{{Short description|Secret society in Haiti}} The '''Bizango''' are secret societies active in Haiti. Many of their practices are associated with Haitian Vodou.
They have been termed "one of the most important of the secret societies of Vodou".{{sfn|Fernández Olmos|Paravisini-Gebert|2011|p=252}} Bizango groups are widespread throughout Haiti,{{sfn|Fernández Olmos|Paravisini-Gebert|2011|p=152}} and play an important role as arbiters in peasant social life.{{sfn|Fernández Olmos|Paravisini-Gebert|2011|p=252}}
The anthropologist Wade Davis reported that the Bizango were involved in poisoning individuals and then providing them with an antidote to leave them in a pliant state, which he associated with zombification. In Davis' view, this was how the Bizango enforced their social codes against those who transgressed them.{{sfn|Fernández Olmos|Paravisini-Gebert|2011|p=152}} The Bizango's practice of capturing {{lang|ht|zombis}} is often taken as evidence of these societies' malevolent nature.{{sfn|McAlister|1995|p=317}}
In Haitian folklore, a recurring fear is that the Bizango can transform themselves into dogs or other animals, in which form they walk the streets at night.{{sfnm|1a1=McAlister|1y=2002|1p=88|2a1=Derby|2y=2015|2pp=402-403}}
==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist|22em}}
===Sources=== {{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}} * {{cite journal |last=Derby |first=Lauren |year=2015 |title=Imperial Idols: French and United States Revenants in Haitian Vodou |journal=History of Religions |volume=54 |issue=4 |pages=394–422 |doi=10.1086/680175 |jstor=10.1086/680175 |s2cid=163428569 }} * {{cite book |last=Desmangles |first=Leslie |title=The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti |location=Chapel Hill |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0807843932 }} * {{cite book |last1=Fernández Olmos |first1=Margarite |last2=Paravisini-Gebert |first2=Lizabeth |year=2011 |title=Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo |location=New York and London |publisher=New York University Press |edition=second |isbn=978-0-8147-6228-8 }} * {{cite book |last=McAlister |first=Elizabeth |editor-first=Cosentino |editor-last=Donald J. |title=Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou |publisher=Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History |year=1995 |pages=305–321 |chapter=A Sorcerer's Bottle: The Visual Art of Magic in Haiti |isbn=0-930741-47-1 |url=http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=elizabeth_mcalister |access-date=2015-05-03 |archive-date=2015-05-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003906/http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=elizabeth_mcalister |url-status=live }} * {{cite book |last=McAlister |first=Elizabeth |year=2002 |title=Rara! Vodou, Power, and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520228221}} * {{cite book |last=Métraux |first=Alfred |title=Voodoo in Haiti |year=1972 |orig-year=1959 |translator=Hugo Charteris |location=New York |publisher=Schocken Books }} {{refend}}
Category:Religion in Haiti Category:Haitian Vodou