The dory
A dorlis' priority is purely sexual. His sole objective is to satisfy his desires for women during the night. The dorlis has no precise physical form. No one knows who it may be. It doesn't look like anything, but it's usually invisible, although it can take the form of an animal - a rat, a moth, a toad, etc. - to avoid attracting attention when it's time to leave, and absolutely before the cock crows so as not to get caught. This is the equivalent of the incubus, the male demon who abuses sleeping women, whereas the succubus, the Judeo-Christian female demon who enters men's dreams to seduce them, is not part of the Martinican pantheon. In fact, according to Martinican author David Gagner, in certain African countries such as Senegal and Burkina Faso, the dorlis is known as the "night husband".
What is dorlis? The dorlis knows you and your habits. He may be your brother, your father, your husband, or someone in your family who, when night falls, obtains the ability to become invisible, who knows how and by what magic? He or she may possess grimoires that should not be placed in the hands of innocent people. He comes while you're asleep, for purely sexual reasons. He's as transparent as air, odorless and undetectable. First of all, he comes into your home at night through the keyhole, but if you've left the key there, he'll go through the slot on the underside of the door. He'll enter.
Once inside, it finds its favorite place, the bedroom. The dorlis then slides under the door or through the keyhole as usual. He's so powerful that you find yourself obliged to submit, without any possibility of rebellion; you become his thing. After incredible erotic dreams, a powerful force possesses your body without waking you up. It then paralyzes all your limbs. You become unconscious, totally at its mercy, suffering it without knowing it. You can't see the dorlis. It's an invisible entity, but if you're highly sensitive, spiritually awake and therefore well-protected, or if you're a "born-haired" person (a secret you shouldn't reveal to anyone, just like your baptismal name), you can sense its presence in the half-light without seeing it. But only exceptional beings have this power.
Very few, if any, people in this country have ever captured a dorlis. Except, it seems, for a certain lady living in the Tracée - a renowned reformatory for difficult children - who has now left to join the land of the many. Never expect to see a dorlis. So first of all, it's important to think about protecting yourself, by wearing black knickers at night, which you'll have taken great care to put on inside out. Don't forget to place a pair of scissors under your mattress or behind the door. Then, and only then, will you sleep soundly, as they say, in the huts, thatched cottages and even houses that don't seem to believe in it, but beware, for they too know all about music.
Nowadays, some people still believe in it, to explain their multiple noises on the metal sheets, their restless or heavy sleep, their tired body, the big black butterfly that flew in the bedroom, their insomnia, and above all, the marks on the sheets, the scratches on the skin, scratches by the way that they can make themselves, especially if mosquitoes have bitten them during the night. But no matter, belief is as stubborn as mankind.
Recently, psychiatrists and other psychologists or psychoanalysts, intrigued by unexpected pregnancies, have been able to assert - without being heard by the indifferent, or perhaps deliberately hard-of-hearing, population - that these famous dorlis of certain tropical nights were none other than the father, brother or simply the husband himself, who went off to practice incest on a member of his family. The unexplained pregnancies of virtuous young girls are a little easier to explain, and today DNA can also be used to expose all these dishonest people. The belief in the existence of dorlis persists, without in any way undermining its reputation with certain people..
How to get rid of a dorlis. " If you want to protect yourself from dowlis, buy coal, but not from the store; buy it from Monsieur Roland, who has his oven in Morne Kasav. You know, Roland Madame Athanase. Pick up some black sand from Lorrain and put it with the coal on an old Fansantiy newspaper outside your door. You'll be able to prann sonmey bien konmifo (sleep on your two ears) : firstly, by the time the dowlis counts all the grains of sand, tomorrow will already be here. Secondly, you'll get to know the face of the dowlis, because he's the first person you'll meet on the street who'll turn his head when he sees you. Do it, you'll see, it's not a fig ".
The young man who made these remarks was nothing less than a churchwarden! Excerpt from J'ai juste bien, Christine Jeanne, p. 21, Éditions L'Harmattan, Lettres des Caraïbes, May 2022. Words and expressions from Creole add to their flavor.
The quimbois
The origin of the word quimbois. The term quimbois is a simple Frenchization of the Creole word tjenbwa, the French equivalent of the Creole word tjenbwa, or tjenbra, depending on the region of the speaker, and is a Creoleized version of the French verbs tenir and boire in the imperative: tiens bois. This is the hypothesis advocated by Father Labat, based on current practice, especially as there is a correlation between the action of taking and drinking a decoction made from plants and roots, which is often given to soothe pain. For others, however, the expression is less elementary and much more profound than it appears. It is said to be of Kikongo origin, meaning "knowledge", and to have arrived with the slaves who washed ashore in Martinique, albeit, fortunately, with their ancestral baggage, the heritage knowledge viscerally inscribed in their knowledge. Doesn't the mere fact that we've been searching for it without finding any real clue to its origins show that it is above all the equivalent of a certain occultism?
What isa quimbois? It's a generic term that designates a set of magico-religious beliefs and practices found from Martinique to Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and even across the Antilles, in French Guiana, to finally understand that, in all these regions, the words quimbois and witchcraft are just great associates. We also say zenzen or piay, which refer to the same qualification.
It is often compared, sometimes wrongly, to Haitian voodoo, Candomblé in Brazil, Santeria and Palo Monte in Cuba, all of which often have traditional practices derived from the syncretism of Amerindian, European, African and, more recently, Hindu traditions.
It's not a religion, but a recourse to magic and religion, and a rather occult way of practicing religion. Under the pressure of the missionaries, the inhabitants were forced to reject their animist beliefs and accept those of the master, whom they colonized in their own way, and no structured cult was set up as in the wide open spaces. The practice of quimbois would be a good means of resistance to the demands of the békés. It's the object made, the product obtained and also the result. It is made up of various rites and practices. To make quimbois is to work specially and particularly on an object, to practice black magic, witchcraft, acts inseparable from the practice, to meet the mystical needs of those who consult the quimboiseur. The quimboiseur dispenses rites and practices specific to the quimbois.
Other supposed etymological origins. According to Frédéric Mafina in his article Les Immortelles chansons d'Afrique , quoted in Les Dépêches du bassin du Congo, September 23/30, 2021, "the word quimbois comes from the word khimba, the name of an initiation society responsible for training traditional healers (the nganga) in the kingdom of Loango, or from the word kimbanda, the name of traditional healers in the kingdom of Ndongo in Abola, or from kimbwa, the name of a musical rhythm and a traditional Kongo dance. It is possible, but not certain, that the etymological origin of quimbois is also the root of kimbisa (synonymous with palo monte, before becoming a specific branch of it in the 19th century) and Afro-Brazilian quimbanda . All these belief systems incorporate animist principles from traditional West African and Bantu religions".
Is quimbois solely and essentially an African spiritual heritage? Was quimbois really born solely of animist rites that arrived in the West Indies with slavery, and spread throughout the Antilles? When we realize that man's desire, whatever his origin, is to be able to influence the course of his destiny in order to allay his fears, who can and how can we affirm with certainty that the colonists who landed in the West Indies left their beliefs and rites in Europe? This raises the question of the relationship between witchcraft and religion in Europe, particularly in view of certain medieval practices. The idea of the supernatural can come from any belief system. Rituals such as prohibitions, sacrifices, invocations and initiations, which are common to both religion and magic, find concrete and symbolic expression in every mind, whether African or European. Even if African cultural practice is most often in evidence, we must also reckon with "magico-religious" beliefs and practices, concealed under Catholicism. The quimboiseur possesses knowledge.
The quimboiseur. The quimboiseur knows the plants which, as in the days of slavery, were able to poison masters or their animals (dogs, cattle, horses); he knows how to use them for expeditious practices (mancenillium in particular, the roots of certain unsuspected plants which cause death without leaving any trace, etc.). He knows the virtues and toxicities of everything that makes up the forest. Even today, no one openly declares themselves to be a quimboiseur, tjenbwazè, gadézafè chòché or malfentè as they are called in Creole. Nor does anyone dare refer to a potential quimboiseur as such. The quimboiseur has a special status: above all, he's a mystical figure who wields power. The quimboiseur is a feared man whom everyone respects. He owes everything to his reputation, and quite often to the quality of his performance, which has spread by word-of-mouth and earned him the respect of a " menntò " master. He doesn't sleep like the seancier; when he practices, he acts. His knowledge has given him a special status, down through the generations or through his own initiative in books, in contact with grimoires that are not very recommendable for the uninitiated. He has the power to interpret the signs of the visible and the invisible, with which he is in connection; something that naturally eludes ordinary mortals. Quimboists often become practitioners themselves, following initiation or, more often, the transmission of occult knowledge acquired from generation to generation. All social classes discreetly call on his services to find meaning in their lives, to obtain quick answers to unfulfilled desires, or last but not least, for political reasons. A loner, isolated from the general population, he is a mystical figure, the guarantor of a certain tradition, a healer who practices his method in a very radical way. He's known by word-of-mouth, which certainly makes him popular, and his reputation is well established.
He can predict the future, read coffee grounds and all that other "childish" stuff that mediums do, but above all he knows how to practice black magic and witchcraft, holding low masses in certain places, at ungodly hours, under specific trees, to perform the rituals required by his customers' requests. It continues to have a discreet following, and is even considered by some to be a kind of heir to African animism.
The ritual of the quimboiseur. He makes talismans and occult preparations. In conversation, he remains vague, never naming anyone, but making you doubt those around you. He tells you, for example, that it's a chabin or a grizzled man who's doing you harm in your neighborhood, and as there's always a chabin or a grizzled man not far from your home, you set your sights on the first ones you meet, and become their enemy. Once this premise is established, the man asks you to bring him things that are impossible to find, which he can then sell you to simplify things. He prepares an invention of his own. He'll get you to sow or plant his "counter-poisons", which will send your mischief-maker elsewhere, thus protecting you. If you don't have a curly hen chasing quimbois, the deal's done.
Quimbois are consulted for protection against spells, to enter into relationships with spirits, to thwart evil powers, and to prepare aphrodisiac charms and philtres. In Quimbois rituals, he makes potions from snake venom and performs animal sacrifices such as chicken. The toad will be used to settle a contentious issue involving justice, as it will padlock the mouths of two poor animals, preventing the adversary from speaking out.
The rites and practices of the quimboiseur. The quimboiseur is consulted for preparations of all kinds: making potions, giving or making prayers in preparation for exams. Making animal sacrifices (chickens tied in crosses around a place setting). Place small coffins in the "katchimen". Prepare special potions. Protect against evil spells and powers. Restrain a husband or wife with aphrodisiac or love charms. Connect with spirits.
The Pendulum, medium
A clear distinction must be made between a fortune teller and a quimboiseur. A fortune-teller is someone who has the ability to interpret what he or she sees to predict your future. He or she knows how to read palms, consult and interpret cards. He's the equivalent of a medium. His power comes from birth. He has qualities that are conducive to the practice of his gift: he sleeps and reveals to you, while "asleep", truths known only to you. If you don't believe him too much, he may have extracted them from you through his seemingly innocuous questions. He quotes Bible verses. Give you novenas. He treats you with herbs. He's respected and less feared than the quimboiseur, and people unabashedly recommend going to see him for "blesses" - Creole illnesses, sometimes diseases of the unconscious, unexplained afflictions of the soul. In his own way, he "psychologically" helps to build resilience, a way of coming to terms with one's past. He receives patients openly, but discreetly. People bring him epileptics, cancer patients, all those illnesses that resist European medical knowledge.
Fantastic characters
It's the 1970s, and on certain evenings, there's a moving black hand on the walls of the Baie des Tourelles school in Fort-de-France. This totally mysterious hand, which is also highly disrespectful, moves "everywhere", even in places, as Brassens would say, that are forbidden to name here. Soon it's on everyone's lips, in search of sensationalism, in every nook and cranny of the island: you can see it. She really is everywhere. With her reputation ahead of her, the story has become so widely publicized that the black hand has become that of an invisible "character" whose body part is all that can be seen. According to the few unbelievers, this is nothing more than the prowess of a young man equipped with a large white sheet, creating shadow puppets and discreetly projecting this black hand. Shadow puppets? Unfortunately, the locals know nothing about them. It's all a lot of nonsense! So, from gossip to gossip, everyone deduces that what they see is only the hand of a zombie. And so it was that the uninitiated, totally unaware of these practices, started the rumor that spread its "popularity", which was immortalized by the singer-songwriter Fernand Donatien, and since then the black hand has become part of our cultural heritage. Just like the headless man, a living creature who moves through the streets without... a head. In the early 1950s, this other fictional creature could be encountered by any disobedient child at the end of the street. He was later the subject of a song. It haunted childhood and played a part in the education of an entire generation. Today's "cherubs", accustomed to other, far more intense frights, find the legend of the headless man almost childish, and those who believed in it in their day quite naïve. But wasn't it a rather peculiar way of making people understand that a man without a head is frightening, and that you should always keep your head on your shoulders to avoid looking like a monstrous scatterbrain?
