Chicago-area couple raises kids with a mix of Christianity and Vodou

[bijou]

Images of the washed-out Haitian hillside where their children's relatives lived have led Peter and Paula Fitzgibbons to fear that their adopted son and daughter have no biological family left.

The strongest bond their children Odeline and Sevvy Dominique Fitzgibbons may have to their homeland now is the way they "serve the spirits" and speak to God.

Every night since Jan. 12, when a devastating earthquake hit the children's homeland, the couple have assembled them in their Evanston den for Vodou prayers, part of their effort to preserve their children's ties to Haiti through a religion they argue has been misinterpreted and unfairly portrayed.

With Haitian tunes echoing from the kitchen, Odeline, 9, Sevvy, 8, and their 5-year-old sister Isa stand before an altar with their parents, light candles and call upon Papa Legba, the Vodou spirit and gatekeeper who admits other spirits into the sacred circle to hear the family's prayers.

Together, the family whirls and twirls around the living room, pounding drums, shaking tambourines and chanting to invoke the pantheon of spirits, or lwa.

"Feed the people!"

"Save our children!"

"Find our family!"

Following the advice of international adoption experts, the Fitzgibbonses, both 41, have tried to help their children maintain a cultural connection to Haiti. But they have taken it a step further by including religion.

They believe their children can learn the value of Vodou (properly pronounced VO-doo) in a Christian context.

Vodou "is interwoven into every bit of a Haitian person's life," said Paula Fitzgibbons, a former Lutheran pastor. "I'm at least presenting them with some part of their spiritual heritage. I can offer them enough that they will be familiar with Vodou when they get to the point of making their own choices about spirituality and religion." ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/haiti/ct-met-vodou-0128-20100127,0,6071784.story

[vesta111]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/haiti/ct-met-vodou-0128-20100127,0,6071784.story

Interesting subject Bijou, one that we will be hearing more about in the future.

I studied Santeria in school and was surprised at the number of people in this country  that practice it. Most of the practitioners consider themselves Catholic and these groups are just augmenting their faith.

In Mexico the drug lords hire the Chief priest/ male or female to guard their crops and some very nasty news filters out from time to time about human sacrifice and what not, happening to tourists or their own people that find themselves in a guarded area.

South America up into Mexico and now spreading of all places to New England as people emigrate.

Even Judge Whoppner had a problem with this. One case he had was about a non English speaking woman who had a package delivered to her by mistake.  The woman like to have had a heart attack when she opened the package to find a bra made for a mastectomy patient, just one cup, a slightly damaged picture of Jesus and other odds and ends. 

She destroyed the package as she thought someone had placed a curse on her. The owner of the package tracked her down and demanded she pay for the items. 

This was the only time I disliked that Judge, living in southern California and he had not a clue to why that woman was scared ape poop.

He treated that poor woman like she was a nut case, the interrupter she was given was having problems --perhaps they were from Cuba or Port o' Rico--.

Anyway the up shot was she had to pay for the items and in so many words was told to go home, learn English and to get over it.  Amazing that the staff of that show did not do better research and do a better job to find a way for the Judge to understand why she was so afraid.

OH YAH did I mention the problem some courts in Florida have cleaning up  the steps of dead chicken heads  on the morning of a trial ?   Or the weird case of a child being found in New Jersey in a plastic bag next to another bag that held chicken heads.  The mystery was this child had been dead and buried for 3 years, but the body was so well preserved she could have died yesterday. 

As we were told in school, Christians kill the animal, cook it, say a prayer of thanks, then eat it.

In Voodoo one says a prayer then kills the animal, cooks and eats it. 

It all depends on where along the line the prayer is said.