Haiti voodoo chief Max Beauvoir dies

(16 Sep 2015) Voodoo leader Max Beauvoir died on Wednesday in his homeland, Haiti, where the mixture of beliefs from West Africa and Catholicism is recognised as an official religion. Beauvoir was 79. Voodoo leaders and government officials gathered at Champ de Mars park in the capital, Port-au-Prince, to mark his memory in a farewell ceremony on Wednesday. At the ceremony, President Michel Martelly awarded Beauvoir's daughter, Chantal, with Haiti's highest medal of honour. Born in 1936, Beauvoir was a biochemical engineer who earned degrees abroad and became a Voodoo priest when he returned to his Caribbean homeland in the 1970s. He became Voodoo's supreme chief, or national "ati", in 2008 and led Haiti's main priests' organisation. Voodoo, or Vodou as preferred by Haitians, evolved in the 17th century when colonists brought slaves to Haiti from West Africa. Slaves forced to practice Catholicism adopted saints to coincide with African spirits. Many of Haiti's 10 million people consider themselves followers of both Voodoo and Catholicism. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...