Max Beauvoir
Max Beauvoir | |
|---|---|
| Born | Max Gesner Beauvoir August 25, 1936 |
| Died | September 12, 2015 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | Haitian |
| Other names | Houngan of the Stars |
| Alma mater | University of Paris City College of New York |
| Occupation | Houngan, biochemist, chemical engineer |
| Known for | Vodou leader |
| Title | Supreme Chief, High Priest |
Max Gesner Beauvoir (August 25, 1936 – September 12, 2015) was a Haitian biochemist and houngan. Beauvoir held one of the highest titles of Voudou priesthood, "Supreme Servitur" (supreme servant), a title given to Houngans and Mambos (Voudou priests and priestesses) who have a great and very deep knowledge of the religion, and status within the religion. As Supreme Servitur, Max was seen as a high authority within Vodou.
Biography[edit]
Beauvoir was born on August 25, 1936, in Haiti. He left Haiti in the 1950s and graduated in 1958 from City College of New York with a degree in chemistry.[1] He continued his studies at the Sorbonne from 1959 to 1962, when he graduated with a degree in biochemistry. In 1965, at Cornell Medical Center, he supervised a team in synthesizing metabolic steroids. This led him to a job at an engineering company in northern New Jersey, and later to a period as engineer at Digital Equipment Company in Massachusetts. His interest in steroids led him to experiment with hydrocortisone synthesized from plants; however, the death of his father led him to move back to Haiti in January 1973 and become a voodoo priest.[1]
In 1974, he founded Le Péristyle de Mariani,[2] a Hounfour in his home (which also served as a village clinic) in the village of Mariani. He had a troubled relationship with the ruling Duvalier family. While he urged that they do more to meet the medical needs of the poor, his status as a houngan kept him from being subjected to much of the wanton violence exacted by the Tonton Macoutes against critics.[citation needed]
During this period, he founded the Group for Studies and Research on the African Tradition (French: Groupe d'Etudes et de Recherches Traditionnelles, GERT) with a group of scholars, and later founded the Bòde Nasyonal in 1986 to counter the effects of the post-Duvalier dechoukaj violence which had targeted both Vodou practitioners and the Tonton Macoutes paramilitary, both of which had been used by the Duvalier regime to oppress the Haitian people.[citation needed]
In 1996, Beauvoir founded The Temple of Yehwe, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit organization for the promotion of education concerning Afro-American religion. In 1997, he became involved with the creation of the KOSANBA group at the University of California, Santa Barbara.[citation needed]
In Port-au-Prince, Beauvoir died on Saturday, September 12, 2015, aged 79.[3]
Involvement with KNVA[edit]
In 2005, he launched the Federasyon Nasyonal Vodou Ayisyen, which he later renamed in 2008 as Konfederasyon Nasyonal Vodou Ayisyen; he serves as "chef Supreme" or "Ati Nasyonal" of the organization, which is an attempt to organize the defense of Vodou in the country against defamation.[4]
In media[edit]
- Beauvoir was interviewed in 1982 by Canadian ethnobotanist Wade Davis for his 1985 book The Serpent and the Rainbow.
- Beauvoir held a patent on the process of obtaining hecogenin from plant leaves until 1993.[5]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Lacey, Marc (4 April 2008). "New head of voodoo brings on the charm". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2011. CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
- ^ What is The Temple of Yehwe
- ^ "Priestly spirit". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
- ^ "Max Beauvoir, King, but of Grand Voodoo Priests, Ordinary Voodoo Priests"
- ^ US application 3981867, Max G. Beauvoir, "Process for obtaining sapogenin particularly hecogenin from plant material such as agave sisalana leaves", published 21 Sep 1976.
