“The sense of Herskovits' entire chapter is that Christianity has had a strong influence on Voudoun, but it is difficult to understand how he expects us to follow this conclusion when much of his data, like the phrase quoted above, would seem to indicate the reverse, namely, the assimilation of Christianity by Voudoun. Herskovits' method is to question informants and to base himself upon their formulations. The Haitian peasant, however, has been subject to four centuries of intensive propaganda to the effect that he ought to be a Christian; he has been severely punished for practicing Voudoun; and he has been especially impressed with the fact that his practices are ‘stupid’ or ‘savage’, and that he absolutely must not let strangers know about Voudoun. All of this has created in his mind almost a schism between the Christian formulations that he has learned to recite when questioned by authorities or strangers, and his actual beliefs and practices. Even when he has no intention to deceive, his sense of pride, his determination to be ‘civilized’ and ‘intelligent’, lead him, when questioned, to give the answer which he imagines would be respected as ‘proper’ by the one who questions. Or he may, as I have stated in my introduction, ‘translate’ Voudoun concepts into Christian terms without being aware of the discrepancies. The very vocabulary that is used in many of the phrases that Herskovits quotes indicates that most of his peasants were inclined to give him the ‘proper’ answers, not with any intention to deceive, but rather with the intention to impress. And the most ‘proper’ answers are those that they have heard in church from the only other white men with whom they have had much contact, the Catholic priests.”
from Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti by Maya Deren
