Vodou (Anglicized: Voodoo) is a name attributed to a New World syncretistic religion, or family of religions, based on the faiths of the Fon, Ewe, and related peoples of West Africa (see West African Vodun), of the Kongo people of Central Africa (see Lemba), and of Christianity. Anglicisation or anglicization (see -ise vs -ize) is a process of conversion of verbal or written elements of any other language into a more comprehensible English The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought This is an article about the Fon people for the article about the Fon chieftains of Cameroon see Fon (Cameroon. The Ewe are a people located on the southeast corner of Ghana, east of the Volta River, in an area now described as the Volta Region. West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Dahomey mythology|Yoruba mythology Vodun or Vudun (vodṹ — that is with a nasal u on a high tone) (so The Bakongo or the Kongo people (meaning "hunter" also sometimes referred to as Congolese, live along the Atlantic coast of Africa Central Africa is a core Region of the African Continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad The Bakongo or the Kongo people (meaning "hunter" also sometimes referred to as Congolese, live along the Atlantic coast of Africa Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings It is found in areas of the African diaspora, especially Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Brazil. The African diaspora was the movement of Africans and their descendants to places throughout the world - predominantly to the Americas, then later to Europe, the Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with The Republic of Cuba (ˈkjuːbə or) consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous island of the Greater Antilles) Isla de la |utc_offset = -2 to -4 |time_zone_DST = BRST |utc_offset_DST = -2 to -5 |cctld This article is primarily concerned with the form of the religion as it is practiced in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. See Louisiana Voodoo for the Afro-creole tradition of New Orleans, Santería and Arará for the forms local to Cuba, and Candomblé and Umbanda for Brazil. Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, originated from the ancestral religions of the African diaspora. New Orleans (nʲuːˈɔrliənz nʲuːˈɔrlənz French: La Nouvelle-Orléans) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana Santería, also known as La Regla de Lukumi (Lukumi's Rule and The Way of the Saints is an Afro-Cuban religious tradition derived from traditional beliefs The term Arará refers to a Minority group in Cuba (especially in the provinces of la Habana and Matanzas) and elsewhere in the Candomblé (pronounced /kɐ̃dõˈblɛ/is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion practiced chiefly in Brazil. Basic beliefs and practices The Umbanda creeds and practices are an eclectic mixture from three main sources from Catholicism Umbanda adopted the ideas of
In Vodou [voo - doo], all Creation is divine and therefore contains divine power, which can be accessed by practitioners. The core functions of Vodou are to explain the forces of the universe, to influence those forces, and to influence human behavior. Vodou oral traditions carry genealogy, history, and fables. Adherents honor deities and venerate ancestors, both ancient and recent.
When the word Vodou is capitalized, it denotes the religion. In lower case, it means the spirits of the religion.
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African origins
The word voodoo derives from vodũ, which in Fon, Ewe, and related language (distributed from contemporary Ghana to Benin) means spirit or divine creature (in the sense of divine creation). The Gbe languages (ɡ͡bè form a cluster of about twenty related Languages stretching across the area between eastern Ghana and western Nigeria. The Republic of Ghana is a country in West Africa. It borders Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast to the west Burkina Faso to the north Togo to the Benin (bə'nɪn officially the Republic of Benin, and also known as Benin Republic, is a country in Western Africa.
The cultural area of the Fon, Ewe, and Yoruba peoples share common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle Nana Buluku, the God-Creator, and the vodou(s) or God-Actor(s), daughters and sons of the Creator's twin children Mawu (goddess of the moon) and Lisa (god of the sun). This is an article about the Fon people for the article about the Fon chieftains of Cameroon see Fon (Cameroon. The Ewe are a people located on the southeast corner of Ghana, east of the Volta River, in an area now described as the Volta Region. The Yoruba (Yo•row•ba ( Yorùbá in Yoruba Orthography) are one of the largest ethno-linguistic or Ethnic groups in West Africa Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Cosmology (from Greek grc κοσμολογία - grc κόσμος kosmos, "universe" and grc -λογία -logia) is study Nana Buluku is the Supreme Deity of the Fon from Dahomey. Nana Buluku is an androgynous deity God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In Dahomey mythology, Mawu (alternately Mahu) is a creator goddess, associated with the Sun and Moon. The God-Creator is the cosmogonical principle and does not trifle with the mundane; the vodou(s) are the God-Actor(s) who actually govern earthly issues. This article discusses scientific theories of creation (cosmogony
The pantheon of vodoun is quite large and complex. VodouThe Dahomey (or Fon) are a nation located in Benin, Africa. In one version, there are seven male and female twins of Mawu, interethnic and related to natural phenomena or historical or mythical individuals, and dozens of ethnic vodous, defenders of a certain clan or tribe.
West African Vodun has its primary emphasis on the ancestors, with each family of spirits having its own specialized priest- and priestesshood which are often hereditary. In many African clans, deities might include Mami Wata, who are gods and goddesses of the waters; Legba, who in some clans is virile and young in contrast to the old man form he takes in Haiti and in many parts of Togo; Gu (or Ogoun), ruling iron and smithcraft; Sakpata, who rules diseases; and many other spirits distinct in their own way to West Africa. Mami Wata is a pantheon of water Spirits or deities, venerated in West, Central, and Southern Africa In Haitian Vodou, Papa Legba is the intermediary between the loa and humanity For the Togolese prefecture see Ogou Togo. In Haitian Vodou and Yoruba mythology, Ogun (or Ogoun In Dahomey mythology, Shakpana (or Sopono Sakpata) is the god of smallpox
European colonialism, followed by totalitarian regimes in West Africa, suppressed Vodun as well as other forms of the religion. See Colony and Colonization for examples of colonialism which do not refer to Western colonialism West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. However, because the Vodou deities are born to each African clan-group, and its clergy is central to maintaining the moral, social, and political order and ancestral foundation of its villagers, it proved to be impossible to eradicate the religion. Though permitted by Haiti's 1987 constitution, which recognizes religious equality, many books and films have sensationalized voodoo as black magic based on animal and human sacrifices to summon zombies and evil spirits.
Today in West Africa, Vodun is estimated to be practised by over 30 million people. Vodoun became the official religion of Benin in 1996. Both American and Caribbean variations of the faith system center on ancestral spirits and two main pantheons of Lwas; tribal relationships are de-emphasized.
Haitian Vodou
In Haitian Vodou or Sèvis Lwa or "Service to the Spirits" in Haitian Creole (kreyòl ayisyen), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many different people or nations of Africa have representation in the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa. Haitian Creole language ( kreyòl ayisyen) often called simply Creole or Kreyòl ( pronounced) is a language spoken in Haiti The Bakongo or the Kongo people (meaning "hunter" also sometimes referred to as Congolese, live along the Atlantic coast of Africa Central Africa is a core Region of the African Continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad The Yoruba (Yo•row•ba ( Yorùbá in Yoruba Orthography) are one of the largest ethno-linguistic or Ethnic groups in West Africa Nigeria, officially named the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal Constitutional republic comprising thirty-six states and one Federal Islam has also been noted in some services. Among these other nations are the Taíno and Arawak Indians, venerated as the indigenous population (and hence, a form of ancestors) of the island now known as Hispaniola. The Taínos were pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term Arawak (from aru, the Lokono word for Cassava flour was used to designate the Amerindians encountered by the Spanish in For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. Hispaniola (from Spanish, La Española) is the second-largest and most populous Island of the Antilles, lying between the islands of A large and significant portion of Haitian Vodou most often overlooked by scholars, especially English-speaking ones, until recently is the Kongo component. The Kingdom of Kongo (1400 – 1914 ( Kongo: Kongo dya Ntotila or Wene wa Kongo) was an African kingdom located in west central Africa in what The entire Northern area of Haiti is especially influenced by Kongo practice. In the North, it is more often called Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rites of the Loango area and Mayombe. The Lemba or Lembaa are an Ethnic group numbering 70000 in Southern Africa who claim a common descent and belonging to the Jewish people In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many loas or lwas (also a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin such as Basimbi, Lemba, etc.
Haitian creole forms of Vodou exist in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, parts of Cuba, the United States, and other places that Haitian immigrants dispersed to over the years. Haiti ( English: ˈheɪ·tiː or haɪ·ˈjiː·tiː French Haïti a·i·ti Haitian Creole: For the languages see Creole language. For other meanings see Creole (disambiguation. The Dominican Republic ( Spanish: República Dominicana;) is a nation located in the Caribbean region and shares the island of Hispaniola with The United States of America —commonly referred to as the However, it is important to note that the Vodoun religion existed in the United States, having been brought over by West Africans enslaved in America, specifically from the Ewe, Fon, Mina, Kabaye, and Nago groups. Some of its more enduring forms still exist in the Gullah Islands. The Gullah are African Americans who live in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the There is a re-emergence of these Vodoun traditions in America, which maintains the same linealritual and cosmological elements as is practiced in West Africa. These and other African-diasporic religions such as Lukumi or Regla de Ocha (also known as Santería) in Cuba, Candomblé and Umbanda in Brazil, all religions that evolved among descendants of transplanted Africans in the Americas. Santería, also known as La Regla de Lukumi (Lukumi's Rule and The Way of the Saints is an Afro-Cuban religious tradition derived from traditional beliefs Candomblé (pronounced /kɐ̃dõˈblɛ/is an African-originated or Afro-Brazilian religion practiced chiefly in Brazil. Basic beliefs and practices The Umbanda creeds and practices are an eclectic mixture from three main sources from Catholicism Umbanda adopted the ideas of
History
The majority of the Africans who were brought as slaves to Haiti were from Western and Central Africa. 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African American Vernacular English ( AAVE) – also called African American English; less precisely Black English, Black Vernacular, Notable African-Americans or Black Americans For people from current African countries see lists for individual countries List of first African-American mayors for most mayor listings African Americans are a demographic minority in the United States. This is a list of landmark legislation, court decisions, executive orders and proclamations in the United States significantly affecting African Americans This is an alphabetical list of African-American-related topics: A African American African American culture This is a list of articles that are related to African and black people As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another The Vodoun practitioners brought over and enslaved in the United States primarily descend from the Ewe, Anlo-Ewe, and other West African groups. The survival of the belief systems in the New World is remarkable, although the traditions have changed with time and have even taken on some Catholic forms of worship. The New World is one of the names used for the non-Eurasian/non-African parts of the Earth specifically the Americas and Australia. One of the largest differences, however, between African and Haitian Vodou is that the transplanted Africans of Haiti were obliged to disguise their loa (sometimes spelled lwa) or spirits as Roman Catholic saints, an element of a process called syncretism. The Loa (also Lwa or L'wha) are the spirits of the Vodou religion practiced in Haiti, and other parts of the world A saint (from the Latin sanctus) is a human being to whom has been attributed (and who has generally demonstrated a high level of Holiness and Sanctity Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought
Roman Catholicism was mixed into the religion to hide their "pagan" religion from their masters, who had forbidden them to practice it. Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world Any practitioners caught doing anything outside of the Catholic religion would be subject to execution. To say that Haitian Vodou is simply a mix of West African religions with a veneer of Roman Catholicism would be correct. To this day, many uneducated Haitians practicing this religion will integrate Roman Catholic practices by including their prayers in the ceremony. Throughout the history of the island from the day of independence of 1804 to the present, missionaries repeatedly came over to the island to convert the Haitians back to the Christian religion into which they were forced. This has set many Haitians to project vodou as an evil religion, from the influence of the missionaries to abusive practitioners who use vodou to persecute. Practitioners want to convince other religious groups in the Haitian Islands that their religion involves God as much as Christianity.
Vodou, as it is known in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora, is the result of the pressures of many different cultures and ethnicities of people being uprooted from Africa and imported to Hispaniola during the African slave trade. The term Diaspora (in Greek, διασπορά &ndash " a scattering or sowing of seeds " refers any population sharing common ethnic Under slavery, African culture and religion was suppressed, lineages were fragmented, and people pooled their religious knowledge and from this fragmentation became culturally unified. In addition to combining the spirits of many different African and Indian nations, Vodou has incorporated pieces of Roman Catholic liturgy to replace lost prayers or elements. Images of Catholic saints are used to represent various spirits or "mistè" ("mysteries", actually the preferred term in Haiti), and many saints themselves are honored in Vodou in their own right. This syncretism allows Vodou to encompass the African, the Indian, and the European ancestors in a whole and complete way. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. It is truly a Kreyòl religion. Haitian Creole language ( kreyòl ayisyen) often called simply Creole or Kreyòl ( pronounced) is a language spoken in Haiti
The most historically important Vodou ceremony in Haitian history was the Bwa Kayiman or Bois Caïman ceremony of August 1791 that began the Haitian Revolution, in which the spirit Ezili Dantor possessed a priestess and received a black pig as an offering, and all those present pledged themselves to the fight for freedom. Bois Caïman is the purported site of the Vodou ceremony presided over by Dutty Boukman on August 14, 1791. The Revolution (1791–1804 was the most successful of African Slave rebellions in the Western Hemisphere Ezili Dantor (also spelled Erzulie with Danto or Danthor) is the Petro nation aspect of the Erzulie family of lwa, or spirits The Creole Pig was a breed of Pig indigenous to the Caribbean nation of Haiti. This ceremony ultimately resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from French colonial rule in 1804, and the establishment of the first black people's republic in the history of the world and the second independent nation in the Americas. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. France was a dominant empire in the world from the 1600s to the late 1960s possessing many colonies in various locations around the world A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its
Haitian vodou crossed over in the United States as early as the 1800s, but surfaced mainly in New Orleans. One practitioner that popularized it in the area was the famed Vodou Queen Marie Laveau, but other forms of vodou existed in the United States dating before the 1776 revolution. Marie Laveau ( September 10, 1801 – June 16, 1881) was an Louisiana Creole practitioner of Voudou renowned in New Orleans Because of the system imposed to slaves in all of the British colonies in the western hemisphere, many masters were able to control their slaves to make absolutely no attempt to practice any religion of African origin. Drum beats heard by the master in the American territory would cause slaves to be subject to punishment.
Over the years Haitian Vodou had received a negative reputation by the ignorance of the Americans, Europeans and people throughout the world that were exposed to Haitians. Missionaries had reported it, but it wasn't until the latter half of the 19th century that a book written in 1886 by Sir Spencer St. Johns, Hayti, or the Black Republic, accused Haitian Vodou practitioners of practicing cannibalism. Cannibalism (from Spanish es ''caníbal'' in connection with cannibalism among the Antillean Caribs, also called anthropophagy (from Greek ἄνθρωπος Throughout the 20th century, Haitian Vodou was depicted by Hollywood as being an evil and menacing religion with spells by witch doctors and tales of zombies. However, by 1950, a film director named Maya Deren did a three-year research project from 1947 to 1950 in which she showed vodou as a religion of beauty and magnificence. Maya Deren ( April 29, 1917, Kiev – October 13, 1961, New York City) born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an She even wrote the book The Divine Horseman, which gives details about the religion.
Though Vodou had a bad reputation in the early half of the 20th century in America and Haiti, by the 1960s Haitians migrating to the United Stated began to grow in greater numbers. Though the practice was acceptable but did not constitute a religion, Haitians began to expose its practice in the larger Haitian communities in New York, Miami, Chicago, and Philadelphia and even in Montreal and Paris. Though Haitians practiced and showed their vodou pride throughout the country and even during Mardi Gras, Haiti did not recognize vodou as a religion until April 4, 2003. " Mardi Gras " ( French for Fat Tuesday) is the day before Ash Wednesday.
Today Vodou is practiced not only by Haitians, but by Americans and people of many nationalities that are exposed to the Haitian culture. However, because of the demand some impose on vodou, high priests and priestesses began the abuse of exploiting their clients and asking high monetary funds for work that brings no result. It can be said that the culture of vodou is becoming a dying religion due to the greed of many who practice. It is known that the majority of Haitians involved in the practice have been initiated to become a Houngan or Mambo. In Haiti, a houngan or mambo is considered a person of possible high power and status who can make a significant amount of money. It's a growing occupation in Haiti that attracts many impoverished citizen to practice this field, not only to have power but to have money as well. Many vodou practitioners with a hunger to live a life of money and power go into this field to exploit foreigners and Haitians who are uneducated about vodou into their web of scams to collect many monetary funds with exchange of poor quality work.
Vodou and spiritualism
Vodou is a religion/practice that is greatly concerned with spirits. Practitioners that participate may be exposed to the spirits carried by their ancestors that they once served. Those who don’t practice may be involved with great exposure to spiritual experiences. One way that those who participate or practice can have the spiritual experience is when one is possessed by the lwa. When the lwa comes on the practitioner, their body is being used by the spirit. At this point the spirit will perform acts that it desires to do. Some spirits can give prophecies of upcoming events or situation around the possessed one, also called "Chwal" or the "Horse of the Spirit. " When one is possessed, the possessed one has no conscious memory of what has occurred. There is no such thing as a partial possession but only full. Practitioners experience this as being a beautiful but very tiring experience. Most people who are possessed by the spirit get a feeling of blackness or energy flowing through their body as if they were being electrocuted. When this occurs, it is a sign that a possession is in the works. The practitioner has absolutely no recollection and in fact when the possessing spirit leaves the body, the possessed one is tired and wonders what has happened during the possession. Practitioners with this gift do not like being overexposed because it drains immense energy from them. Not many can have or do have this gift. This gift cannot be purchased but only the spirit/lwa can choose who it wants to possess, for the spirit may have a mission that it can carry out spiritually. Also, those possessed by the lwa may be at a very high spiritual level that their soul is at a mature advanced status.
Practitioners who claim that they do not feel fatigue after every possession, or who are possessed by more than one spirit without feeling tired, are charlatans. They pretend to be possessed and act like they have the spirit on them without having any spirit present. Some of these false practices are done by people who want the attention or importance, because those who are possessed do carry a high importance in the ceremony as the enlightened. These practitioners with fake possession practice this by drinking to the point where their drunkenness creates a new character that is not recognized by others. Sometimes they pretend to have the possession but with a lwa that drinks and carry the act by drinking more. Others who do not drink just carry on the act until they conduct a lwa-like task that a human can't perform and that's when jeopardy hits the fake possessed person. Beware of these kinds of people. Vodou has some scam artists, just as many other religions have. This is due to the ego of one who wants to be noticed, respected and popular. The attention paid to the possessed one is great, but at the same time creates an individual thirst for power with no spiritual gifts to act out the role of the lwa.
Beliefs
Haitian Vodouisants believe, in accordance with widespread African tradition, that there is one God who is the creator of all, referred to as "Bondyè" (from the French "Bon Dieu" or "Good God"). God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Bondyè is distinguished from the God of "the whites" in a dramatic speech by the houngan Boukman at Bwa Kayiman, but is often considered the same God of other religions, such as Christianity and Islam. Houngan is the term for a male (as opposed to the mambo, or female High Priest in the Voodoo religion in Haiti. Dutty Boukman was a houngan, or vodoun priest whose death was considered a catalyst to the slave uprising that marked the beginning of the Haïtian Revolution Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. Bondyè is distant from His/Her/Its creation though, and so it is the spirits or the "mysteries", "saints", or "angels" that the Vodouisant turns to for help, as well as to the ancestors. An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition Some Vodouisants do not believe in Bondyè, instead referring to Damballa as the Creator. In Vodou, Damballa is one of the most important of all the Loa. Others will believe in both: with Damballa having a lesser role in creation. A Vodouisant will usually have an idea God, regardless of the relationship with Damballa (from identity with God, to Damballa being a lesser spirit).
There are said to be twenty-one nations or "Nation" of spirits, also sometimes called "lwa-yo". Some of the more important nations of lwa are the Rada (corresponding to the Gbe-speaking ethnic groups in the modern-day Republic of Benin, Nigeria, and Togo); the Nago (synonymous with the Yoruba-speaking ethnicities in Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, and Togo); and the numerous West-Central African ethnicities united under the ethnonym Kongo. The Bakongo or the Kongo people (meaning "hunter" also sometimes referred to as Congolese, live along the Atlantic coast of Africa The spirits also come in "families" that all share a surname, like Ogou, or Ezili, or Azaka or Ghede. For the Togolese prefecture see Ogou Togo. In Haitian Vodou and Yoruba mythology, Ogun (or Ogoun In Vodou, Erzulie (sometimes spelled Ezili) is a family of lwa, or spirits In Haitian Vodou, the Guédé (also spelled Gede or Ghede, gede in Haitian are the family of spirits that embody the powers of Death and For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Dantor and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. Ezili Dantor (also spelled Erzulie with Danto or Danthor) is the Petro nation aspect of the Erzulie family of lwa, or spirits The Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. In Dominican Vodou, there is also an Agua Dulce or "Sweet Waters" family, which encompasses all Amerindian spirits. For indigenous peoples in the United States other than Hawaii and Alaska see also Native Americans in the United States. There are literally hundreds of lwa. Well known individual lwa include Danbala Wedo, Papa Legba Atibon, and Agwe Tawoyo. In Vodou, Damballa is one of the most important of all the Loa. In Haitian Vodou, Papa Legba is the intermediary between the loa and humanity In Vodou, and especially in Haiti, Agwé, also spelt Agoueh, is a Loa who rules over the sea Fish and aquatic plants as well as
In Haitian Vodou, spirits are divided according to their nature of their nations. There are the nation of the Congo, Rada, Petwo, Nago, Dahomey, Ghede, and etc. The two popular categories the Haitian believers utilizes are the nation of the Petwo, the more aggressive and the Rada, the calmer spirits.
Rada spirits are familial and congenial, while Petwo spirits are more combative and restless. Both can be dangerous if angry or upset, and despite claims to the contrary, neither is "good" or "evil" in relation to the other. Everyone is said to have spirits, and each person is considered to have a special relationship with one particular spirit who is said to "own their head", however each person may have many lwa, and the one that owns their head, or the "met tet", may or may not be the most active spirit in a person's life in Haitian belief.
In serving the spirits, the Vodouisant seeks to achieve harmony with their own individual nature and the world around them, manifested as personal power and resourcefulness in dealing with life. Part of this harmony is membership in and maintaining relationships within the context of family and community. A Vodou house or society is organized on the metaphor of an extended family, and initiates are the "children" of their initiators, with the sense of hierarchy and mutual obligation that implies.
Most Vodouisants are not initiated, referred to as being "bossale"; it is not a requirement to be an initiate in order to serve one's spirits. Initiation is a Rite of passage Ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society There are clergy in Haitian Vodou whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage. Priests are referred to as "Houngans" and priestesses as "Mambos". A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities Below the houngans and mambos are the hounsis, who are initiates who act as assistants during ceremonies and who are dedicated to their own personal mysteries.
One does not serve just any lwa but only the ones they "have" according to one's destiny or nature. Which spirits a person "has" may be revealed at a ceremony, in a reading, or in dreams. However all Vodouisants also serve the spirits of their own blood ancestors, and this important aspect of Vodou practice is often glossed over or minimized in importance by commentators who do not understand the significance of it. The ancestor cult is in fact the basis of Vodou religion, and many lwa like Agasou (formerly a king of Dahomey) for example are in fact ancestors who are said to have been raised up to divinity.
Liturgy and practice
After a day or two of preparation setting up altars, ritually preparing and cooking fowl and other foods, etc. , a Haitian Vodou service begins with a series of Catholic prayers and songs in French, then a litany in Kreyòl and African "langaj" that goes through all the European and African saints and lwa honored by the house, and then a series of verses for all the main spirits of the house. This is called the "Priyè Gine" or the African Prayer. After more introductory songs, beginning with saluting the spirit of the drums named Hounto, the songs for all the individual spirits are sung, starting with the Legba family through all the Rada spirits, then there is a break and the Petwo part of the service begins, which ends with the songs for the Gede family. As the songs are sung spirits will come to visit those present by taking possession of individuals and speaking and acting through them. There are some cases where some practitioners who seek attention would pretend to get possessed. There are times when the houngan would drink until he is very drunk at the end of the ceremony. Some practitioners of these vodou ceremony fall into being fooled by the vodou priest. When a ceremony is made, only the family of those possessed is benefited. This is the greatest time these mambo or houngan can take your luck if they ask for champagne from you. Beware when that occurs. Sometimes these ceremony have some dispute going among the singers because of the way its sung. In Haiti, these vodou ceremonies, depending on the Priest or Priestess, may be more organized. But in the United States, vodou practitioner and the priests/priestess takes it as a folly party. Each spirit is saluted and greeted by the initiates present and will give readings, advice and cures to those who approach them for help. Many hours later in morning, the last song is sung, guests leave, and all the exhausted hounsis and houngans and manbos can go to sleep.
On the individual's household level, a Vodouisant or "sèvitè"/"serviteur" may have one or more tables set out for their ancestors and the spirit or spirits that they serve with pictures or statues of the spirits, perfumes, foods, and other things favored by their spirits. The most basic set up is just a white candle and a clear glass of water and perhaps flowers. On a particular spirit's day, one lights a candle and says an Our Father and Hail Mary, salutes Papa Legba and asks him to open the gate, and then one salutes and speaks to the particular spirit like an elder family member. The Lord's Prayer, also known as the Our Father or Pater noster, is probably the best-known Prayer in Christianity. The Hail Mary or Ave Maria ( Latin) is a traditional Christian Prayer asking for the Intercession of the Virgin Mary, the Ancestors are approached directly, without the mediating of Papa Legba, since they are said to be "in the blood".
Values and ethics
The cultural values that Vodou embraces center around ideas of dishonor and greed - to the family and society, and to oneself. There is also a notion of relative propriety — and what is appropriate to someone with Dambala Wedo as their head may be different from someone with Ogou Feray as their head. In Vodou, Damballa is one of the most important of all the Loa. For example, one spirit is very cool and the other is very hot. Coolness overall is valued, and so is the ability and inclination to protect oneself and one's own if necessary. Love and support within the family of the Vodou society seems to be the most important consideration. Generosity in giving to the community and to the poor is also an important value. One's blessings come through the community and there is the idea that one should be willing to give back to it in turn. There are no "solitaries" in Vodou, only people separated geographically from their elders and house. A person without a relationship of some kind with elders will not be practicing Vodou as it is understood in Haiti and among Haitians.
In the view of some the Haitian Vodou religion is an ecstatic rather than a fertility based tradition and because of this, the religion has technically no prohibitions against gay men and lesbian women. In the English language, gay is an Adjective that in modern usage refers to Homosexuality. A lesbian is a Woman who is romantically or sexually attracted only to other women Although homophobia is a world-wide phenomenon and may be prevalent in Vodou-practicing countries, a homosexual can practise Vodou with no doctrinal issues. In Haiti, for example, Vodou is normally the only spiritual outlet a homosexual will have.
Orthodoxy and diversity
There is a diversity of practice in Vodou across the country of Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. For instance in the north of Haiti the lave tèt ("head washing") or kanzwe may be the only initiation, as it is in the Dominican Republic and Cuba, whereas in Port-au-Prince and the south they practice the kanzo rites with three grades of initiation – kanzo senp, si pwen, and asogwe – and the latter is the most familiar mode of practice outside of Haiti. Some lineages combine both, as Manbo Katherine Dunham reports from her personal experience in her book the Possessed Island.
While the overall tendency in Vodou is very conservative in accord with its African roots, there is no singular, definitive form, only what is right in a particular house or lineage. Small details of service and the spirits served will vary from house to house, and information in books or on the internet therefore may seem contradictory. There is no central authority or "pope" in Haitian Vodou since "every manbo and houngan is the head of their own house", as a popular saying in Haiti goes. History See also History of the Papacy Catholics recognize the Pope as a successor to Saint Peter, who Jesus named as the "shepherd" and Another consideration in terms of Haitian diversity are the many sects besides the Sèvi Gine in Haiti such as the Makaya, Rara, and other secret societies, each of which has its own distinct pantheon of spirits.
Myths and misconceptions
Vodou has come to be associated in the popular mind with the lore about Satanism, zombies and "voodoo dolls. " While there is evidence of zombie creation,[1] it is a minor phenomenon within rural Haitian culture and not a part of the Vodou religion as such. Such things fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer rather than the priest of the Loa. Bokor s in the religion of vodou are sorcerers or Houngan (priests for hire who are said to 'serve the Loa with both hands' meaning that they can practice
The practice of sticking pins in dolls has history in European folk magic, but its exact origins are unclear. How it became known as a method of cursing an individual by some followers of what has come to be called New Orleans Voodoo, which is a local variant of hoodoo, is a mystery. Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, originated from the ancestral religions of the African diaspora. Hoodoo is a form of predominantly African-American traditional folk magic. Some speculate that it was used as a means of self defense to intimidate superstitious slave owners. This practice is not unique to New Orleans voodoo, however, and has as much basis in European-based magical devices such as the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa. The word poppet is an older spelling of Puppet, from the Middle English popet meaning a small child or doll An Nkisi (plural Minkisi, also Nkishi / Minkishi) literally translates as "sacred medicine"
These are in fact power objects, what in Haiti would be referred to as pwen, rather than magical surrogates for an intended target of sorcery whether for boon or for bane. Such voodoo dolls are not a feature of Haitian religion, although dolls intended for tourists may be found in the Iron Market in Port au Prince. PortAuPrinceTapTapjpg|right|thumb|270px|A taptap (shared taxi in central Port-au-Prince The practice became closely associated with the Vodou religions in the public mind through the vehicle of horror movies and popular novels. Horror films are Movies that strive to elicit Fear, Horror and terror responses from viewers
There is a practice in Haiti of nailing crude poppets with a discarded shoe on trees near the cemetery to act as messengers to the otherworld, which is very different in function from how poppets are portrayed as being used by voodoo worshippers in popular media and imagination, ie. for purposes of sympathetic magic towards another person. Sympathetic magic, also known as imitative magic, is a type of magic based on imitation or correspondence Another use of dolls in authentic Vodou practice is the incorporation of plastic doll babies in altars and objects used to represent or honor the spirits, or in pwen, which recalls the aforementioned use of bocio and nkisi figures in Africa.
Although Voodoo is often associated with Satanism, Satan is primarily an Abrahamic figure and has not been incorporated in Voodoo tradition. For other uses of the word see Satanism (disambiguation. Satanism can refer to a number of belief systems depending on the user and context Satan, ( Standard Hebrew Satan'el, English accuser) is a term that originates from the Abrahamic faiths, being traditionally When Mississippi Delta folksongs mix references to Voodoo and to Satan, what is being expressed is social pain such as from racism. Those who practice voodoo are not attempting to worship or invoke the blessings of a devil.
Further adding to the dark reputation of Voodoo was the 1973 film adaptation of the thriller Live and Let Die, part of Ian Fleming's widely successful James Bond series, which had been continually in print in both the English original and translations to numerous languages. The thriller is a broad Genre of Literature, Film, Gaming and Television. Live and Let Die is the second novel in Ian Fleming 's James Bond series Ian Lancaster Fleming ( May 28, 1908 – August 12, 1964) was a British author, Journalist and Second World War James Bond 007 is a Fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve Novels and two Short story Fleming's depiction of the schemings of a fiendish Soviet agent using Voodoo to intimidate and control a vast network of submissive Black followers got an incomparably greater audience than any careful scholarly work on the subject of Voodoo. A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. (See Mr. Big, Baron Samedi. Mr Big is a fictional character and the main Antagonist in the James Bond novel and film Live and Let Die. A list of henchman from the 1954 James Bond novel and 1973 film ''Live and Let Die'' from the List of James Bond henchmen. )
Notes
- ^ Davis, Wade. Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie.
References
- Ajayi, Ade, J. F. & Espie , Ian, A Thousand Years of West African History, Great Britain, University of Ibadan, 1967.
- Alapini Julien, Le Petit Dahomeen, Grammaire. Vocabulaire, Lexique En Langue Du Dahomey, Avignon, Les Presses Universelles, 1955.
- Anderson, Jeffrey. 2005. Conjure In African American Society. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
- Argyle, W. J. , The Fon of Dahomey: A History and Ethnography of the Old Kingdom, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1966.
- Chesi, Gert, Voodoo: Africa's Secret Power, Austria, Perliner, 1980.
- Chireau, Yvonne. 2003. Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Cosentino, Donald. 1995. "Imagine Heaven" in Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. Edited by Cosentino, Donald et al. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Decalo, Samuel, Historical Dictionary of Dahomey, (People's Republic of Benin), N. J. , The Scarecrow Press, Inc. , 1976.
- Ellis, A. B. , The Ewe Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, Chicago, Benin Press Ldt, 1965.
- Fandrich, Ina. 2005. The Mysterious Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveaux: A Study of Powerful Female Leadership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans. New York: Routledge.
- Le Herisee, A. & Rivet, P. , The Royanume d'Ardra et son evangelisation au XVIIIe siecle, Travaux et Memories de "'Institut d'Enthnologie, no. 7, Paris, 1929.
- Long, Carolyn. 2001. Spiritual Merchants: Magic, Religion and Commerce. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.
- Saint-Lot, Marie-José Alcide. 2003. Vodou: A Sacred Theatre. Coconut Grove: Educa Vision, Inc.
- Tallant, Robert. "Reference materials on voodoo, folklore, spirituals, etc. 6-1 to 6-5 -Published references on folklore and spiritualism. " The Robert Tallant Papers. New Orleans Public Library. fiche 7 and 8, grids 1-22. Accessed 5 May 2005.
- Thornton, John K. 1988. "On the trail of Voodoo: African Christianity in Africa and the Americas" The Americas Vol: 44. 3 Pp 261-278.
- Vanhee, Hein. 2002. "Central African Popular Christianity and the Making of Haitian Vodou Religion. " in Central Africans and Cultural Transformations in the American Diaspora Edited by: L. M. Heywood. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 243-64.
- Verger, Pierre Fátúmbí, Dieux d'Afrique: Culte des Orishas et Vodouns à l’ancienne Côte des Esclaves en Afrique et à Bahia, la Baie de Tous Les Saints au Brésil. 1954.
- Ward, Martha. 2004. Voodoo Queen: The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
- Warren, Dennis, D. , The Akan of Ghana, Accra, Pointer Limited, 1973. 9.
See also
- Afro-American religion
- Baron Samedi
- Gullah
- Haitian mythology
- Homosexuality and Voodoo
- Hoodoo
- Kumina
- Louisiana Voodoo
- Obeah
- West African Vodun
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