22509: Mambo Racine Re: 22496: Antoine: The Kathy Grey's stand on Haitian Creole (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

> From: Guy S. Antoine <guyantoine@haitiforever.com>
>
> Kathy Greys says:

My name is NOT "Kathy Greys".  This perpetual and deliberate reluctance to spell my name correctly is offensive.

> Spelling is not Vodou

The name of this religion is correctly spelled V-o-d-o-u in both Creole and English.  I am not going to comment on French orthography and this is not a French-language list.

I am a Mambo of this tradition, and have been for almost fifteen years.   If you don't want to believe a clergy person of a particular religion when they tell you how to spell it, then don't claim to respect the religion or it's clergy.

In current Vodou-related discussion conducted in English, the following spellings are used:

Vodou - generally, Haitian Vodou

Voodoo - American Voodoo, centered in New Orleans

Vodu - West African traditional practices, especially Beninois.

For more information on the spelling of Vodou and related religions in English and in French, see http://members.aol.com/racine125/spelling.html  .  That page has been up for years now.

> Then, let's move on to the word "Racine" and "Sans".
> In which Haitian Creole orthography system are they
> spelled in that manner???  Please, try hard not to evade
> this very specific question.

Please try hard not to be rude, I don't "evade" anything, and I don't appreciate the implication that I have "evaded" anything.  If I "evaded" certain topics here I wouldn't have so many nasty emails in my inbox.

I have mentioned on this list before that during my first kanzo, my first initiator, Houngan Luc Gedeon, foresaw that I would have a wide international audience, and he gave me my first nom vayan in French and required me to write it in French.  The "Sa Te La", meaning "that was already there", was appended to my name during my second kanzo and it is written in Creole.  Both of my kanzos were at the rank of asogwe, which is the highest rank - I am something like a bishop, I can consecrate other priests and priestesses.  "Daginen" implies "of Guinea", Guinea being ancestral Africa.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian Proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html

(Posting from Jacmel, Haiti)