27668: Hermantin(News)Woman faces prison time for smuggling skull for religious rituals (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Woman faces prison time for smuggling skull for religious rituals




By Brian Haas and Macollvie Jean-François
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

February 11, 2006



He was a black man, in his 30s or 40s, buried sometime in the last year.

His skull still had pieces of dirt on it when it was seized Thursday by Federal 
agents at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. It was found in a 
Miramar woman's carry-on bag as she went through customs after her return from 
Haiti.

Federal officials arrested Myrlene Sevère, 30, after she brought the skull from 
Cap-Haïtien in a rice bag on Lynx Airlines.

She told investigators that she purchased the skull from a man in Haiti to use 
in religious ceremonies and had hoped it would ward off evil spirits, according 
to the federal complaint. Sevère told them that she practices Vodou, or Voodoo, 
an African-Christian religion, with roots in Haiti, whose practitioners worship 
spirits that can heal and provide guidance.

Laws governing the importation of human remains are rigid, but they don't 
prevent a small number of such cases in South Florida each year.

"Human remains that are imported for proper medical or educational purposes are 
required to have a death certificate," said Zachary Mann, spokesman for U.S. 
Customs and Border Protection. "Any human body parts that are imported for 
religious purposes are considered restricted importations and are seized."

Sevère appeared before federal magistrate Lurana Snow in Fort Lauderdale Friday 
morning and later posted $100,000 bond. Sevère, who is a legal U.S. resident, 
is accused of smuggling a human head without proper documentation, failing to 
declare the skull to customs and transporting hazardous materials. She faces up 
to 15 years in prison.

Sevère could not be reached for comment. Ingrid Llera, a Vodou priestess who 
saw her at a January gathering of practitioners in Little Haiti in Miami-Dade 
County, said the Miramar woman is also a priestess. Llera, of Pembroke Pines, 
said Sevère probably didn't know her actions were illegal.

"For her, she was doing something normal," Llera said. "Often, what people take 
for granted in Haiti, they might do here without knowing it's against the law."

Sevère's neighbors knew she practiced Vodou, but never expected the arrest.

"It is pretty wild," said Guerlain Desrouleaux, 47, who is also from Haiti. "I 
was shocked."

Neighbor Shawn Jean-Charles, 18, said Sevère's arrest only feeds the 
stereotypes about Haitians and Vodou.

"Not all Haitians do that," he said.

Dr. Joshua Perper, chief medical examiner for Broward County, said the skull 
appeared to have been buried for a year or less. The lower jaw was missing, he 
said, and the skull had "a very small bunch of hair sticking to it." It showed 
no signs of trauma or disease. Perper has called in a botanist to examine 
leaves and vegetation that accompanied the skull in the rice bag and to look 
for any exotic insects.

Perper said he had never seen a case like this in Broward County.

In Miami-Dade, however, the medical examiner has the "Bone Room."

They are "usually skulls brought in for some religious purpose," said Larry 
Cameron, the office's director of operations. "We may get eight or 10 skulls a 
year."

Almost every case comes from Miami International Airport, he said. Those skulls 
and bones end up in the "Bone Room," a room for all skeletal remains found in 
the county. Cameron said the remains are stored there until claimed by 
relatives.

Perper said his office will try and track down the man's family or where he was 
buried.

Rafael Martinez, an anthropologist and expert in Afro-Caribbean religions, 
consulted with Perper about the skull. He said skulls are commonly used in two 
prominent South Florida religions: Vodou and the Afro-Cuban religion called 
Palo Mayombe.

Martinez said that in Vodou, it is common for practitioners to put a human 
skull on an altar in the home dedicated to spirits of the dead known as gede. 
The spirits contained in that skull are thought to have a powerful, positive 
influence on one's life.In Palo Mayombe, human bones are often put into a 
ceremonial pot or nganga, for similar purposes.

"The belief is that that the spirits of those people will help you in life, 
will do things for you," Martinez said.

But the use of skulls and bones, he said, can be seen in almost all world 
religions. In Catholicism, for example, many relics are purported to be human 
remains of saints.

"People need to have an open mind about these things. We keep in our living 
rooms the ashes of our loved ones and that doesn't come across as unusual," he 
said. "We need to recognize these are all very valid religions. Very different, 
but very valid."

Sun-Sentinel Staff Writer Vanessa Blum contributed to this story.

Brian Haas can be reached at bhaas@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4597.


Copyright © 2006, South Florida Sun-Sentinel