A young man dies in Beaufort hours after a blow of powder

Rara band leaders in Haiti carry powders. They are mixed from itching bean, hot pepper and other poisonous plants, and they are used in two ways. A leader can leave a packet at a crossroads for a rival band to walk over, or he can lift a handful to his mouth and blow it towards the faces of opposing musicians when two bands meet. A dose is said to bring burning skin, shortness of breath, blindness, paralysis or death, and using one has long been treated as a crime. In 1981 at Beaufort, in the section of Jean Denis in the Artibonite Valley, a young man named Lucien collapsed during a Rara. His parents said he had taken a blow of powder. He fell ill and died the same day, about three hours later. A Vodou priest examined the case and said powder had killed him. Nobody else was affected, which the community explained by saying the powder had been blown in that one man’s name.