Bokor, Hoongan and Mambo, the ones and the others as well, are active in a place which is called the Hoomfo even if, in the case of Bokor, one rather talks (in fear) of a Den.

The Hoomfo can be any place from the small storeroom-type in the hut of a country Bokor up to a big underground vaulted chapel dedicated to the cult of a great Lwa such as Good Oll'Ayon or Baron Saturday in an important city like Teetotallers'Haven, over through sacred places deep in the forests or the mountains. One may even know the nomad Hoomfo under the big top of the Circuz'Strange, originally from Hattea and now on continuing tour in the Lesser Curry-Bean: that unique concept makes it possible to organise big big Voodoo Ceremonies even on tiny islands where it is impossible to maintain a permanent Voodoo structure of sufficient importance.

Each of those places can be dedicated to one or several Lwa, who are then its protectors and pay it a visit sometimes. They can be invoked there by the means of a trance which the Mambo or Hoongan inflicts to one of the worshippers to get oracles in return. The Bokor may prefer to go into a trance himself.

If one tries to describe the essential elements (not necessarily the most remarkable for the lay visitor) of the Hoomfo and its contents, one will first find the Peristyle with the Pol'o-middo and the Kard's Four : the Peristyle is a generally square courtyard, covered or not by a roof, open or closed and, by the way, not necessarily surrounded by any colonnade! The Pol'o-middo? A central mast, sometimes well ornated, which is part of the structure or not but which is at any rate the attractor pole of the Hoomfo. At last, the Kard's Four are nothing but the four cardinal directions. These are marked in a way or another, ranging from a simple flour line laid on the ground to a built-in structure with, for instance, four gravel paths leading through four doors or gates to the Hoomfo, by the way producing the shape of a firy cross when the fully crowded Peristyle is lit and viewed from above at the occasion a bigger ceremony…

Very important and remarkable are: on the one hand the two Standards bearing the « Coat of Arms » of the Hoomfo and its sponsoring Lwa; on the other hand the jugs of water and the jars of various flours and powders, stored here in huge quantities and usually full at the beginning of a big ceremony.

The importance and role of those elements will be better understood when we'll come to discuss the Voodoo Ritual.

In every Hoongan's or Mambo's Hoomfo, one can find an extreme variety of junk articles, especially some somewhat morbid things at first sight as well as numerous scrap materials which are used in Voodoo practice: splinter wood, broken earthen ware, wax, etc. Enter in that last category dried chicken (generally without a pulley…), bat blood, shark liver and other lizard eyes or rhino horn powders (a very rare product, of which the procurement is strictly forbidden since long…) and decorate dusty shelves in their jars and glasses full of fouled alcohol or other even more suspect products.

Actually some Hoomfo are more simply and directly… only shops for Voodoo articles! – There can't be any Voodoo object really found there because it's typical of Voodoo that its rituals and spells are designed to specific demands but one can possibly find there interesting and / or macabre souvenirs at will! There aren't many artifacts or rites with a general purpose in Voodoo. Hence those shops are full of ingredients instead of finished products. They are generally the suppliers of other priests and sorcerers and are managed by a Mambo or a Bokor. However, the simple man o'dd street can also simply go in and ask about the services proposed by the managing Hoongan. These merchants of the Voodoo sometimes prove powerful… sometimes…

One last point, without which we would be unfair to the Hoontsy: indeed, the Hoontsy, usually women and more rarely men who where educated like women, are the servants of the Lwa and of the Hoongan or Mambo where they serve. While they have not the status of a Priest, they are initiated to the Voodoo Rituals and, in that respect, they are active in the management of Ceremonies (without forgetting the resulting cleaning tasks…) or, in a more daily fashion, in the mnagement of the Hoomfo: cleaning, prayers to the Lwa, etc. It is thanks to them that a Hoomfo can become famous and even rich through a greater activity.

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