Houngans

Houngan is a male priest in Haitian Vodou who serves as a spiritual leader, mediator with the lwa (spirits), and organizer of ceremonies. The female equivalent is the mambo or manbo. In Haitian Vodou communities in Haiti and the diaspora, the houngan presides over rituals, maintains altars, and oversees the ethical and communal aspects of practice.

Typical duties include initiating newcomers, teaching ritual practice, and providing divination and healing. A houngan conducts rites of initiation, creates and maintains veve designs (ritual symbols), leads music and dance, and coordinates offerings to the lwa, which may include food, drink, and, in some traditions, animal sacrifices. Rites are often conducted with the participation of followers and may involve trance possession by the lwa, during which participants receive guidance or blessings. The houngan works within a peristyle or temple and may collaborate with a mambo, who oversees female initiates and priesthood in the same community.

Training typically occurs under an established houngan or mambo; it covers ritual songs and drum patterns, herbal knowledge, and the ethical responsibilities of priesthood. Initiation and recognition are community processes, and authority rests on spiritual reputation as well as alignment with the lwa. In the Haitian diaspora, houngans adapt rites to local contexts while maintaining core liturgical forms and connections to Haiti.