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Prayer for Titanyen

(viewed 403 times)

Papa Legba, show me the way to Titanyen

Baron Kriminel kicked the island, shoved the buildings down, slaughtered the children and old people and beautiful people in their prime, for Titanyen is lonely

Baron Cimetière open the gate to Titanyen

Baron Samedi, laugh, Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte welcome all with open arms

Baron La Croix tap friends on shoulder, take coats and hats and show dancers to their places

Maman Brigitte, give everyone their cross

Inside sits Papa Ghede, playing cards with Ghede Bábáco, pick up your spades and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug all the little children and hold them close

Ghede Nibo, sing with the voices of the dead, sing all their names and all the names of all their fathers and mothers, sing as you dig

Baron Cimitière, hug all the grandpas and grandmas and hold them close

Ghede Masaka, tuck your bag in your belt and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug all the mothers and fathers and hold them close

Ghede Oussou, put down your bottle and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug all the brothers and sisters and hold them close

Ghede L’Oraille, straighten your dress and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug my cousin, my aunt, my uncle, hold them close

Ghede Plumaj, dust off your hat and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug my wife, my husband, hold them close

Ghede Ti Malis, wake up your lazy ass and dig

Baron Cimitière, hug all my good friends and hold them close

Ghede Zaranye, dig and dig and dig and dig and dig and dig and dig and dig

Baron Kriminel kicked the island, knocked the buildings down, slaughtered the children and old people and beautiful people in their prime, for Titanyen is lonely

Baron Samedi laugh, Baron Samedi and Maman Brigitte, welcome all with open arms

Baron La Croix, tap friends on shoulder, take coats and hats and show dancers to their places

Maman Brigitte, give everyone their cross

Baron Cimetière, close the gate to Titanyen

Papa Legba, bring me home

[*]

Posted by Laszlo Q. V. St-J. Xalieri

19th Jan 2010, 18:22 | tags:xalieri

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Dhamaka says:

apposite
the prayer gives me shivers as does the situation

19th Jan 2010, 19:00

Laszlo Q. V. St-J. Xalieri says:

My shivers started when an offhand comment from an acquaintance made me think how much it was screwing up the psyches of these people to abandon their dead, to burn them in piles in the street in fear of disease, to bury them in mass graves where they would bury paupers (and, incidentally, anyone who ran afoul of corrupt government officials and got "disappeared").

The threat of abandonment and burial in Ti Tanyen was a threat to help keep rowdy children in line. People in Haiti would spend more money on a funeral than they would on a house, seeing to everything that was necessary to make sure the ancestors were kept happy and the recently buried corpses could not be put to corrupt purposes.

Ti Tanyen will need a lot of praying over, or it will be a source of nightmares for anyone who stays in Haiti for a thousand years.

[*]

20th Jan 2010, 00:38

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