1826 · Haitianyear only
Boyer writes Vodou into the penal code and leaves it there
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In 1826 Jean-Pierre Boyer, president of Haiti, moved against Vodou in law. The relevant section of the penal code sat under a heading on sorcery. It set three to six months in prison and a fine of fifty to a hundred and fifty gourdes for anyone who made wanga, caprelata, vaudoux or don pedre, or worked any other spell, and six months to two years plus a fine of three hundred to a thousand gourdes for a second offence. The next article reached fortune tellers, diviners, dream interpreters and card readers, with two to six months. Any dance or practice judged likely to maintain a spirit of fetishism and superstition among the population carried the same penalties. The measure worked only on paper. Whether the articles were applied depended entirely on how the local authorities felt about the religion, and Vodou societies remained part of national holidays. Presidents who signed such measures were often consulting houngans themselves.