Hounfor du Marche
Welcome.
Honour and respect to you, your family and your Ancestors
Lape Bondye avec nou
I am Manbo Paula of the Hounfor du Marche New Zealand and the Temp Chango Chawa in Cayes-Jacmel Haiti.
With Msr Max Beauvior at Peristyle Marinie
Hounfor du Marche is the Temple of the Marketplace and is under the patronage of Oya Yansa, Orisha of the Mighty Niger and wife of Chango. I was privileged to meet Her in West Africa in 2001. Honour & respect
Oya’s Haitain sisters, the terrifying Manman Brijit, Lwa of Justice and Ayida Wedo, beautiful Rainbow Serpent with her storms and lightning, are parallel forces to Oya in many ways.
The Marketplace is the cross-roads where everything comes together. Different realms, we mortals, Ancestral spirits and Lwa all converge upon this pwen (point).
Manbo Ayizan, Ancestral Manbo of all Hounfor and powerful Root Lwa, also walks upon this pwen…all is possible here.
My Vodou dreaming became very strong in the early 1990’s, and after much thought and prayer, the Hounfor du Marche came in to being on the Spring Equinox 1998. Today is a fully Incorporated Societe under the laws of New Zealand.
Hounfor du Marche has breathed in and out on this pwen over the past decade and we have been actively involved in taking Vodou to the streets of New Zealand
- We have celebrated Damballah during Auckand’s St. Patricks day Parade, drumming and dancing our way through the city;
- We have “drunk rum with strangers” (thank you Kerry Simpson) on the Days of the Dead in Auckland, where the Gede cavorted about. We attended a Pagan Festival where Baron and Brijit went walk about.
Baron & Brijit
- We sang and drummed to Papa Legba ”open the door” at an art gallery, the proceeds of which sponsored a dance troupe, all physically challenged in some way. They were amazing, some had incorporated their crutches onto the dance;
Papa Legba… Ayibobo
- We have traveled to Australia to perform ceremonies and conduct a lave tete for the most fantastic bunch of individuals (Honour and respect to them), thereby helping spread of Vodou across the Tasman and further cementing a home for the Lwa in the South Pacific.
- We have performed beautiful ceremonies, spirit weddings, including my own to Damballah 7th July 2001, singing and dancing till we dropped.
Manbo Paula & Hounfor du Marche
- We have sung and danced for the Lwa in the forest as part of a documentary, filming with 60 Minutes, as well as coverage and appearances in magazines and newspapers.
- Honour & respect to all of those past and present, whose energy and service to the Lwa, made these occasions inspiring and precious……Thank you all.
All for the Lwa and Vodou…Ayibobo
Those interested in the activities of the Hounfor Du Marche contact Manbo Paula paulawedo@yahoo.co.nz
