Dutty Boukman was a houngan, or vodoun priest whose death was considered a catalyst to the slave uprising that marked the beginning of the Haïtian Revolution.
Boukman was born in Jamaica, and later sold by his British master to a French plantation owner, who put him to work as a commandeur (slave driver) and, later, a coach driver. His French name came from his English nickname, “Book Man,” which he earned due to his ability to read.
On 22 August 1791, Boukman presided in the role of houngan (priest) together with an African-born priestess and conducted a ceremony at the Bois Caïman and prophesied that the slaves Jean François, Biassou, and Jeannot would be leaders of a slave revolt that would free the slaves of Saint-Domingue. A pig, which symbolized the wild, free, and untamable spiritual power of the forest and the ancestors, was sacrificed, an oath was taken, and Boukman and the priestess exhorted the listeners to fight bravely against their oppressors. Days later the Haitian Revolution began.[2] Boukman was not the first to attempt a slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, as he was preceded by others, such as Padrejean in 1676, and François Mackandal in 1757. However, his large size, warrior-like appearance, and fearsome temper made him an effective leader and helped spark the Haitian Revolution.
Soon after the uprising began, French authorities captured Boukman and executed him by beheading. The French then publicly displayed Boukman’s head in an attempt to dispel the aura of invincibility that Boukman had cultivated. However it remained strong, and their attempt failed.
A fictionalized version of Boukman appears as the title character in American Communist writer Guy Endore’s novel Babouk, a leftist and anti-capitalist parable about the Haitian revolution.
Haitians honored Boukman by admitting him into the pantheon of loa (Vodou spirits).
In the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the ceremony over which Boukman presided was called a “pact with the devil,” responsible for a “curse” on the country, by Pat Robertson, host of The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network. Various prominent, mainline Christian voices have criticized Robertson’s remarks on the Haiti crisis as untimely, insensitive, and not representative of Christian thought on the issue.
SOURCE: Wikipedia
All of us (including Pat Robertson) had a pact with the devil the moment Adam diobeyed God in the garden of Eden. Let us all pray to God to forgive us our sins. Let us also intercede and assist the people of Haiti to overcome their grief. They are not worse sinners than us.
I believe Pat Robertson was wrong to say that God was punishing Haiti. As I recall God did not send his son to condem the world, but for everyone to be save and have everlasting life. In the bible states the one who come but to steal, kill and destroy is the devil. There is good and evil all over even in America, As a nation and as the body of Christ we should pray for the people of Haiti and that even though this was a disaster that it will turn out great for the betterment of the people in Haiti.
To the people of Haiti I pray that God Almighty covers you and that His Devine grace and mercy be with you and giving you the strenght to overcome whatever situation you are facing. Be Bless.
well history would tell you that voodoo in ancient times was never something evil but a power only present in black people and when the white people enslave us and the black people would use that power they the whites regard it as evil.one day jah will deal with the evil that the black people have encountered and the deceit and misconception will be destroyed. generations after generations we been misled as to who is God and the power of God.for all those who make refence to the bible u all should research on who wrote the bible.
To understand Haiti’s poverty you must understand its history. It was the first black republic. In a time where slavery was accepted. When blacks were view as animals not humans. That is why it was ok to enslave them. After independence no country wanted to make business with a black republic. Haiti has been neglected for centuries by all nations, leaving that problem to the Dominican Republic. 1800’s no country wanted business with blacks, other than slavery.
Pat Robertson in my mind, is a racist fool who seems to think that God is a white man..
I hope when he comes face to face with teh real Devil he can deal with it
lmfao
why do people keep blaming ‘western powers’ for haiti’s problems? Did western powers create Papa doc and Baby Doc and Artside (all guys who used voodoo to cement their power)? Did France assinated Toussiant l’overture- the leader of Haitian independence? Did western powers mismanaged their country and bring a tropical pradise to a near desert like setting?
People wise up and dont bring that thinkin here- show me one voodoo nation that is at LEAST considered a developing nation( or one the has the potential to be one) and i will say god does bless even devil worshippers. It just very hard for me to believe people(my DOMINICAN PEOPLE) support this vile religion
Stephen Shaw, Pat Robertson has a record, and a sordid record of hypocrisy dating back to his diamond smuggling days in Africa, the “Dark” continent. Both the “Lie” and the Devil are inventions of the preacher.
even if haiti didnt make a deal with the devil it sure looks so.
i think it is now high time the haitian people put voodoo aside. it has not done one damn good thing for them since…? ever!
for most of the haitian’s people history, they have been plagued with one misfortune after another. so now is time for radical change.
haiti has been reduced to sub-zerro. it may appear that all is lost, but all is not lost. maybe what was lost had to be lost so the people can move foward. there is no building over on any remnant.
start afresh, from scratch, and rise from the poverty, filfth, voodoo, violence and all negativity.
yes, i can see it now. in the near future haiti will be a flourishing nation- like no one has ever seen. but only if they reject their old customes and beliefs-for the old haiti has perished in the earthquake.
it is time for a new beginning! like a phenix from the ashes, she will rise!
The batle ground is your mind because that is what desides who you are, God and his angels hope that you will chose for the Good and satan and his angels hoping you will either ignore Gods offer or just commit to him in his evil be it smal or big be it a hurtfull word or a act, a mollest or a bom. just evil. he is okay with that . satan knows his time is running out and he is up to worse things and yes some worse things will happen before God comes back to clean up the mess satan made . God will bring an end to his act of evil and those that suported or agreed by ignorance with satan. read the final book of the bible revaltion, and if you don’t believe that to….. watch the news and the final events you can’t run you are part if it. if you are still a life..your choice is free
There is hope for those who choose God !
Please just take 10 min and look online and see the places of greatest poverty and misoury and check out the people their beliefs and costums. in those places. Now look at things in this way that
the earth is the batle ground between Good and evil ,God and satan and satan trying to blame every missouri on God, God trying to protect everybody but he is honoring your free will to refuse his protection and sad to say sometimes there are some good people at the wrong place at the wrong time see for example lot and his family in sodom and gomora even israel see what happend to them when they truned down Gods protection. those are not stories to enterain us they have been placed in the bible to keep us focused. please read and pray to understand it
To Told
We’re not talking about what Pat Robertson said about Castro two years ago; were talking about what he said a few days ago. His assessment never attributed this tragedy to the wrath of God or to the spiritual state of the modern Hatian people. As I said it, was a call to prayer and to give – something he and his ministry team were in the middle of doing and had already been doing long before this tragedy struck. – about a year to be precise. It is obvious that his comments were taken out of context; if he, as a very vocal minister, thought that God was punishing the Hatians for their so called pact with the devil, why would he have chosen to send in teams of aid workers and millions of dollars. Wouldn’t he be working against God? You’ve taken it upon yourself to assume that my defence of Mr. Robertson comes from my evangelical bias. My assesment is not based on an evangelical bias but on an objective survey of a man’s whole life and ministry – not just a few stupid statements he may be prone to make from time to time. Have you ever made stupid statements? I think we’ve all suffered from foot -in- mouth disease from time to time but it’s not broadcast and if it were, we certainly wouldn’t want people to judge our whole character based on those stupid statements. And by the way, I don’t think it was God or the devil; I think it was the moving of tectonic plates below the earth, so maybe you are the one in the bubble.
What needs to be seen and understood is that Pat Robertson did not blame the earthquake on the Boukman pact with the devil. He stated that following this pact in 1791 they were “cursed by one thing after another, desperately poor.” There is nothing historically that would question this as they went from the “Pearl of the Antilles” in 1780 to the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere that we know today. Also as far as the historicity of the Boukman voodo ritual and meeting, nobody can be sure exactly what happened or what was actually said but I can tell you that Haitians are proud of this part of their history (An iron statue of a pig is on display in Port-au-Prince to this day and voodoo was recognized as an official religion of Haiti in 2004 to continue the apparent pact). Most media outlets end the clip where he states that they need, “and we need to pray for them, a great turning to God.” However, Robertson finished by saying, “But right now we’re helping the suffering people, and the suffering is almost unimaginable.” Then a number was displayed on the screen where one could call and donate to the Haiti Relief Fund.
I can understand where his mistimed comments could be taken out of context, subsequently evoking deep emotional reactions. However, what Robertson was saying is that from the time this pact was apparently made in 1791 we have observed a great deal of suffering in Haiti. He was hopeful that Christians would rise to the call and send help to the suffering Haitians so that they may understand the compassionate and hopeful message of God through His son Jesus Christ. He was not able to properly convey this message due to lack of clarification and poor timing but his overall message was that even out of this horrible event something good can come.
*On a side note: I feel that the left-wings hissy fit natured reaction to Pat Robertson’s comments further exposes not only their inability to read carefully but their hypocritical nature in the way they deal with other viewpoints. While they claim to be so open-minded and the more compassionate of the worldviews, their very personal and infantile attacks on Pat Robertson show their true colors. We must pray that they are able to overcome their inability to accept the Truth that we all must acknowledge.
If you want a more detailed explanation visit the website I obtained most of this information from:
http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147491158
Also, I am more than happy to answer any sensible, logical, calmly presented questions regarding anything I have said or anything that may trouble you with other things that have been said in response to Pat Robertson’s comments.
All The Best,
Stephen Shaw
To Mark, I doe mean to burst your little evangelical bubble here pal, but did you hear what Pat Robertson said should be done to Castro a few years ago? He IS capable of such idiotic statements.
Winston Warrington, you are so correct and enlighening on this Evil Pat Robinson issue/venum. I hope everyone reads your comment earlier and you return to read mine (food for thought).
I would like to add that the same, as you stated, or similar happened to Mexico whereby Mexico (an oil rich country, believe it or not – do the research) owes all its oil revenue to the U.S in a similar move, to this day; rendering Mexico almost as dirt poor as Haiti. (You have to read Winston Warrington’s comment to catch my drift on this one).
the word of god said during the end of time there will be earthquakes in placees read matthew cheaper 24 in the bible.
Keith Olbermann took Pat Robertson’s comments way out of context. If you watched the entirety of Pat Robertson’s comments you will know that the jist of his message, which was spoken with an obvious degree of compassion and genuine concern, was that sometimes there can be a spiritual root to a problem. It wasn’t a statement of condemnation but a call to prayer. During the course of that segment they also pleaded for people to not only pray but to help financially, as they at CBN were and had been for quite sometime, even before the earthquake. If anything the person who exhibited the greatest degree of insensitivity was Olbermann himself, when he delivered a very personal and cutting remark to Pat Robertson.
thanksmary for the article . there should be a objective study maybe by the united nations on why haiti is not only the poorest nation in the western hemisphere , but, also in the world
Warrington thanks for informing the people. The only devil is the western powers who hated the fact that a group of slaves was able to fight off and defeat the mighty armies of France. The West have been punishing Haiti ever since.
calling cultural worship devil worship is another of the myths which black people are being taught. Vood worship is no more superstitious than all this god and Jesus, it involves the same rites of sacrifice and blood, just think of the catholic eating the host, what is the difference.
Natural disasater happpen yes, and when they happen as humans we must respond to the human need. That is what followers of Jesus would do, not say that god was punishing the people, which god pat
I attended Regent University and even though I don’t necessarily agree with every thing Pat Robertson says I can tell you that he is NOT a racist! You people are reckless with that label! Every time someone says some thing you disagree with you start slinging that stupid manipulation tactic around!
Those so called “history” books were written by White Men. That says enough!
Pat Robertson and his racist likes would have prefered that the poor little Haitian slaves sat quietly like good little children and obey their slave masters just as they would like to continue to keep many black people in ignorance to continue to deny and ridicule our ancestory, history and heritage. From the comments by ***such as Big Bannan, I guess he has succeeded to a certain extent.
Hi sheri campbell
there is nothing about this in the Bible. Here’s what happend.
About 200 years ago, the slaves on Haiti rebelled against their French masters and won the war. The French King, not wanting other slaves on other colonys to do the same, claimed that the Haiti slaves had won because they made a deal with the Devil. All other nation that had slaves like England and America said the same, because they were worried about their slaves starting to rebel also.
This is where this “Deal with the Devil” notion started.
It was about politics, not about religion.
think for yourself…On who’s side would our Lord Jesus have been?
your brother in Christ, crackerjack
Wikipedia is not a good academical source people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dear Sheri Campbell
the accusation of dealing with the Devil was often used against rebellious slaves by their masters. The whole culture the slaves brought with them from Africa, music, religion, customs were claimed to be devil worship. Haiti was the first colony to free itself from slavery. All nations with a slave trade from then on boycotted Haiti and claimed the rebellion was one of devil worshipers. The same thig happend in many parts of sothern USA during slavery.
This whole notion has nothing to do with religion. It was a method to justify slavery and to justify opressing those who were against slavery. You can Google the history of Haiti. It is very interresting.
Just ask yourself what our Lord Jesus would have done were he among us today and how would he have reacted to Pat Robinson’s remarks.
have a nice day
cracker
I wonder how many of us talking against Pat Robertson really understand what is going on in Haiti. There are folks out there literraly eating dirt/clay/mud, LABOU because their next door neighbor cursed the land on which they grow food to eat. Those missionaries have been there and understand the intensity of a satanic influence in Haiti. Do you?
Robert Whitlatch: I just read an interesting article in the AEI Journal blog by Jay Richards, called “Haiti, Pat Robertson, and that Story about a Pact with the Devil”. It’s another perspective on this issue. Try: http://blog.american.com/?p=9393
If nothing else, this whole controversy is causing us — me included — to learn a lot more about Haiti, that it’s more than just a desperately poor island country in the Western Hemisphere.
SuperSaver: “Sheri you mean to tell me you expect to read about the haitian revolution in the bible? Girl the bible was written way before the haitian revolution…go back and read a little history instead….DUH!!!!!!”
My comment is that I think Sheri was truly wondering where this pact with the devil information came from. Please give her the credit for trying to find out. She’s inquiring, and to belittle her efforts to find out seems a bit harsh on your part. Please try to consider the spirit in which she is asking. Not everyone has the same privileged education you have had (presumably). Maybe you could have been a bit kinder in your response to her question, and therefore more helpful.
Sheri: Keep asking, and keep trying, keep seeking, keep reading. Don’t give up because of others’ impatient and thoughtless cruelty.
sooo, pretty much whats going on here is robertson thinks the haitian people lost there religouse ways because god was not answering there prayers so they took up a pack with the devil so they could have there freedom? voodoo? really,… i mean it could be true but no one knows, if anyone has a real answer leave a comment or respond to mine.
please be carefull not to say hurtfull thangs to otheres as God can read and he can hear,I feel hurt and fialated by the hurtfull words ;please try to rember other peoples feels ;to say those kinds of thangs is un kind and that makes it hatefull and anythang said that is hatefull is a sin,so i’ll pray God forfives your hatefull words,your sister in christ Sheri .
Pat Robertson is a crazy son f a b… and should have known better and when to share his views
Robertsons comments say as much about his God than the do about the commentator. A God who creates the mayhem we see in Haiti is not the loving and careing father our Lord Jesus taught us to place our faith in and to whom we, through him, may lay our earhly burdens down. If anyone has formed a leauge with the Devil, it certainly is Robertson.
I was shock at the mean and Evil remarks that were made about me needing to grow up ,I thought that it was ok to ask about thangs we need to understand about the Bible;and if it’s not in the Bible I was told not to belive it,so what kind of christan would say somethang like that to othere christans anyway are you sure your save becuse it dosent sound like it;maybe you should ask God to forgive you ,that was hurtfull and so unnesary I wounder what God thanks of your statement;anyway I forgive you”’i’ll pray for you your sister in christ Sheri feeling hurt.
So it is a pact with the devil to meet and have whatever rituals/totems to bring and keep the people together so they could secure their freedom? A freedom that countries like America shout about being given by God and deserved by all men.
The earthquake was a natural disaster plain and simple. Maybe they should look at how they are polluting the world directly and how their actions have led to so much poverty and consequential environmental degradation in third world countries before they start talking about pacts with the devil.
If the devil had a face………………
Girl you mean to tell me you expect to read about the haitian revolution in the bible? chil the bible was written wayway before the haitian revolution. So leave the bible alone and go read history and a little folk lore…DUH!!!!!!!!
Sheri you mean to tell me that you expect to read about the haitian revolution in the bible? girl the bible was written way before the haitian revolution? DUH… READ GIRL READ
Sheri you mean to tell me you expect to read about the haitian revolution in the bible? Girl the bible was written way before the haitian revolution…go back and read a little history instead….DUH!!!!!!
Sheri how do you expect to read about the haitian revolution in the bible..read a little history instead..you mean to tell me you did not know that the bible was written way before the haitian revolution? duh!
sheri grow up the bible was written way before the haitian revolutiion..HISTORY GIRL HISTORY..you are not going to read about haiti in the bible…duh
The pact made with the devil was the treaty of liberation which included a war reparations bill of 20 billion francs which the victor(Haiti) had to pay the loser(France). This unheard of post-war agreement placed Haiti in dire economic straits until 1947. At one point over 80% of all Haitian revenue went to paying this huge debt and interest. As if that were not enough, France sold the debt to the US prior to 1913 and the Haitian people were again subjected to the humiliation of another country. The pact with the devil was Aristide informing the French Prime Minister that the 20 billion francs should be returned because it was illegally acquired; this would also implicate the US. So France informed the US that Aristide was becoming a problem. You all know the rest of the story, and now you know who is the devil.
Your commits seems objective. The damaged lives in haitis or anywhere in the world, I empatize with all their pain. Thank you, James
hi I haven’t found any where in the Bible that say’s thay made a pack with the Devil;where is that writen so I can read it,I know in Jeremiah God is mad at Idol worshippers so He punished them but where dose hitiy make a pack with the devil????