Have you ever been afraid of voodoo?
When it comes to Voodoo and the popular media, it is often used as a gimmick in TV shows and horror movies, more often than not portrayed and considered a type of “dark magic”.
Due to this, a lot of people have started to perceive voodoo as inherently evil, falling for the overused trope of voodoo dolls, which are generally accompanied by macabre rituals, imagery, and blood.
They differ so much from what we are accustomed to in Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) that the oddity sparks fear in people.
However, Voodoo (often spelled as Vodú or Vodou) is not actually the evil religion mass media and hysteria have led us to believe.
Instead, it focuses on having a deep connection to the spiritual world, and while called and done differently, there are similarities between it and Christianity.
For example, the spirits that are called in Vodou rituals (called Iwa) are similar to how Christians view saints. Likewise, while people claim that Vodou is a form of worshiping of the Devil, the figure does not appear at all in most versions of Voodoo cosmology.
What surprises many when they start to discover more and more of Voodoo is that Haitian Vodou (the most commonly known and practiced version of Vodou) is partly inspired by Christianity, and it managed to blend together the traditional West African religion with the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.
Due to this, Vodou rose in popularity amongst slaves of modern-day Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries, which then paved the way for the practice to make its way to the United States.
The fear of this religion has contributed greatly to its stigma, yet despite the opposition towards it, it has managed to thrive.
Louisiana Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, and other West African religions spread to the diaspora and still live on, becoming extremely popular in New Orleans and the Caribbean.
What can we learn from this religion? Can we truly understand what we do not know? What does this West African religion do, and how has it evolved over the ages?
Keep on reading to discover the answers to all of these and more!
Are you afraid of Voodoo? What do you think about this religion? Share your answers in the comments!
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Voodoo: Spirits, rituals and worship
Voodoo differs from the likes of Christianity in the fact that there is not one sacred official book of worship. While some may name different books as the “Vodou bible,” the religion does not have an official book anyone can read and learn the practice.
This West African religion has been spread through oral tradition, being passed on from generation to generation.
It is characterized by songs and prayer, along with gestures, dances, and, at times, animal sacrifices, which are all aimed at restoring the balance between relationships. These rituals aim to make the balance between spirits and humans positive so as to ward away any sort of ill will or catastrophe.
These spirits that are invoked by practitioners are either spirits of the deceased or ancestral spirits, with two prominent figures mentioned frequently (Baron Samedi and Papa Legba), who have their own specific rituals so that people can communicate with them.
Voodoo does not have a specific hierarchy, with many parts of the worship process varying from region to region, so there is no centralized way to organize all the different ways of worship.
However, on a smaller local scale, there is a hierarchy that designates some of the people taking part in the practice; the manbo and oungan (the priestess and priest), ounsi (which translates to “children of the spirits”), and ountògi (the ritual drummers) are integral to any congregation.
To gain the knowledge of the congregation, one must pass an initiation ritual (called kanzo), through which they believe the human body transforms into a site for “profound spiritual transformations.”.
Another thing akin to Roman Catholicism is that Vodou practitioners have a yearly calendar of ritual feats, which tend to align well with the ones in the Catholic calendar. The only difference is that Voudou worshippers end up celebrating specific Iwa spirits on the days of these feasts.
The reason why the two are so intertwined is because of the colonizers that first arrived in Haiti, but it finished the merging when it arrived in Louisiana as the enslaved groups merged their traditional religion with the Catholicism that was there, thus birthing Louisiana or New Orleans Voodoo.
Let’s take a closer look at how slavery is intrinsically linked with Voodoo and how it played a huge role in how it is perceived today!
Ties to slavery
Vodou first started to be documented in what we know as present-day Haiti in the French-colonized Saint-Domingue. Likewise, in the United States, the religion would further occur also in French-controlled territory, present-day Louisiana.
Due to how cruel and inhumane the slave trade was, the people who were enslaved tried to keep as close to their ethnic groups as possible.
Despite the slaveowner’s brutal treatment and attempts to separate these groups, they still bonded over their shared misfortunes and kept their religious practices alive.
Slaves would bond together and unify over their religious practices since it brought them a sense of peace and security.
Since this was probably their only and, at times, last tie to their homeland, it is understandable why Vodou became crucial to their survival.
No matter how much they tried to deter the enslaved people from renouncing their traditional religion, the cruelty of the white slaveowners just served to strengthen the people’s view of their rituals and beliefs.
This meant that the practice never went away no matter how turbulent the times were against Vodou.
Despite this, the religion remains one of the most misunderstood in the world to this day since there are plenty of misconceptions.
Let’s take a look at one of the biggest misconceptions and how the religion remains alive even in the modern era!
Is it seen as dangerous?
Popularly, Voodoo is still seen as dangerous amongst Americans due to how common the scare of the “Voodoo doll” is used in pop culture.
These dolls are used in popular media as a spiritual weapon, which is used to inflict damage on a person by poking and harming the doll.
In reality, these dolls have never been prominent in either Haitian or Louisiana Vodou. When they are scarcely used, they have been used with the intention of healing and never with the purpose of revenge.
Most Vodou practitioners are against the denomination that their religion is “dark magic” or has an evil connotation—if anything, it is the exact opposite, and it is tied to the connection and a hope of being connected to the spiritual world, which has been a huge help for those believing in turbulent times.
In the end, what is wrong with remembering your ancestors on the vibration and rhythm brought through song, drums, and song?
Voodoo today!
Today, Voodoo is known as Haiti’s “national religion,” despite the government not stating it officially. The state of Haiti declared Vodou an official religion back in 2003, and this granted the religious communities the right to issue official documentation.
A popular saying in the insular country is that the country is “70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant, and 100 percent Vodou.”.
Vodou is a culturally significant religion, one that has endured a lot, and practitioners are serious about their faith, keeping it alive even in the modern days.
Every year there are more and more practitioners that join the religion, and they are attracted by the spiritual, vibrant, and accepting community they find there.
Most rituals are held privately, but if you are part of a congregation, they will aid you in case you need a special place to perform it or you are in need of reading, and they will also assist you in the ritual if you do.
In New Orleans, there is only one formally established temple, located close to Congo Square, named The Voodoo Spiritual Temple, in case you are ever in the region and want to know more about Vodou from a reliable source.
Likewise, you will be able to find numerous historical sites in New Orleans, alongside guided tours, museums, and shops!
The practice may sound like it has disappeared, but if you know where to look, you will be able to find it, as it is just as much a religion as all the others that we hear about more often.
If you want to read more about Marie Laveau and how this religion has had a great hand in shaping how New Orleans looks today, then this book is for you: The Magic of Marie Laveau.
If you’re curious about spirituality and other types of religions and beliefs around the world then you are in the right place! Make sure you read all about how you can predict your future based on your hand and how it can be interpreted here!
