hounsi
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English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Haitian Creole, from Fon.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
hounsi (plural hounsis)
- A voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.
- 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 48:
- At the entrance to the tent, the hounsis stretch out upon the mats.
- 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 48:
- Each hounsis remained anonymous, focused inward and turned away from the audience toward the poteau mitan and the drums.
- 1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 214:
- In both Rada and Petwo modes of ritualizing, it is customary for ounsis to show respect to priests and priestesses through such ritual salutations.