HomeAfricaGuinea Fowl or Pintade: a Photo Essay

By Dady Chery

Haiti Chery

Guinea Fowl (Pintade, or Numida ptilorhyncha) are variously described in a book by Jean-Marie Lamblard as:

“Birds of the mind who embody aspirations to ascend to the stars…. Ones who witnessed the birth of mankind and were partners to the first men on earth…. Ones who have never accepted domestication and look exactly as their ancestors did many thousands of years ago.”

The book guides the reader from Pharaonic Egypt to Alexandria, Greece, Abyssinia, Venice, Africa, and America in reverse order. The story includes the role of “oiseaux negres” in Haitian Vodou, where these birds are a symbol of the runaway slave because they reclaimed their freedom immediately after being introduced to the island in the early 16th century.

This guinea fowl, probably from Abyssinia, represents the bird of paradise, showing the promise of resurrection.

Greek skyphos with black figures, 5th Century B.C.

 

According to legend, amber originated from the tears of Meleager’s inconsolable sisters who, upon his death, turned into guinea fowl. Detail of a Roman sarcophagus.

To the ancient Greeks, the guinea fowl resulted from the metamorphosis of Meleager’s sisters into birds from their grief. In Greek, “guinea” meant meleagridis.

The people of the Nubians, the “Nehesiou”, whose name is written with the image of the bird of Nubia. Base of statue of Darius1st found at Susa. 5th century. Museum in Tehran.

The goose with a thousand pearls. Popular art of Tanzania.

Large group of guinea fowl, in east Africa. The text of a “Journey to Ouaday” by Sheikh Mohammed Ibn Omar El-Tounsy, translated into French in 1851, refers to an embassy gifts of guinea fowl eggs collected by thousands by east-African farmers.

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Guinea fowl | Pintades | Oiseaux Nègres | Numida ptilorhyncha

In memory of those lost today.

Sources: Haiti Chery | Based on the book:  L’Oiseau Nègre: L’Aventure des Pintades Dionysiaques, by Jean-Marie-Lamblard, with a foreword by Ernest Pignon-Ernest. Publisher: Imago (2003) | Pintade, Oiseau Africain, Pintade et Mythologie

About Dady Chery

Dr. Dady Chery is a Haitian-born poet, playwright, journalist and scientist. She is the author of the book "We Have Dared to Be Free: Haiti's Struggle Against Occupation." Her broad interests encompass science, culture, and human rights. She writes extensively about Haiti and world issues such as climate change and social justice. Her many contributions to Haitian news include the first proposal that Haiti’s cholera had been imported by the UN, and the first story that described Haiti’s mineral wealth for a popular audience.


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