houngenikon
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Haitian Creole. Compare houngan.
Pronunciation
editNoun
edithoungenikon (plural houngenikons)
- (voodoo) The leader of singing in a voodoo ceremony.
- 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 51:
- The houngenikon thereupon starts off the song, the drums and the chorus join in and when it is ended the houngan inquires: “Are you satisfied?”
- 1954, Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die:
- The drums changed and the Houngenikon came dancing on to the floor, holding a vessel filled with some burning liquid from which sprang blue and yellow flames.
- 1989, Amy Wilentz, The Rainy Season:
- Sometimes Bienaimé nods in the direction of a particularly noisy racket, and the houngenikon flicks at those kids with his whip.
- 1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 211:
- I was told that the Vodou priest Cesar had had a serious fight with Nicole, the ounjenikon, mistress of song, of his temple.