COPYRIGHT 1996 - Mambo Racine Sans Bout
No reproduction without consent of author
Many people from Judeo-Christian or other traditions are surprised and even repelled when
they discover that services in Vodou cost money! There is a reason for this, however, and a little
bit of reflection will probably make this requirement more understandable.
In Vodou, we have no centralized hierarchy like the Roman Catholic Church, for example. We
are not paid salaries by a central diocese upon our ordination. A Houngan or Mambo is a
professional, we have spent a time of study, culminating in our initiation and ordination, for which
we paid. Some of us are full-time clergypeople, but the vast majority of us hold other jobs or do
other activities to earn money. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a Houngan or Mambo
charging for services; and the more adept practitioners can often command higher prices.
Services for which Houngans and Mambos are paid include spells called wanga,
ceremonies to heal people who have been made ill through magical means, divination (usually
with cards), ceremonies for particular lwa made at the request of another person, and initiation
ceremonies. Houngans and Mambos spend money to furnish and maintain our peristyles, pay
drummers, buy sacrificial animals, and care for the material needs of society members, especially
during time of illness or extreme material want.
Houngans and Mambos do NOT charge people admission for the privilege of
attending ceremonies, the vast majority of which are open to the public. In cases where
the ceremony is private and magical as opposed to religious, the person requesting the magic pays
for the wanga, but not for the right to attend the ceremony.
Prices are variable, and in some cases dependant on what the Houngan or Mambo feels that the
client can afford to pay. This sad truth is due to the economic conditions in Haiti, where 99% of
the population lives in conditions of poverty and lack of social services inconceivable to the
majority of Americans, and the other 1% lives in baronial splendor, with large houses and many
servants. In my house, the Roots Without End
Society, the prices are the same for everyone, however, unless I specifically invite an
individual to kanzo or unless I consider a person so desirable that I am willing to work around
their inability to pay kanzo fees.
The least expensive of the skills a competent Hougan or Mambo has to offer is usually divination.
The going rate in poor neighborhoods in Haiti is often the proverbial dix-sept gourdes, 17
gourdes, a gourde once having been fixed at the rate of five to one U.S. dollar, but now worth
about a fourth of that, making 17 gourdes a bit less than a U.S. dollar at the present. In the
United States, to the best of my experience, an average fee in Vodou and Santeria consultation
rooms is about $20 to $50. Some charge significantly less, a few significantly more. I charge $51
US in the United States and $51 Haitian in Haiti (that is to say, 255 gourdes).
Wanga can have all sorts of prices, depending on how complicated they are, what kind of
herbs and candles and kerchiefs and ritual implements the Houngan or Mambo must buy, whether
or not assistants must be present, and so on. In the United States, fees from $20 to several
hundred dollars are within the spectrum of possibliity, however let me note that the trend is
toward the lower end of the spectrum. In Haiti the prices may range from the few gourdes a poor
marketwoman can scrape together to rein in her unfaithful husband, to the huge payments made
by black-marketeers who lay down bricks of U.S. currency.
Initiations can only be done in Haiti, as the required leaves, ritual articles, and setting can only be
found there. Initiations of Haitians by Haitians often include non-monetary components. For
example, I know one young man who recieved his initiation as hounsi kanzo in exchange
for a promise to serve forever as a drummer in that Houngan's society. Some Houngans and
Mambos initiate their spouses at the rank of sur point so that they can assist at most
ceremonies and are not ritually excluded from any area of the peristyle. Non-Haitian initiates, or
Haitian initiates who do not intend to remain in that neighborhood or continue to participate in the
congregation of that peristyle, must bargain in cash.
Initiation as
asogwe, the highests rank, is the most expensive. Three thousand Haitian dollars was a
standard fee for Haitian asogwe initiates in the year 1995 in the city of Port-au-Prince, but the
costs are now considerably higher and some Houngans ask as much as $20,000 Haitian. This is
because the person is making an investment in a profession, it's like going to college - once the
person has their credential they are free to go to work and earn money.
initiations as hounsi kanzo usually cost less than an equivalent of U. S. $200. It is worth bearing
in mind, though, that groups of people are initiated together - often ten hounsis, four or
five sur points, and two or three asogwes will crowd into the djevo, and larger
numbers are not unheard of. A single hounsi could never expect to have all of the required
ceremonies for the same cost as when a group is initiated together. The peristyle is quite
frequently the scene of some mighty brisk bargaining between client and clergy, especially when it
comes to initiation fees.
Houngans and Mambos consider it their first lesson that "Houngan (ou Mambo) pa travay pou
granmesi", a Houngan or Mambo does not work for "big thankyou", literally, for free. We
do it all the time, though, for close friends and family members. Towards those who come to the
peristyle as clients, however, a Houngan or Mambo is under no such constraint, and it is perfectly
normal to require payment.
BUT - first, the service rendered must be correct, appropriate, and LEGITIMATE; that is, it must
be condcuted in a manner validated by the tradition, and recognizably authentic to the members of
the tradition. Bogus initiations are sinful, and leave the duped person helpless in a bad situation,
as they will surely proclaim themselves to be something that they are not, and then be humiliated
at best or tied to the poteau mitan (centerpost of the peristyle, or temple) at worst! Bogus spells
defraud the petitioner and endanger the phony practitioner, as he or she has been paid money to
carry away the problem - and carry it away they will, resolved or unresolved!
Secondly, the price requested for the service must be the same, or nearly the same, for everyone.
It was pointed out by someone on The VODOU Page Guestbook, for example, that if it cost
$4,500 U.S. dollars to become a hounsi kanzo (as one questionable practitioner has required of
her dupes), not a hounsi would ever be made in Haiti, because the vast majority of the population
down there doesn't see that amount of money in a lifetime! This is sadly but literally true. To be
fair, however, Haitian Houngans and Mambos, who have families to feed, are also apt to charge
what they think the individual can afford.
And this brings me to my third point - feeding the family. The fees earned by a Houngan or
Mambo can be used as personal discretionary funds, it is true, but a Houngan or Mambo has
specific responsibilities to his or her "family" - the brothers and sisters who are initiates of the
same
"parent", the Houngan's or Mambo's own initiates and their initiates in turn. A Houngan or a
Mambo is a father or mother to the Children of Africa, meaning all their initiates and by
extension the entire human population. The more money the Mambo earns, the better the hounsis
should eat! The more money the Houngan earns, the better should be the furnishings of the
peristyle. A Mambo does not drive around in a Mercedes-Benz while her hounsis sleep
on the floor. The only time that deprivation is required of the Children of Africa is when we enter
into the djevo for our secret time of seclusion and consecration, and this time begins on a Tuesday
and ends on a Sunday - mercifully short! In fact, Houngans and Mambos in Haiti jokingly
complain that money merely passes through their hands, and they have it hard to hold on to even a
little bit of it.
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