Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, by Maya Deren ★★★½

[mithriltabby]

Maya Deren is better known as a dancer and filmmaker. This book is the result of her traveling to Haiti with a plan to film the local dances for representation purely as an art form, and coming to the realization that she couldn’t do so with artistic integrity. Instead, she felt the need to understand the local religion of voudoun.

The book gives a good look at the mythology and culture of voudoun, and how the religion integrates into the community. Haiti’s slaves were brought from several different regions in Africa, and Deren shows how the different heritages manifest in everything from the various loa to the ritual drumbeats.

Deren provides copious footnotes and references to anthropological literature; in 1953, it would have been a good starting point for more extensive research. Her up-close perspective is interesting, but the structure is rather academic and makes it a slow read.