Vodou Religion - The History That Shapes Vodou Religion
Voodoo, or vodou(n) as the Haitians spell it, is the Dahomey word for spirit. Any spirit that can be found throughout nature is vodou. Voodoo is a derivative of the world’s oldest known religions which have been around in Africa since the beginning of human civilization. Some estimate these civilizations and religions to be over 10,000 years old.
Vodou originates from the western nations of Africa, primarily from the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, which is now present day Benin. Vodou also came from the peoples of the Kongo as well as the Central African regions, including Bakongo, and the Yoruba of Nigeria.
Vodou should be conceived more as a process shaped by its practitioners, rather than as a static entity. To understand this process better, particularly Vodou’s visual and performative aspects, it’s necessary to look at the development of Vodou within a historic, social, and political framework.
Freely borrowing from other traditions in order to keep its ancient African beliefs alive, Vodou is truly a religion of tolerance. Haitian vodou is a clear example of this.
Haitian Vodou
Haitian Vodou is an initiatory tradition that is practiced by 90% of the population of Haiti - that is, the poor working class and the peasantry. The nation of Haiti that exists today is primarily composed of peoples whose ancestors were brought over as slaves from various African Tribes. The predominant elements of Vodou religion come from these old African religions that the slaves brought with them to Haiti, mixed with the Catholicism that the French forced upon them.
Vodou offers a system of beliefs that provides Haitians both meaning and solace - qualities that are in short supply in a country with no public schools, few working sewers, no public transportation, little industry, and no good roads. Haitian vodou is also highly eclectic: Attemping to recreate their religious culture in Haiti, African slaves borrowed from many other influences, including bits and pieces from the indigenous Taino Indians, Freemasonry, European mysticism, and Roman Catholicism.
Vodou, being outlawed within Slavery, had to find a mask if it were to survive oppressive ideologies from Europe. In fact many of the Lwa are known to be of pale skin as opposed to African in their Descent.
These ancestral roots are quite evident in Haitian Vodou today. And because Vodou has had such influence on Haitian art and music, even Haitians who are NOT Vodou initiates and do not serve any particular lwa hold widespread respect for the tradition and power of Vodou.
Haitian art, for example, absorbs and interprets visual culture so masterfully because of its foundation in Vodou - a religion and way of life that was born and survived due to its history of accommodation and inclusion.
New Orleans Vodou | Hoodoo Voodoo
Haitian vodou arrived 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. However, dating back before the revolution of 1776 evidence shows forms of vodou existed in the United States.
Hoodoo and Voodoo are both practiced in Louisiana and have many things in common. However, there are differences between the two. Voodoo is a religion, and Hoodoo is an African American system of folk magickal practice that has typically been handed down from generation to generation. HOODOO, though not a religion, is the folk magic of the common people in West Africa, just as it is in the diaspora today. From so-called love potions, to taking vegenace upon an enemy, Hoodoo is largely what has survived the religious persecution of the Africans enslaved in the New World.
Voodoo is a serious religion with various rituals, spells, and practices that take believers into the spiritual and transcendental world. And for whatever reasons, Vodou praticioners often DO experience the actual outcome or impact Vodou spells and ceremonies were meant to bring about. Spiritual cleansings, healings and insight, communicating with passed loved ones - For those who believe in the power, Voodoo is dominant.
- The Art of Vodou
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