Marinette

Revolt, night, birds of prey

Marinette, often called Marinette Bwa Chèch, is one of the most feared lwa of the Petro rite. She is associated with night, fire and nocturnal birds of prey, the owl in particular, and her ceremonies are brief and intense. A tradition widespread in Haiti links her to the Bois-Caïman ceremony of August 1791, which opened the Haitian Revolution: she is said to have been the mambo who led it, or the spirit who possessed her. Historians debate the details of this event and the sources that report it, so this link must be presented for what it is, a living tradition and not an established fact. What this tradition does say clearly is the place that Haitian memory gives to Marinette: that of a spirit of rupture, hard because the circumstances were hard. Her servants do not describe her as malevolent but as uncompromising, and one does not commit to her without weighing what one promises.