Sèvitè Jean-Daniel Lafontant is a Houngan or Haitian Vodou priest and guardian of Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777. In addition to his Vodou practice, he has also worked in marketing, nonprofits, and education, and has been one of the leading public voices for Haitian Vodou in United States media.[1][2]
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Sèvitè Jean-Daniel Lafontant | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1962 |
| Education | Certificate in Management and Diplomacy, Institut National de Gestion et des Hautes Etudes Internationales,1984 Bachelor of Science, New York Institute of Technology, 1993 |
| Occupation(s) | Houngan (Vodou Priest), Sèvitè (servant) |
Lafontant lived in New York and worked in marketing and finance, however after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, he began work with the humanitarian organization Catholic Relief Services. He has also worked as a consultant for various museums and educational institutions as an expert on Haitian Vodou and art.[2]
Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777
The Vodou Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777 is located in downtown Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in the Grand Belair neighborhood, which was part of a maroon colony during the colonial period. The Temple is rooted in the tradition of Lakou Jisou.[3] It was founded in 1997 by Lafontant, a Sèvitè (servant) of the lwa (spirits), who still serves as the temple's guardian.[4] The Temple houses artistic and traditional objects, some pre-Columbian and others dating from the colonial period and the Haitian Revolution. In that spiritual eclectic amalgam, contemporary works of art cohabitate with ritual objects, with each piece or object taking on a sacred character, as they are believed to be appropriated by the Lwa themselves.[4] In 2024, Lafontant created Espas Milokan, a digital archive website for the temple.
Media presence
Lafontant has appeared in a number of pieces of media, largely in the United States, as an ambassador for Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777 and Haitian Vodou as a whole. These appearances include a 2018 episode of the CNN show Believer With Reza Aslan,[5] as well as the 2014 documentary In the Eye of the Spiral.[6]
In 2022, Lafontant worked with the project Radio Art Zone to produce a 22-hour audio snippet of various vodou rites and ceremonies that he performed at Temple Na-Ri-VéH 777.[7] This recording included a funeral ceremony called "Bowoum," the musical procession by the Rara, and a ceremony of the month of May for the Lwa Kouzen and Kouzin Zaka.[7]
In 2024, Lafontant created a multimedia website called Espas Milokan to educate the public about his Vodou temple, Na-Ri-VéH 777. The project was funded by the Princeton University Crossroads Project.
References
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