I was on a plane last Wednesday and this show came on. I found out it’s called New Amsterdam. This particular episode is called “Rituals” and while the show is a clear knockoff of Grey’s Anatomy, I found that it handles the question of indigenous religions’ validity and necessity, as compared to Western medicine.
This episode in particular involves a Haitian woman whose surgery literally could not be performed until her sosyete (yes, a Haitian Vodou house/community!) performed the gad ko ritual. Although I’m not sure about the accuracy of the ritual being performed in a hospital, I was impressed by the fidelity of the explanation and “performance” (I don’t know what else to call it) with the asson, conducted by a mambo. I was surprised to see everyone wearing red scarves around their necks (although I have no idea if they were even for the correct lwa).
I don’t know the rank of the mambo who wore her kolye. All I know is that I’ve never seen accurate *elements* of Haitian Vodou or any Afrikan Traditional Religion (they’re not the same) on television. Again, it’s probably not all accurate but I didn’t see an asson until I went to a fet! I didn’t even know the word kolye until I specifically researched the religion. I never expected to see them on mainstream television for others’ exposure. Side note: Now that I think about it, I don’t know if that was best. Regardless, I was happy to see an indigenous (particularly Caribbean) religion trump so-called science.
I was just surprised. Pleasantly and refreshingly surprised.
