Master of the Crossroads - Madison Smartt Bell [401]
HOMME DE COULEUR: man of mixed blood; see gens de couleur
HOUNSI: Vodou acolytes
HÛNFOR: Vodou temple, often arranged in open air
HÛNGAN: Vodou priest
IBO: African tribal designation. Ibo slaves were thought to be especially prone to suicide, believing that through death they would return to Africa. Some masters discouraged this practice by lopping the ears and noses of slaves who had killed themselves, since presumably the suicides would not wish to be resurrected with these signs of dishonor.
INTENDANT: the highest civil authority in colonial Saint Domingue, as opposed to the Governor, who was the highest military authority. These conflicting and competing posts were deliberately arranged by the home government to make rebellion against the authority of the metropole less likely.
ISLAND BELOW SEA: Vodou belief construes that the souls of the dead inhabit a world beneath the ocean which reflects the living world above. Passage through this realm is the slave’s route of return to Africa.
JOURNAL: newspaper
KALFOU: crossroads
L’AFFAIRE GALBAUD: armed conflict which occurred at the northern port Le Cap, in 1794, between French royalists and republicans, as a result of which the royalist party, along with the remaining large property- and slave-owners, fled the colony
LAKOU: compound of dwellings of an extended family or inter-related families, often grouped around a central ceremonial area sacred to the ancestral spirits
LAMBI: conch shell, used as a horn among maroons and rebel slaves
LA-PLACE: Vodou celebrant with specific ritual functions second to that of the hûngan
LATANA: medicinal herb against colds
LEGBA: Vodou god of crossroads and of change, vaguely analogous to Hermes of the Greek pantheon. Because Legba controls the crossroads between the material and spiritual worlds, he must be invoked at the beginning of all ceremonies.
LES INVISIBLES: members of the world of the dead, roughly synonymous with les Morts et les Mystères.
LESPRI GINEN: spirit of Ginen
LIBERTÉ DE SAVANE: freedom, for a slave, to come and go at will within the borders of a plantation or some other defined area, sometimes the privilege of senior commandeurs
LOA: general term for a Vodou deity
LOI DE QUATRE AVRIL: Decree of April Fourth from the French National Assembly, granting full political rights to people of color in Saint Domingue
LOUP-GAROU: in Vodou, a sinister supernatural entity, something like a werewolf; a shape-changing, blood-sucking supernatural entity
MACANDAL: a charm, usually worn round the neck
MACOUTE: a straw sack used to carry food or goods
MAGOUYÉ: devious person, trickster, cheat
MAIN-D’ŒUVRE: work force
MAÏS MOULIN: cornmeal mush
MAIT’ KALFOU: Vodou deity closely associated with Ghede and the dead, sometimes considered an aspect of Ghede
MAÎT’TÊTE: literally, “master of the head.” The particular loa to whom the Vodou observer is devoted and by whom he is usually possessed (although the worshipper may sometimes be possessed by other gods as well).
MAL DE MÂCHOIRE: lockjaw
MAL DE SIAM: yellow fever
MALFINI: chicken hawk
MALNOMMÉE: medicinal herb used in tea against diarrhea
MAMBO: Vodou priestess
MAMÉLOUQUE: woman of mixed blood. The combination of blanc and métive produces a mamélouque.
MANCHINEEL: jungle tree with an extremely toxic sap
MANDINGUE: African tribe designation. Mandingue slaves had a reputation for cruelty and for a strong character difficult to subject to servitude.
MANICOU: Carribbean possum
MAPOU: sacred tree in Vodou, considered the habitation of Damballah
MARABOU: term for a particular combination of African and European blood. A griffe would result from the congress of a full-blood black with a quarterronné.
MARAIS: swamp
MARASSA: twins, often the sacred twin deities of Vodou
MARCHÉ DES NÈGRES: Negro market
MARÉCHAL DE CAMP: field marshal
MARÉCHAUSSÉE: paramilitary groups organized to recapture runaway slaves
MAROON: a runaway slave. There were numerous communities of maroons in the mountains of Saint Domingue, and in some cases they won battles with whites and