The Courier

Oratory of Saint-Expedit 2008.

© Hegel Goutier

After the misfortunes of Louis Payen and his companion who saw the two women they had brought with them to the island run off with Madagascan fugitive slaves, Etienne Regnault attempted to import women from France for the first 20 settlers in 1665. As no normal Frenchwoman was eager to make such a long trip into the unknown, candidates were recruited from the Salpêtrière, a home for orphans, delinquents and prostitutes in Paris. But of the 20 who set sail for Réunion, only two arrived to the Indian Ocean, the others died or stayed in the African stops.

Then in 1678, a further 20 women were sought in the Portuguese colony of Goa in India. The ‘recruiters’ came across Teixeira da Mota, an Indian woman with 11 daughters, all fathered by a Portuguese man. All of them, mother and daughters, agreed to emigrate and they became the island’s first mixed race inhabitants. With them, the genealogical line of the Técher (de Teixeira) was founded. Subsequently, virtually every boat brought women from India. When slavery was introduced, around 1690, slave women were also brought from Africa

St. Expedit venerated by the Christians and, unexpectedly, by the Hindus

Genuine freedom of religion began in the late 19th century. Then the island saw the construction of mosques, pagodas and other non-Christian places of worship and religious mixing soon followed. Catholicism had been imposed on a generally illiterate population. On Réunion, the symbolism of colours is very strong in the different religions. For Catholicism, white and blue are noble colours, while red is evil. Yet red is the colour of Karli, the principal Hindu goddess.

As the church did not like the devotion of Catholics to St. Expedit, often invoked to do harm to others, it had the chapels devoted to this saint painted red. This produced an unexpected effect as the Hindus were attracted to the red, viewed by them as a holy colour, while the Catholics lost none of their loyalty. An attempt at censorship that truly boomeranged.

* Patrice Louaisel is a psycho-sociologist and lecturer on identity and religion.
Contact: patrice.louaisel@orange.fr