Case file · Folklore / legend
The Bois Caïman ceremony
On the night of 14 August 1791, in a wood near Morne-Rouge in northern Saint-Domingue, Dutty Boukman and the priestess Cécile Fatiman are said to have led a ceremony that launched the Haitian Revolution.
1791 CE · 19.69, -72.24 · status: disputed
The account
A pig was sacrificed and those present swore an oath to rise. The uprising broke out a week later. In Haitian memory Bois Caïman is the founding act of the nation and of Vodou's role in liberation; some Christian preachers instead cast it as a 'pact with the Devil'.
The sceptical view
The earliest accounts were written years later and differ on the date, place and details; historians agree a meeting took place but debate what happened.