Dancing is also a very important part of the arrive. These services involve nearly everyone through either the drumming or the dancing. There are two different types of drumming rhythm patterns that are used depending on which sect of Voodoo one is involved with; Radar and Poets. Radar is the most common sect of Voodoo; it constitutes 95% of all practiced Voodoo. This is the Voodoo of the relatively peaceful Iowa, like the family spirits. Poets is the type of Voodoo that westerners tend to think of; it is the Voodoo that involves pin dolls and black magic.
In contrast to Radar, it is the Voodoo of the angry, mean and nasty Iowa. During a Poets service, dangerous things occur such as the procurement of sexual orgies and death curses. The now Haitian people were once African slaves under the rule of the French. The Catholic Church wanted to abolish Voodoo, so when the French were occupying the island, up until 1804, Voodoo was forbidden. They would, however, allow occasional dance parties that were, unbeknownst to them, Voodoo services. The African slaves revolted in 1804 and in doing so, they threw the Catholics out of the country by killing the ones who tried to stay.
So, the Catholic Church left Haiti and id not return until 1860. During the 56 years when the Catholic Church was not in the country, Voodoo amalgamated with Catholicism; most Iowa were also known as Catholic saints – the snake Iowa, Dumbbells, is SST. Patrick and the earth mother, Require, is the Virgin Mary. Through this process, it came about that the Haitian feel that there is nothing wrong with practicing Voodoo alongside Christianity. From 1860 to the late sass, the Catholics came back and fought against Voodoo. The worst of this Holy War was in 1942-43.
In the early sass, the Catholic hierarchy decided to change their tactics. They decided that instead of fighting against Voodoo, they ought to work alongside them. Nowadays the Haitian Catholic Church incorporates some of the drum patterns and melodies from Voodoo. Thanks to this co-operation, there has been relative peace ever since. The Protestant Church, on the other hand, did not start sending people as missionaries until the sass. The Protestant Church has a very different viewpoint; they see Voodoo as devil worship.
Despite their contrast to the most common religion in Haiti, they still own 7 of 11 radio stations, and conversions to to Protestant Christianity. It is believed that about 15% of Haitian who identify with Christianity are Protestant. By budded what appears to be young people parading very loudly through the streets in an effort to show off their musical ability; it is more than that. As part of the Catholic/ Voodoo amalgamation, Rare began to begin on Epiphany in the church calendar, and runs through until Easter.
It is about men establishing a masculine reputation through performance while parading down the streets in a boisterous manner. It is also a way to collect money; they stop for “noteworthy’ people and perform for money much like buckers in North America. The performances include the WA and Rene dancing and singing, the baton majors Juggling batons, or possibly even machetes. The costumes are known for the flash and sparkle they give when the batons twirl due to the amount of sequins and colors involved in the costume. Each costume shows a mix of a lot of different festivals and carnivals from all over the Caribbean.
Having said that, it is actually very much religious in ways that the other Caribbean festivals and carnivals are not. Each Rare band is associated with a Iowa; each band is usually asked to be formed y that Iowa. In fact, the Rare itself is a gift to the Iowa. In the middle of the procession there is a ceremony going on for the Iowa of the Rare band. At the same time, they are “heating-up” their instruments. Sometimes, they go to the cemetery so they can ask permission to capture zombie spirits – recently dead – so that they can help to “heat up the band”. This is a very complicated ritual.
The Haitian that practice Voodoo associate with the Jews because when the Haitian were African slaves, the Europeans expressly considered both Jews and Africans to be devil worshippers. This works into the Rare because many bands will perform elaborate passion plays about the suffering and death of Jesus, while others will make straw dummies of either Judas, or a generic Jew, and imitate what the Pharisees did to Jesus – dragging him through the streets and beating him – and at the end of it they burn the doll, as opposed to Jesus hanging on the cross.
In a different version of Rare, it is believed that Rare is actually a Jewish festival that the Haitian continue in order to keep ancestral Jewish traditions alive. In addition to the history and Jewish comparison, these Rare festivals are thought f in a military sense; they are thought to be the military branch of a particular Voodoo society. Not only do they have rather extravagant musical bands and are competing with the Rare bands that might be around them, but they also have ranks. It is very hierarchical; they have Presidents, Colonels, Majors, Captains, and so on.
This is believed to have originated from the peasant armies of the eighteenth century; marching bands accompanied them. For this reason, and as a reason all to it’s own, Rare is also a political activist festival. It is in the context of Rare that Haitian make their views on everything from and erosion to massive migration, unemployment, poverty, famine, dictatorships and so on. Because Haiti is religiously free, like Canada, this religious festival is the perfect outlet for opinions and beliefs to be expressed.
They express themselves a lot through their lyrics. They express their views on politics in the local community usually, but sometimes they also express their views about the national situation. Because of their large otherwise. There is a spectrum of different types of Rare bands; they can be anything from simple to very complex. On the simple end of the spectrum there is “a capable” (voice only) and also “charily-pee” (foot bands). The foot bands stomp the tempo of the song in a marching rhythm.
On the complex end of the spectrum, there are bands that use brass musicians and instruments from comps (popular music) and achieve national reputations because of it. These bands often play catchy melodies at very high volumes. Somewhere around the middle of the spectrum we find the typical Rare orchestra. This orchestra is made up of three drums, three bamboo instruments called “bonbon” or a few “sonnet” (metal horns), a grand mount of percussionists playing small, hand-held instruments, and lastly, a chorus of singers.
Alongside the Rare is a set of performers (Mac¶ Jon) or kings and queens (WA and Rene) who dance for money. Rare drums are most commonly made of goatskin and tuned by adjusting the small pegs located along the body. The three types of Rare drums are the Manama, Kate and bas. The Manama and Kate of are also used in the ceremonial drumming, however, the bas replaces the Essen due to the portability and lightweight needed for the Rare that is not provided by the Essen. The Manama and Kate are both single-headed drums that use a rope across the shoulder to keep them strapped to the body.
The bas, on the other hand, is a round wooden frame – much like a cross-stitch frame – with a goatskin top; it is a hand-held instrument. The bonbon/evasion are pieces of hollowed out bamboo with a mouthpiece fashioned at the top. They are cut to different lengths to imitate a range of sounds. Each player has one note, so the combination of players improvise together until they find a pleasing short melody that is catchy and easy to play. To ensure they stay soother in timing, they also use long sticks to hit the bonbon making the instrument both percussive and melodic.
