Paquet congo

Paquet congo (Haitian Creole: Paket kongo) are Haitian spiritual objects made by vodou priests and priestesses (houngans and mambos) during ceremonies.[1][2] Their name comes from the ancient Kongo Kingdom in Africa, where similar objects called nikisi wambi are found.[3]

A paquet congo created by Pierrot Barra (National Museum of World Cultures)

Kongolese nkisi use different materials from the Haitian paquet, however. A paquet is a collection of magical ingredients - herbs, earth, vegetable matter - wrapped in fabric and decorated with feathers, ribbons and sequins.

Paquet congo are said to have the power of “heating” or activating the loa. Hence the term pwen cho (hot point) sometimes used to refer to them. Paquet serve as power objects and are kept on vodou altars and used in healing ceremonies. They are also used as protective amulets in people’s homes, bringing health, wealth and happiness.

Their efficacy supposedly depends on a technique of careful wrapping - seven or nine times – symbolic of an umbilical cord connecting the charm to the universe. Indeed, their appearance roughly resembles that of a human body (some have arms), and their colors and ornamentation are sometimes, but not always, symbolic of a specific loa.

References
  1. Geggus, David (1991-12-01). "Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century: Language, Culture, Resistance". Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas. 28 (1): 21–52. doi:10.7767/jbla.1991.28.1.21. ISSN 1438-4752. S2CID 191579828.
  2. Congdon, Kristin G.; Hallmark, Kara Kelley (2012). American Folk Art: A Regional Reference. ABC-CLIO. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-313-34936-2.
  3. Apter, Andrew; Derby, Lauren (2009-12-14). Activating the Past: History and Memory in the Black Atlantic World. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 349. ISBN 978-1-4438-1790-5.
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