hounsi
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Haitian Creole, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Fon.
Pronunciation
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Noun
hounsi (plural hounsis)
- A voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.
- 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company 2004, p. 48:
- At the entrance to the tent, the hounsis stretch out upon the mats.
- 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, p. 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.
- 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company 2004, p. 48: