Spirits in the night!

We have started language classes on Thursdays, and this week we had a little surprise on the trail home.  We haven’t talked about it before, but there is a house along the trail that is used for voodoo worship.  Actually, the house is almost visible from our front step.  There is a particular tree that is also used for voodoo worship and there  is a huge one in front of this house.  We can see the tree.  Well, carnival season must be coming close because as we came close to this house we could hear laughing and singing that just gave us an uneasy feeling.  We know what was going on, but really hadn’t expected it.  In our four months here, we have seen very little activity here.  But tonight was a different story!

The voodoo tree and house.  Two trails cross at
this point

We didn’t have a lot of choice but to walk right through the middle of the group and tried to be friendly but not wishing to spend any time there.  Much to our disappointment, we recognized some of the faces in the group but didn’t hang around long enough to really check it out.  There was a fire going and there were a couple little stick things put up with decorations on them.  There seemed to be plenty of alcohol available and you could tell they were preparing food so we expected it to last into the evening and night. 

Yes, it lasted into the evening and night.  It seems like the darker it got the louder they became!  There wasn’t the usual pounding of drums, more of a rhythmic chanting in a leader/response mode.  Then they’d get to the chorus and they’d all sing together. 

A Haitian friend was with us and he couldn’t understand any of the words. He did tell us about 3 ‘oungans’ (what we’d generally call witch doctor) in the area.  We didn’t know there were that many around.   We were surprised to learn that the step-son of one of these ‘oungans’ was in our home on January 1 asking for a Bible.  How we wish we would have had one to give!!!  A lot of the sounds were more just like moaning and groaning interrupted fairly often by screeching and wailing. The sounds reminded us of stories we’ve heard about the worshipers calling out for evil spirits to appear to them, and in some cases spirits would appear and ‘mount’ a person and they would go racing off into the night screaming and wailing. There were several children there too.  A group from Canada had visited on Tuesday and given out some party horns.  We could hear some of them being blown, so we know there were some of our school children there.  That in itself is cause for grief!   Every once in a while you’d pick up a strange smell of something being burnt.  We spent the evening in prayer, crying out to God to block the presence of any evil spirits and for the salvation of those who were participating.  It’s not that we were afraid because we know that these spirits are powerless against the Spirit of Christ!  We were just saddened for the people and sickened by the thought of what they were worshiping.  We were aware that there was a very active voodoo influence in the area, but this is the first activity we’ve seen.  It’s the time of year for the increase of this kind of activity.  Carnival here coincides with Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  

This year Mardi Gras starts on Feb. 12 and will go for 3 days.  Here, there are groups that meet and chant and sing in the streets, moving around the city building energy for carnival and trying to strike fear into the people.  We’re not sure how it all goes up here in the Mts., but we’ll keep you updated on what happens.  We’re not sure how late they went, but they were still going strong when we went to bed about 10:00.  I was awake at 3:00 and all was quiet, but there were still people hanging around in the morning.  There still seemed to be some kind of activities going on inside, but there are no windows in the place and it was too dark to see in the door.  They were still chanting and singing, but had lost a lot of their energy and most of the people.  Outside you could still see the ornaments and piles of feathers where it looked like chickens had been plucked.   Maybe some of what we smelled was them burning off the pin feathers.  I’d like to think that over the thought of sacrifices being offered!  The whole thing was just pretty gross!

This is another thing we've encountered concerning the spirit world.  A
family member in a house near this place in the trail passed away in early December. Now
they leave these dishes with food for his spirit when he returns.

We’re making plans for some activities in our church up here over carnival to worship and pray.  Hopefully, we can offer an alternative that represents Hope and Life!  Join us in prayer as we prepare to engage the enemy!

And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.  Jesus Christ (Luke 10:17-20)