potomitan

English

Alternative forms

• poteau mitan, poteau-mitan
• poto mitan

Etymology

From Haitian Creole potomitan, and its source, French poteau mitan (“central post”).

Noun

potomitan (plural potomitans)

1. A sacramental post or pillar in the middle of the peristyle in front of a voodoo temple, used as the focus of certain rituals.
   • 1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 36:

     Around this poteau-mitan revolve the ritual movements and the dance; at its base the offerings are placed; and through it the loa enter the peristyle.

   • 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 226:

     Across from us two young men were setting up a battery of drums; they cast furtive glances at Rachel as she cracked open a bottle of rum, tipped it three times toward the poteau mitan, and took a drink.

   • 1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 277:

     Next, swinging a censer, Divié blessed the poto mitan and all the ounsis who raised their skirts and swished them around to get the full effect of the incense.

   • 2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 36:

     The poteau-mitan is a ladder between Heaven and Earth, a pathway by which the ancestors can rise from below and the spirits descend from above.

   • 2009, Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama, editors, Encyclopedia of African Religion, volume 1, page 394:

     The Lwa are believed to ascend or descend through the potomitan, which is therefore seen as a magical axis.