Last chance to see Vodou artifacts rarely on display to the public

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

For immediate release

Gatineau, Quebec, February 14, 2014 — Manbo, lwa, gede and oungan. Do these words mean something to you? You will learn their meaning and much more by visiting the exhibition Vodou, presented at the Canadian Museum of History until February 23.

There are only a few days left to discover the exhibition that looks beyond the myths and manufactured Hollywood images that are commonly associated with Vodou, bringing the museum-goer into direct contact with the culture and practice of Vodou.

Vodou features more than 300 objects — including altars, drums and vivid representations of lwa used in Vodou ceremonies — mostly from the internationally renowned Marianne Lehmann Collection, recognized as one of the world’s most important collections of Vodou objects. You will also see Canadian-Haitian Vodouists filmed during an actual Vodou ceremony and in videos in which they explain their worldview, history and beliefs underlying Vodou practices.

Vodou is presented by the Museum of History in collaboration with the Fondation pour la préservation, la valorisation et la production d’oeuvres culturelles haïtennes (FPVPOCH), in partnership with the Ethnographic Museum in Geneva, Switzerland and the Tropenmuseum in the Netherlands.

For more information, visit www.historymuseum.ca or call 819-776-7000 or 1-800-555-5621.

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