verver

Haitian Creole

Noun

verver

1. In Haitian vodou, a geometric design traced or painted on the ground with a mix of corn flour and ash, as part of a ritual of summoning or communicating with a deity.
   • 1940, “The Vodun Service in Northern Haiti”, in American Anthropologist, page 238:

     Fais verver pour moun, s'ou plè. Make verver for me, if you please.
     After making verver the officiant turns attention to the twins.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1956, Bulletin du Bureau d'ethnologie, pages 40–41:

     Le premier geste du prêtre vodun est de tracer sur le sol des signes cabalistiques avec de la semoule de maïs, du sirop, du tafia (eau-de-vie de canne) et de la liqueur, en chantant une chanson sur la fabrication du verver.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1987, Fodor's Travel Publications, Fodor's Caribbean 1988, page 226:

     The verver, a geometric design traced on the ground in corn flour, is the emblem of the deity being summoned. The verver is also believed to be the original inspiration for Haitian painting.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2010, John Szwed, Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World, page 101:

     Elizabeth... learned the rituals and deities, the two of them standing on the edge of the Vodou services, watching the houngan prepare a verver (a ground painting done with a mixture of ashes and cornmeal) appropriate to the deity addressed in the service...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)