14340: Davis: RE: Pye Sabliye (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Karen F. Davis <kdavis@marygrove.edu>

I wonder if the tree of forgetting in Haiti is related to the Tree of
Forgetting in the old slave-embarkment  town of Ouidah on the coast of
Benin? I have visited there 3 times, and have heard the museum curator's
explanation that the people who had been taken for sale into the slave trade
were first kept in a building on the town center at Ouidah, then, as they
were being marched in chains along the 2-3 mile path across the wetlands to
the seacoast, they were first taken three times around the "tree of
forgetting"  in the town-presumably so they would forget their lives in the
Dahomey kingdom. I'm sure there are Dahomean/Fon history/language scholars
who would know the name this tree is called in Fongbe and in French Creole
in Benin.
There is an actual, very large tree there, in Ouidah, but I do not know what
variety the tree is, though I know a Beninese professor who would know. I
also suspect the tree is not old enough to have been the SAME tree that was
there 150-300 yrs ago

Karen F. Dimanche Davis
Associate Professor and Head, Humanities Department
Marygrove College
Detroit, Michigan 48221
Phone: 313-927-1352
Fax: 313-927-2345
E-mail: kdavis@marygrove.edu

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Bob Corbett [mailto:corbetre@webster.edu]
Sent:	Friday, January 03, 2003 4:24 PM
To:	Haiti mailing list
Subject:	14302:  Florestal:  14297:  Cleo714:  Pye Sabliye (fwd)


From: Jean-Marie Florestal <sonice1953@yahoo.com>

<<From: Cleo714@aol.com

<PRE>Does any one on the list have any information
concerning what family and
friends refer to as "going under the Pye Sabliye?"
when we leave Haiti.  I
understood it as meaning a sort of tree of
forgetfulness...But is there an
actual tree by that name?  Or is it all mythical?
Thanks.>>

There is an actual tree in Haiti called "Pie Sabliye."
Unfortunately, I cannot give you any of the scientific
names and related botanical references for your
research. It is only because I recall it from
childhood memory when the only interest to us was
entertainment and the shade they provided to us while
kicking soccer balls during school recess. They
produce no edible fruits, but some kind of a round nut
about 2 inches of diameter  with a hard shell and a
hook. Children used the hooks to play rooster fights.
The trees on the school ground were about 50 feet tall
and spread their branches and leaves around the trunk
to about the same length in diameter. There were
several of these trees in the catholic brothers'
school yard in Jeremie, Ecole Frere Paulain, in the
60's.

My best guess of the reference of the tree to the act
of forgetfulness is because of the tree name. "Bliye"
in Sabliye means "forget" in creole, at least
phonetically. It may be both a sarcastic and humorous
way to tell people that they will forget something.


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