WHAT IS VOODOO? From the people... Many practices can be traced back to Africa Spirits, called loa, intercede for humans Spirit possession, animal sacrifice, and some types of magic play roles, to varying degrees. Harvest Ceremony
View Test Prep - Voodoo and Catholicism Speech (Summarized) from CNA 100 at Wayne State College. History of Religion in Haiti First I will talk about the …
Jan 29, 2014 · See Page 1. The use of voodoo dolls would be an example ofthis. Contagious magic Magic based on the principle that things orpersons once in contact can influence eachother after the contact is broken. The usage of fingernail clippings or hair would beexamples of this. Witchcraft An explanation of events based on the beliefthat certain ...
It is a syncretic religion that combines Roman Catholicism and native African religion, particularly from the religion of the Dahomey region of West Africa ( the modern day nation of Benin).
Basic Beliefs: Bondye, Lwa, and Vilokan. Vodou is a monotheistic religion. Followers of Vodou -- known as Vodouisants -- believe in a single, supreme godhead that can be equated with the Catholic God. This deity is known as Bondye, "the good god" .
Vilokan is the home of the lwa as well as the deceased. It is commonly described as a submerged and forested island. It is guarded by the lwa Legba, who must be appeased before practitioners can speak to any other Vilokan resident.
These are more intimately involved in day-to-day life than Bondye, who is a remote figure. The lwa are divided into three families: Rada, Petro, and Ghede. The relationship between humans and lwa is a reciprocal one.
Vodou began when African slaves brought their native traditions with them as they were forcefully transported to the new world. However, they were generally forbidden from practicing their religion. To get around these restrictions, the slaves started to equate their gods with Catholic saints.
Popular culture has strongly associated Vodou with devil worship, torture, cannibalism, and malevolent magical workings. This is largely the product of Hollywood coupled with historical misrepresentations and misunderstandings of the faith.
Vodou (or Voodoo) is a monotheistic religion that is often misunderstood. Common in Haiti and New Orleans, Vodou merges Catholic and African beliefs to form a unique set of rituals that include Voodoo dolls and symbolic drawings . However, as with any religion, followers of Vodou cannot be lumped into a single category.
Voodoo is distinctive mythology because it does not have a codified doctrine, or rules. Therefore, the appearance of the religion may differ from one area to another. The voodoo religion that is practiced in New Orleans was developed around the same time, but it has solitary characteristics. Voodoo gave slaves the strength they needed to endure the horrendous hardships they had faced.
Vodouisants made patron saints their basis for their lwa. Papa Legba is the gatekeeper of communication between the mortals and all the other lwa. He is based on the Roman Catholic St. Peter. Catholic hymns and prayers are often said during voodoo rituals, a nod to their blended faith. Haitian voodoo beliefs and symbols are a combination of ancient African religion and Catholicism.
Haitian voodoo is hierarchical and there are initiation rituals for members of the religion to progress or bring blessings. The first ceremony initiates the members into the religious group and is called Kanzo. It is considered a commitment to the religion. The last initiation makes the Vodouisants a Oungan or Manbo, granting them the ability to lead rituals.
Practitioners of voodoo have many names: Vodouists, Vodouisants, Vodouwizan, or Serviteurs. Vodouisants do not have a standardized dogma that dictates how to practice voodoo, but Haitian voodoo rituals prove to be a crucial ceremony for the religion.
The enslaved Africans adopted many of the Catholic saints, creating hybrid rituals with their doctrine of beliefs that were already established.
There are approximately 60 million people around the world, who are called Vodouisants, who practice the monotheistic religion of voodoo.
Voodoo is a monotheistic Afro-Haitian religion that originated in Haiti by way of Benin, though it can be found in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, the United States, and other parts of the world. This religion is defined as a blend of the West African Vodun religion and Roman Catholicism by ethnic groups who were enslaved and brought to Haiti. Today, approximately 60 million people practice voodoo throughout the world.
Those who practice Voodoo believe that there is a visible and an invisible world, and that these worlds are intertwined. Death is a transition to the invisible world, so our predecessors are still with us in spirit.
It is community-centered and supports individual experience, empowerment and responsibility. Voodoo is different in different parts of the world, and varies from community to community. This is mostly about Voodoo in New Orleans and Haiti. Voodoo embraces and encompasses the entirety of human experience.
In a similar fashion, a Voodooist develops a relationship with particular Lwa, seeks to understand and embody the principles they represent, connects spiritually in order to affect personal transformation and manifest this energy in the visible world to help the living.
Many slaves were Voodooists, and some of their military leaders were priests who inspired and organized their communities to fight for freedom. The Haitian Revolution provoked fear in other European and American colonies that were reliant on vast numbers of slaves as plantation labor. The imagery and vocabulary of Voodoo (and other Afro-Caribbean religions) became threatening and ingrained in those cultures as something horrifying, associated with bloodshed and violence. It was brutally repressed in most places. It became taboo.
Voodoo is a religion that originates in Africa. In the Americas and the Caribbean, it is thought to be a combination of various African, Catholic and Native American traditions. It is practiced around the world but there is no accurate count of how many people are Voodooists. Voodoo has no scripture or world authority.
Voodoo isn’t a practice intended to hurt or control others. Most Voodooists have never seen a “Voodoo doll” (unless, like you, they saw it in a movie). Voodoo isn’t morbid or violent. Voodoo isn’t the same everywhere. Not everyone who practices Voodoo does it in exactly the same way or agrees on exactly the same things.
Racism clouds our view of Voodoo. It is rooted in slavery and intricately connected to this hemisphere’s political and social evolution. Voodoo was first practiced in America and the Caribbean by slaves of African descent, whose culture was both feared and ridiculed. Slaves were not considered fully human.
The 8 Most Important Voodoo Gods. Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. She is the author of Daily Spellbook for the Good Witch, Wicca Practical Magic and The Daily Spell Journal. The loa, or major divine beings of Voodoo, or Vodun, are spirits who serve as intermediaries between man and Bondye, the supreme Voodoo god. ...
Ogun is one of the orisha who come to Voodoo from the Yoruba belief system, and is a god associated with warriors, blacksmiths, and the wheels of justice. It's said that if you make a sacrifice of meat to Ogun, you'll be blessed with a successful hunt.
In fact, Voodoo practitioners believe our work is entwined with the world of the spirits who are called Lwa and the Lwa, known as Papa Legba, is associated with the Catholic Saint Peter.
Voodoo developed as a blending of their traditional beliefs and customs with the practices of Africans from other regions and the influence of Catholicism.
Voodoo Lwa. The Lwa, pronounced as Loh-ah, are spirits more powerful than a person's deceased relatives. These spirits are not single entities but groups or categories of spirit types, such as the warrior, the mother, the sorcerer, and so on. Thus, praying to the Lwa Ogun might call any number of Lwa warrior spirits.
Instead, the Voodoo practitioner is overtaken by the spirit, usually as part of a ritual. The possession only lasts for a few minutes to a few hours, leaving the possessed person exhausted and with no memory of the experience. During that time, however, the spirits will prophesize, heal, and bless people. Voodoo Rituals.
The most common private ritual is a ceremonial bath to cleanse a person of evil energy or heal a sickness.
Sunday earned a PhD in Anthropology and has taught college courses in Anthropology, English, and high school ACT/SAT Prep.
The early origins of Voodoo, also spelled Vodou, Voudou, and Voudon, likely came from the West African country of Dahomey, now called Benin. In the Fon language, the world ''voodoo'' means ''spirit.''.