Voodoo is a derivative of the world's oldest known religions
which have been around in Africa since the beginning of human civilization. Some
conservative estimates these civilizations and religions to be over 10 000 years
old. This then identify Voodoo as probably the best example of African
syncretism in the Americas. Although its essential wisdom originated in
different parts of Africa long before the Europeans started the slave trade, the
structure of Voodoo, as we know it today, was born in Haiti during the European
colonization of Hispaniola. Ironically, it was the enforced immigration of
enslaved African from different ethnic groups that provided the circumstances
for the development of Voodoo. European colonists thought that by desolating the
ethnic groups, these could not come together as a community. However, in the
misery of slavery, the transplanted Africans found in their faith a common
thread.
They began to invoke not only their own Gods, but to practice
rites other than their own. In this process, they comingled and modified rituals
of various ethnic groups. The result of such fusion was that the different
religious groups integrated their beliefs, thereby creating a new religion:
Voodoo. The word "voodoo" comes from the West African word "vodun," meaning
spirit. This Afro-Caribbean religion mixed practices from many African ethnics
groups such as the Fon, the Nago, the Ibos, Dahomeans, Congos, Senegalese,
Haussars, Caplaous, Mondungues, Mandinge, Angolese, Libyans, Ethiopians, and the
Malgaches.
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Within the voodoo society, there are no accidents. Practitioners
believe that nothing and no event has a life of its own. That is why "vous
deux", you two, you too. The universe is all one. Each thing affects something
else. Scientists know that. Nature knows it. Many spiritualists agree that we
are not separate, we all serve as parts of One. So, in essence, what you do unto
another, you do unto you, because you ARE the other. Voo doo. View you. We are
mirrors of each others souls. God is manifest through the spirits of ancestors
who can bring good or harm and must be honored in ceremonies. There is a sacred
cycle between the living and the dead. Believers ask for their misery to end.
Rituals include prayers, drumming, dancing, singing and animal sacrifice.
The serpent figures heavily in the Voodoo faith. The word Voodoo has
been translated as "the snake under whose auspices gather all who share the
faith". The high priest and/or priestess of the faith (often called Papa or
Maman) are the vehicles for the expression of the serpent's power. The supreme
deity is Bon Dieu. There are hundreds of spirits called Loa who control nature,
health, wealth and happiness of mortals. The Loa form a pantheon of deities that
include Damballah, Ezili, Ogu, Agwe, Legba and others. During Voodoo ceremonies
these Loa can possess the bodies of the ceremony participants. Loa appear by
"possessing" the faithful, who in turn become the Loa, relaying advice, warnings
and desires. Voodoo is an animist faith. That is, objects and natural phenomena
are believed to possess holy significance, to possess a soul. Thus the Loa Agwe
is the divine presence behind the hurricane.
Music and dance are key
elements to Voodoo ceremonies. Ceremonies were often termed by whites "Night
Dancing" or "Voodoo Dancing". This dancing is not simply a prelude to sexual
frenzy, as it has often been portrayed. The dance is an expression of
spirituality, of connection with divinity and the spirit world.
Voodoo
is a practical religion, playing an important role in the family and the
community. One's ancestors, for instance, are believed to be a part of the world
of the spirits, of the Loas, and this is one way that Voodoo serves to root its
participants in their own history and tradition. Another practical aspect of
Voodoo ceremonies is that participants often come before the priest or priestess
to seek advice, spiritual guidance, or help with their problems. The priest or
priestess then, through divine aid, offer help such as healing through the use
of herbs or medicines (using knowledge that has been passed down within the
religion itself), or healing through faith itself as is common in other
religions. Voodoo teaches a respect for the natural world.
Unfortunately, the public.s perception of voodoo rites and rituals seems
often to point to the evil or malicious side of things. There are healing
spells, nature spells, love spells, purification spells, joyous celebration
spells. Spirits may be invoked to bring harmony and peace, birth and rebirth,
increased abundance of luck, material happiness, renewed health.The fact is, for
those who believe it, voodoo is powerful. It is also empowering to the person
who practices it.
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Despite Voodoo's noble status as one of the worlds oldest
religions, it has been typically characterized as barbaric, primitive, sexually
licentious practice based on superstition and spectacle. Much of this image
however, is due to a concerted effort by Europeans, who have a massive fear of
anything African, to suppress and distort a legitimate and unique religion that
flourished among their enslaved Africans. When slavers brought these peoples
across the ocean to the Americas, the African's brought their religion with
them. However, since slavery included stripping the slaves of their language,
culture, and heritage, this religion had to take some different forms. It had to
be practiced in secret, since in some places it was punishable by death, and it
had to adapt to the loss of their African languages. In order to survive, Voodoo
also adopted many elements of Christianity. When the French who were the
colonizers of Haiti, realized that the religion of the Africans was a threat to
the colonial system, they prohibited all African religion practices and severely
punished the practitioners of Voodoo with imprisonment, lashings and hangings.
This religious struggle continued for three centuries, but none of the
punishments could extinguished the faith of the Africans. This process of
acculturation helped Voodoo to grow under harsh cultural conditions in many
areas of the Americas.
Voodoo survives as a legitimate religion in a
number of areas of the world, Brazil where it is called "Candombli" and the
English speaking Caribbean where it is called .Obeah.. The Ewe people of
southern Togo and southeastern Ghana -- two countries in West Africa -- are
devout believers. In most of the United States however, white slavers were
successful in stripping slaves of their Voodoo traditions and beliefs. Thus
Voodoo is, for most African Americans, yet another part of their heritage that
they can only try to re-discover.
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The strength that the Africans in Haiti gained from their
religion was so strong and powerful, that they were able to survive the cruel
persecution of the French rulers against Voodoo. It was in the midst of this
struggle that the revolution was conspired. The Voodoo priests consulted their
oracle and learned how the political battle would have to be fought in order for
them to be victorious. The revolution exploded in 1791 with a Petr- ritual and
continued until 1804 when the Haitians finally won independence. Today the
system of Voodoo reflects its history. We can see the African ethnic mixture in
the names of different rites and in the pantheon of Gods or Loas, which is
composed of deities from all parts of Africa.
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Thursday April 10, 2003.
Haiti's government has
officially sanctioned voodoo as a religion, allowing practitioners to begin
performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal authority.
Many who practice voodoo praised the move, but said much remains to be
done to make up for centuries of ridicule and persecution in the Caribbean
country and abroad.
Voodoo priest Philippe Castera said he hopes the
government's decree is more than an effort to win popularity amid economic and
political troubles.
"In spite of our contribution to Haitian culture, we
are still misunderstood and despised," said Castera, 48.
In an executive
decree issued last week, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide invited voodoo
adherents and organizations to register with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
After swearing an oath before a civil judge, practitioners will be able
to legally conduct ceremonies such as marriages and baptisms, the decree said.
Aristide, a former Roman Catholic priest, has said he recognizes voodoo
as a religion like any other, and a voodoo priestess bestowed a presidential
sash on him at his first inauguration in 1991.
"An ancestral religion,
voodoo is an essential part of national identity," and its institutions
"represent a considerable portion" of Haiti's 8.3 million people, Aristide said
in the decree.
Voodoo practitioners believe in a supreme God and spirits
who link the human with the divine. The spirits are summoned by offerings that
include everything from rum to roosters.
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.
"It will take more than a government
decree to undo all that malevolence," Castera said, and suggested that
construction of a central voodoo temple would "turn good words into a good
deed."
There are no reliable statistics on the number of adherents, but
millions in Haiti place faith in voodoo. The religion evolved from West African
beliefs and developed further among slaves in the Caribbean who adopted elements
of Catholicism.
Voodoo is an inseparable part of Haitian art,
literature, music and film. Hymns are played on the radio and voodoo ceremonies
are broadcast on television along with Christian services.
But for
centuries voodoo has been looked down upon as little more than superstition, and
at times has been the victim of ferocious persecution. A campaign led by the
Catholic church in the 1940s led to the destruction of temples and sacred
objects.
In 1986, following the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier's
dictatorship, hundreds of voodoo practitioners were killed on the pretext that
they had been accomplices to Duvalier's abuses.
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