Voodoo

Voodoo

Voodoo—that one word is enough to conjure up exotic, bewitching images: zombies shuffling through a graveyard at night; pins stuck in crudely fashioned dolls as an enemy many miles away experiences agonizing pains; priests cutting the throats of chickens and drinking the blood; assembled worshippers dressed in white dancing around a roaring bonfire. But, none of these images paints a realistic picture of Voodoo. For many of us, our perceptions of Voodoo are shaped by movies we have seen and popular books we have read. But in reality, Voodoo is not a secret practice of mysterious, sinister, island magic. Rather, it is a legal religion, with roots as old as Africa and with millions of followers today.
1.1. Voodoo from Africa to the West Indies
Voodoo originated in the West Indies country of Haiti during the French Colonial Period, and it is still widely practiced in Haiti today. The foundations of Voodoo are the tribal religions of West Africa, brought to Haiti by slaves in the seventeenth century. They were mainly captured from the kingdom of Dahomey, which occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The word 'Voodoo' derives from the word 'vodu' in the Fon language of Dahomey, which means 'spirit', 'god'. Haiti was isolated during much of its history, therefore allowing Voodoo to develop with its own unique traditions, beliefs and gods. The Haitian slaves were captured from many different tribes throughout West Africa. These tribes shared several common core beliefs: worship of the spirits of family ancestors; the use of singing, drumming and dancing in religious rituals; and the belief the followers were possessed by immortal spirits. Once living in Haiti, the slaves created a new religion based on their shared beliefs, at the same time absorbing each tribe's strongest traditions and gods. Influences from the native Indian population in Haiti were also integrated during this formative period. For many enslaved Africans such spiritual traditions and...

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