#tchatcha

Largely the lineages that make manbo and houngan makout are lineages where they are family-only or community-only, meaning you are related directly to the folks of the house or are living nearby. I *think* Lakou Souvenans in Gonaives has welcomed folks from outside that family/community, but I'm not 100% sure...but I will ask folks who know better and report back for sure. My advice at the jump would be to dig deep on why that might seem like the right road for you, and consult with some legitimate priests on it...tcha-tcha lineage Vodou and family-oriented lineages are largely not outsider-welcoming, even for Haitians.

And...there's no reason to ever not try to be kind and careful with what we say. We definitely all fail at that from time-to-time because we are human, but we can address misinformation and unethical behavior without stopping to character assassination, threats, etc because we can be better than that.

Bonswa!

So, 21 Divisiones/Dominican vudu is very similar to the tchatcha/kwakwa/Deka lineage in Haiti. The island is one place, after all, and so it’s not surprising that there are deep similarities in some ways. 21 Divisiones largely does not carry the asson/ritually conferred rattle, and instead uses the tchatcha/kwakwa, which is another type of rattle used. In 21 Divisiones and in the tchatcha lineage of Haitian vodou, initiation is done differently and the temples are organized differently, in that there are not often actual peristyles/temples–all ceremony will take place outside or in the family home. Spirits are also organized differently in 21 Divisiones and there are spirits in the Dominican religion that are not heavily present in Haitian vodou, and vice versa. The diaspora for 21 Divisiones is just as large at for Haitian vodou, it just slides under the white people radar more.

In Haiti, the tchatcha lineage is often practiced more rurally and is often limited to raised-together-in-the-same-home family members, though that is changing in some of the more well-known enclaves of the tchatcha lineage as more outsiders visit those lakou. Initiation is done very differently in that sort of lineage and does not usually resemble leve kanzo as done in an asson house. An initiation in a tchatcha lineage does not give license to work ceremonies or do spiritual work in an asson house, and combining the two lineages is sort of apples and oranges ritually–the lineages are divergent, and so they are not swappable (this has become an issue in diaspora).

Those are the two main ‘types’ of Haitian vodou–the asson lineage and the tchatcha/kwakwa/Deka lineage. None is better than the other and neither holds more power, as both are from Ginen/from the spirits. There is often the idea that tchatcha lineage holds more power because it is conceived of as older (which may or may not be true), but that is sort of a false equivalency because age does not connote power in vodou.