Ad(dress)ing the Spirits

Abstract

Abstract This chapter introduces the fashion origins of Haitian Vodou practitioner Manbo Marie Maude Evans or Manbo Maude. The term Manbo, meaning female high priestess, is given to Vodou practitioners who have undergone initiatory rites and understand sacred religious knowledges. Manbo Maude has been perfecting her religious commitments, through both fashion and spiritual service, alongside the Black divinities like Ezili Je Wouj and Gede of Vodou for several decades. The author, who is a participant observer, illuminates the intricate physical and spiritual processes necessary for Vodou ceremonies that emphasize glamour and fashion. Manbo Maude creates an informal, small-scale production network that intersects culture, transnationalism, and religion. Drawing on the complex transnational influences within Haiti including the presence of West and Central Africans, Indigenous Americans, and European colonial history, this chapter shows that Manbo Maude represents a point on a spectrum of evolution that runs through Vodou stylistics; she is one in the long line of contributors to Black Atlantic religions and Haitian Vodou in particular. Considering spiritual vogue requires understanding that the presence of the spirits in Vodou ceremonies is not symbolic but real for many participants and devotees and that the legitimacy of these spirits has substantive effects on their actions and ritual practice.