oum-of-three Amanda Dorcil is used to the sound of wild drumming and chanting in her house. And she’s given up moving the strange little dolls off the living-room mantelpiece. But life’s been that way for the 12 years she has spent with her husband, oaya, who follows the ancient religion of voodoo.
Even though they are blissfully happy together in every other way, voodoo is one tricky subject this couple will never see eye-to-eye on.
oaya (42) grew up in the Caribbean nation of Haiti, where animal sacrifices and magical spells are a normal part of everyday life, while New Zealand-born-and-bred Amanda believes voodoo is a big no-no.
“Voodoo can be used for bad things but it can also be used for good,” says oaya. “I explain it like this: the same knife that you use to butter your bread or cut up your vegetables can also be used to kill someone.
“Voodoo teaches you to be respectful to everybody. If you’re innocent, then nothing can be done to you. But if you’re guilty, it’s going to catch up with you in the end.”
However Amanda (40) disagrees with her musician husband’s views. “I agree that there is a lovely celebratory side to voodoo. It includes music and feasts that bring communities together,” says the former model.
“But it also thrives on creating an atmosphere of suspicion. For example, if you are disrespectful to your neighbour, that creates the fear that there’s going to be a curse put on you. Another example would be a salesman who rips you off. Rather than taking it to court and working it out properly, there’s a lot of emphasis on revenge. I think that’s really negative. I’m very much a believer that being positive creates even more positivity.”
The couple met in New York when Amanda moved there from New Zealand after scoring a contract with a top international modelling agency. oaya was there, too, pursuing modelling and music, when one night he strolled into a bar, met Amanda and the two fell in love.
A few months after their first meeting, oaya took Amanda back to Haiti, where she got a first-hand taste of voodoo. Amanda was stunned to see a ceremony involving 2000 Haitian villagers and the sacrifice of a bull in the hope of bringing a good crop the next season.
“Women went into trances and the voodoo doctor rattled the shakers over them as they were having seizures on the ground,” she says.
The next morning, the couple visited a village elder, who told them that Amanda would soon be giving birth to oaya’s son. Six months later, Amanda returned to New Zealand with oaya arriving shortly after. It wasn’t long before she discovered that she was pregnant with their son oaya Junior (now 11).
Even though the voodoo prediction had come true, Amanda still refused to believe.The couple now have three children son oanu (seven) and Amanda’s daughter from a previous relationship, Yasmin (15). The proud parents took their children to Haiti two months ago and visited a bizarre market full of voodoo paraphernalia.
“There were narrow little corridors and, the further in you went, the darker it got,” says Amanda. “Around us were voodoo women, wearing their white dresses and their coloured silk scarves. Everywhere you saw their little shrines, voodoo bottles and dolls with pins in them, as well as chickens waiting to be slaughtered and some hanging up, already dead.”
The scene was overwhelming for the children, with youngest son oanu fearing that a “boogieman” would jump out at him, and daughter Yasmin’s opinion that the experience was “pretty full-on”.
Despite his children not being keen on the religion, oaya continues to practise voodoo, but says he doesn’t go as far as sacrificing animals. Amanda says she’s happy for the children to learn about their father’s beliefs but she would like to protect them from the negative aspects.
“I’ll be there making sure it’s okay,” she says. “I’ll be saying things like, ‘You can tell them that,’ or ‘Stop there, please.’ It’s good for them to know but in small steps.”
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