Moreau de Saint-Méry's "Vaudoux": snake, King, Queen, and an oracle (Saint-Domingue, published 1797)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1797 · Places: Ayiti, Europe
SUMMARYMoreau de Saint-Méry's "Vaudoux": snake, King, Queen, and an oracle (Saint-Domingue, published 1797) [Connections: Ayiti spirit, first-person, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDIn Ivor Spencer's translation (A Civilization That Perished, 1985, pp. 1–7): the being honored is "a snake, not of a poisonous kind"; the two leaders are called "King" and "Queen" and owed unlimited respect; a new member dances in a circle ("Come up, Voodoo"); the Queen is possessed: "She shakes, her whole body is convulsed, and the oracle speaks through her mouth." He also writes, "Then follow all the rites which anyone in his delirium can imagine." HOSTILE witness (colonist), but described by Pettinger as the first extended description, written with "somewhat patronising curiosity" rather than terror
PATTERNThe first long description records an organized priesthood, a woman as oracle, and spirit possession
LENS (WW9)Even the colonist saw a King and Queen and an oracle, not devil worship
OPENMoreau links it to "nègres Aradas" (Allada); check the French (Maurel-Taillemite ed., 1958, vol. 1, pp. 64–69)
SOURCELiberty, Equality, Fraternity (GMU/CUNY); Pettinger, "From Vaudoux to Voodoo".