Another Comedic Cultural Exchange

Last week we broke up into groups and each visited a different religion or voodoo sect. I visited a zambeto house, which is a part of voodoo culture. The zambeto is a huge hay stack with a man under it who speaks out of a Riccola commercial-like horn to distort his voice and sound other-worldly. Imagine a huge haystack teepee mascot. They believe there’s no person, just a spirit, under there. So though we were given the opportunity to ask questions, I couldn’t ask things like “How do you pick what guy gets to be the zambeto? Do your legs cramp under there for hours? Is it always the same guy?” Not culturally sensitive. They are keepers of the night after sundown, keeping women, children, and criminals off the streets. If a woman sees him at night it is said that she dies soon after. Seems like a way to repress women to me. He comes out in the daytime at times, usually accompanied by drummers and dancers. Party hat during the day kinda guy. He claims to be able to turn sand into millet (I’m sure they’d never heard of Jesus’s water to wine ability. And who wants millet anyway?). When we asked how people can venerate him, he replied he accepts veneration in the form of cases of beer, moonshine, pork, goats, and the like. Something tells me he wouldn’t turn down virgins or hard cash either.