potomitan

== English == === Alternative forms === poteau mitan, poteau-mitan poto mitan === Etymology === From Haitian Creole potomitan, and its source, French poteau mitan (“central post”). === Noun === potomitan (plural potomitans) A sacramental post or pillar in the middle of the peristyle in front of a voodoo temple, used as the focus of certain rituals. 1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 277: Next, swinging a censer, Divié blessed the poto mitan and all the ounsis who raised their skirts and swished them around to get the full effect of the incense.