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English
Etymology
From Haitian Creole potomitan, and its source, French poteau mitan (“central post”).
Noun
potomitan (plural potomitans)
- 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.