, and green, or another color as noted above.
Ribbons are purple, blue-green, pink, red, blue, white, and black, or another color as noted above.
Again, a yard of each color, three yards of each color of ribbon, and six or seven yards of white
cloth will be more than enough. Likewise, a generous supply of multicolored sequins, feathers,
and seed beads will be fine.
Kanzo beads
These large, beautiful glass beads are manufactured in Eastern Europe, but they have become
de riguer for Haitian kanzos. They can be found in American craft stores, check with me
on availability. You will need about 1,500 of these beads of all colors to make a proper kanzo
necklace. They can sometimes be in short supply in Haiti, so buy them here.
Your Asson
If you are initiated at the rank of sur point or higher, you will need an asson. Assons are made
from
a gourd which grows on a vine, called kalbas kouran. You might be
able to buy one in New York or Miami, but if you wait until you are in Haiti you can have your
choice of many freshly picked and dried specimens. You will need also use "kanzo beads" to bead
your asson.
Many people like to include other objects, such as sea-shells, snake vertebrae, special antique
coins, or other things, in the beadwork of their kanzo necklaces or their assons. Consult with me
on this.
Other Ceremonial Items
We ask you to bring certain other items that will be used in your ceremonies. These include two
bottles of champagne, two flat white sheets, a small covered tea-mug of the sort sold in Asian
import
stores for your pot tet, or head pot. Depending on which lwa is your patron lwa, you may
also need a bottle of red wine or whiskey, perfume, small items of jewelry... you have some
discretion when it comes to items for your patron lwa, and we will discuss it together.
Personal Items and Activities
Things that you can do when you are outside, when you are not doing your ceremonies, you can
not do when you are doing your ceremonies, especially when you are in the djevo.
If you use cards or cowries for divination, bring them, and take them into the djevo with you.
You can bring other magical items of your own with you to Haiti, but you can not take them into
the djevo. No cameras can be brought inside the djevo, but if you want to arrange to have
someone videotape or take photos with your camera during the portions of your ceremonies
which are public, you may.
Likewise you can not use cosmetic items such as hair spray, deodorant, and so on while you are in
the djevo. Before your seclusion you can, of course, and no matter what color you are you
should
bring sunblock! If you are a woman and you have your period while you are in the djevo, don't
panic, you can use Tampax or pads.
Do not come with your hair in braids or cornrows, or with it recently straightened, processed or
permanented. Dreadlocks, natural dreadlocks, are alright. Your natural hair is fine. You are
going to have magical items placed on your head, so don't let anything get in their way. You do
not, however, have to shave your head as is done in some other traditions including
Santeria.
When you leave the djevo, you will have certain dietary restrictions, and you will not be permitted
to have sex for a period of 41 days. (So live it up before your ceremonies!)
For more information on the ceremonies of the initiation cycle, go to The Vodou Initiation Cycle.
Return to Initiation in Haitian
Vodou.
Return to The VODOU
Page.
