The images below represent companion evidence to chapter 1 “Zemis and Zombies: Amerindian Healing Legacies on Hispaniola” by Lauren Derby. The images provide a visual archive that was intended to be included in the original volume and gives auxiliary evidence to Derby’s chapter. They also visually represent the material, folk archive that Derby tapped into to illustrate the Taino legacies in vodou.
Figure 1. The interior of the sacred cave of St. Francisco, Bánica, Elias Piña, Dominican Republic, in the central frontier close to the Haitian border. June 2015. All photos by the author unless otherwise noted. See page 26 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 2. Amerindian image with candle in the cave sanctuary dedicated to popular healer Dios Olivorio Mateo at Maguana Arriba, a pilgrimage site outside of San Juan de la Maguana. June 2010. See page 26 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 3. Taíno Zemi deity figure carved in sandstone. 13th -15th century. The Michael C. Rockefeller Collection. Bequest of Nelson C. Rockefeller. Metropolitan Museum of Art. H 27 x W 67/8. See page 26 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 4. Altar of healer Irio Ramírez, a devotee of Dios Olivorio Mateo in San Juan de la Maguana. The bowl of stones and colored glass are filled with water for the Indio spirits who live under the water. June 2010. See page 29 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 5. Used for spells, calabashes, stones, bones and miniature chairs bound with twine are hanging from the ceiling of Jean Daniel Lafontant’s temple Na-Ri-Véh in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. October 2017. See page 29 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 6. El Corral de los Indios, San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic, a sacred site adjacent to a stream. Some archeologists believe this was originally a Taíno ball court used to officiate political disputes. June 2010. See page 29 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 7. Cleansing stones at Olivorio pilgrimage site, Maguana Arriba, San Juan de la Maguana. June 2010. See page 29 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 8. A cross where penitents lay down their stones outside of the sacred cave of St. Francisco on October 4th, his feast day. This pilgrimage has continued since the Amerindian period and draws an estimated crowd of 10,000 devotees from the Dominican Republic and beyond. Oct. 2014. See page 30 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 9. Below, a complex altar consisting of a square basin filled with water, rocks and coins and a painted image of an Indian above in Petionville, Port-au-Prince, on the day of the dead, Nov. 2010. See page 30 in the book for the relevant text.
Figure 10. Altar with three crosses encircled by stones with ritual flags hanging from the roof in San Juan de la Maguana, June 2013. See page 35 in the book for the relevant text.