#21: Pakets and Vodou: Grey comments

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Racine125@aol.com

Pakets are made when people are initiated into Vodou.  A person who is 
initiated si pwen gets three packets, a person who is initiated asogwe gets 
seven.  They are made of pounded spices and other items, wrapped in cloth, 
and decorated with ribbon, sequins, feathers, and other objects.

This all takes place on the third night of the bat guerre, the first part of 
the initiation cycle.  The pakets are made in the djevo, then exhibited to 
the public in the peristyle, and take to the crossroads, where other 
ceremonies are performed.

The method of making the pakets, and their use, is information owned by the 
initiates of any particular peristyle.  When you buy a 'paket' in an art 
gallery, the stuffing likely as not is dirt!  They are beautiful, therefore 
the pakets are sold as art objects.  Even if you find an authentic paket, 
it's not authentic for YOU, you didn't get initiated and receive it.

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