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Transcript of Voodoo
What is Voodoo?
Where did Voodoo Orginiate?
History of Voodoo
Bondye and Lwas
Bondye and Lwas
Terms that are closely related to Gris-Gris:
Gris-Gris: either an object or an incantation used to make magic, probably from the Mande language.
Goofer: an object used to make magic, associated with the dead, from the Congo.
Hudu: an object used to make magic, not becoming a spirit, from the Ewe of Togoland.
Ju-Ju: an object containing the elements of a living thing used to make magic, also a type of ghost or soul, associated with the Ibo of southern Nigeria.
Mojo: an object used to make magic, usually good, from the Congo.
Ouanga: an object used to make magic, often evil,associated with the Congo.
Toby: an object used to make magic, usually goo.
Zinzin: an object or an incantation used to make magic, synonymous with gris-gris, from the Bambara.
Vudu: not an object, the sprits.
THE VOODOO SNAKE SPIRIT
Ode to Damballa in Chucky movies
HISTORY AND PATTERN OF DIFFUSION
CONTROVERSIES AND SECTS
SACRED TEXT AND CLERGY
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Voodoo (also spelled Vodou) is an ancient West African religion practiced by more than 30 million people in Benin, Togo and Ghana. Voodoo varieties are also present in the United States, and the Caribbean. The word ‘vodou’ comes from the languages of West Africa, and means ‘spirit’. That is appropriate as Voodoo is a religion of spirits. Practitioners of Voodoo (who are called Voodooists) believe that the world of humans is shared by the world of the spirits. When a person dies, his spirit passed to the world of the unseen but is still able to see the human world, the visible world. Spirits, it is believed, in some cases can even impact the world of the living.
Belief in Voodoo crossed the Pacific ocean when captured slaves came to the Americas
from Africa, more than 400 years ago. Different Voodoo traditions intermingled and
formed the different varieties of Voodoo we see today in the Americas.
Voodoo believers and practitioners keep alive an oral
tradition of their religion and culture which includes rites, chants, and the use of a variety of
voodoo supplies including dolls, candles, and other paraphernalia.
The three main varieties of Voodoo
Haitian Vodou is a syncretic religion, which means that it is a combination of multiple varieties of Vodou. Haitian Vodou originates in the Caribbean country of Haiti, and is a result of the combination of beliefs and practices from the West African religion, Arawakian beliefs, and Roman Catholic Christianity. The basic belief of Haitian Vodou is that spirits or deities called Lwa, which are subordinate to a higher god called Bondye, can and do interact with the human world and can affect change beyond the spirit world in which they ‘live’. Bondye, the supreme being of the Vodou religion, does not interfere with human affairs, so most of communication and prayers of Haitian Vodou is directed towards the Lwa.
Often confused with Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo is different int he sense that it puts a lot of emphasis on Gris-gris, voodoo queens, the use of occult paraphernalia, and the snake deity called Li Grand Zombi.Louisiana Voodoo is a collection of beliefs that have come together overtime and are still evolving to the changing society around them. It combines elements and beliefs from European, African, and Roman Catholicism. Louisiana Voodoo has had a great impact on the culture of New Orleans, and has shaped the image of that city to a great extent. As a result of being in close proximity to Christianity in New Orleans, Louisiana Voodoo has taken on a lot of characteristics of those religions, including the association of Voodoo spirits with Christian saints; these associations are created through the overlap of dominions presided over by both the Christian saints and Voodoo spirits.
TYPES OF VOODOO CONT'D
WEST AFRICAN VODUN
Vodun, also known as Vudun, is a religion of coastal West Africa, stretching from Nigeria to Ghana. Vodun is practiced by some of the peoples in the following areas: Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
West African Vodun is the original form of the religions of Voodoo and Vodou found in the Americas including Haiti, the Caribbeans, and southern United States.Vodun beliefs are built around spirits and other elements of divine origin which govern the human World. The hierarchy of these being ranges from major gods governing the elements, as well as human society, to vodun that deal with more minor concerns such as streams, trees, rocks, certain clans and tribes, or nations.
Believers and adherents of Vodun emphasize ancestor worship and believe that humans and spirits occupy the same plane of existence. Each family of spirits is believed to have its own female priest, which is usually passed on from mother to daughter.
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.
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 practice of gris-gris magic is a petition to the spirits. The gris-gris are both the physical objects that used and the verbal invocations that are made to effect the magical properties of Voodoo. There are an infinite variety of gris-gris and there no "how to" text. Most are inspired by the spirits through whom the Voodoo Queen or Doctor is working. They are very individual. In working, the inanimate object often becomes, or is inhabited by the spirit. The gris-gris are usually used for mattes of love, finance, luck, legal matters or to uncross a hex.
The Voodoo doll is a form of gris-gris, a ritualized form of invoking the spirits, or fate, to act in a defined way towards a targeted person. The dolls can be used for love, for power and domination, for luck, for uncrossing, and for harm.
There are four types of zombies in Voodoo; the Great Spirit, the Spiritual Soul, the Herbal Zombie and the Bargained Zombie.
Li Grand Zombi: this is the snake spirit in Voodoo given the Congolese name for the same principal entity. It is the original and proper meaning. The snake used by Marie Laveau in New Orleans was said to have been called “li grand zombi.” The Louisiana mud snake used in rituals is sometimes called “ouncongo.”
Spiritual Zombie: this follows an African belief that person has two souls, one called the Great Angle, and the other called the Little Angle. When a person dies, the Great Angle immediately knows the person is dead and departs the body. The Little Angle, on the other hand, takes about three days to realize the body is dead. During that period a witchdoctor may invoke the Congolese Ghédé spirit to reach the Little Angle and cause it to believe the body is not dead. Subsequently the corpse is reanimated using the Little Angle as a motor.
Herbal Zombie: The West Africans were master chemists especially in the use of herbs and poisons. To make a zombie chemically it is first necessary to cause he victim to appear to die, then to apply an antidote to revive them. The basic poison comes from the common blow fish. Died and powdered it is a nerve poison. It is applied mainly in one’s shoes, and absorbed through the sweet glands in the feet. The poison inhibits the natural conductivity of the nervous system and causes the person to appear decreased. This phase completes he deception of death. In the second phase the antidote, a paste from the seedpod of the angle’s trumpet flower is applied. The seedpod contains two types of active ingredients; atropine, which counteracts the nerve poisoning, a hallucinogenic that causes both amnesia and disorientation. The final result is a person who appeared to have died, appears to have been resurrected and is now mentally incoherent, but physically functional.
Bargained Zombie: This is a voluntary arrangement in which the volunteer bargains to have his lesser soul exorcised and keep by a Voodoo Queen. Under such an arrangement the Voodoo Queen can protect and give advantages to the volunteer but at some point, the volunteer has to surrender the rest of his soul. This usually occurs when the Voodoo Queen dies and can not longer protect the volunteer.
1730-1790. The emergence of Voodoo. Gradual ascendancy of Dahomean form.
1790-1800. Revolutionary period. Voodoo, too, experienced growth and cohesion.
1800-1815. Voodoo was suppressed by three of Haiti's most famous rulers, Toussaint Louverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henry Christophe.
1815-1850. Quiet diffusion. Under Emperor Soulouque Voodoo became acceptable to the regime and emerged publicly.
1860-1945. Various periods of Roman Catholic suppression, culminating in an all out war against Voodoo in the 1940s. After the failure of this war the Roman Catholics have decreased their overt suppression of Voodoo.
1945 to present. Co-optation of Voodoo by the Duvalier movement and growth of America Fundamentalist Protestant challenge to Voodoo.
1975 to present. Re-emergence of Voodoo, especially in connection with the lwa, Ogoun, as a force in the peasant movement toward progressive reform in Haiti.
We Received Our Information from the Following Sources:
Marie Laveau was a Creole of African, Indian, French, and Spanish decent (Creole). She was born in 1796 in Saint Dominique (Haiti). In the 1830's she became the first commercial Voodoo Queen. She declared herself the pope of voodoo. She was a devout catholic who attended mass everyday and was allowed to hold voodoo rituals behind the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.
Vooduist often call themselves Roman Catholic.
Priestess are called Mando and Priest are called Houngan.
Vodouist practice witchcraft and idolatry.
Rituals usually include wild dancing and music. Dancers then become entranced and fall to the ground. They are thought to be possessed.
The possessed is treated as a Lwa.
A sacrifical animal's throat is cut and the possessed drinks its blood.Then sacrificial animal is cooked and eaten for good luck.
Most Vodouist follow the Christian calender while others have a separate calendar. This is because most of the practices mix with the Catholic faith.
All Soul's Day- On this day the Vodouist honor their dead family members. They go and place flowers and candles on their family grave and sit out food for stray dogs and the homeless to eat.
June 21-22- Most of their holidays are celebrated because of St. John the Baptist. On St. John's Eve, the complete a head-washing ceremony, similar to baptism. Participant wear all white and bring offerings.
Bondye is the one supreme God that the Vodouist believe in. He is the Creator. Bondye does not interfere with the daily lives of the Vodouist.
However, Lwas are spirits that interact the daily lives of the Vodouist. Each Lwa has a certain that it controls; for instance, love, war, etc.. Moreover, each Lwa is connected to a Catholic saint. Connections, between the spirits and the people, happen through rituals. During rituals, they possess someone so people can interact with them. People offer them food in exchange for assistance from the spirits
The voodoo snake spirit's name is Damballa, the sky God. He is considered the father of all the loa (voodoo divinities). He is the controller of the mind, intellect and cosmic equilibrium. Many symbols used to represent him include: white cloth, owls, bones, cotton, ivory and chameleons as white is his color (though he himself is African-American); Thursday being his day. When presenting himself in possession, Damballa does not talk, he hisses like a snake. He is also associated with St. Patrick and with Moses (whose staff turned into snakes).
- Many people believe that voodooism is completely evil and promotes the worship of the devil
- Books and movies made Voodoo seem sinister and cruel
- That human sacrifice is involved in Voodoo, when the moral code is to not hurt anyone (excluding black magic)
- People assume that voodoo originated from New Orleans, but it really began in Haiti
- Voodoo priests can bring the dead back as zombies
The voodoo sects differ as to what god or gods are most important to a particular tribe.
Bride of Chucky:
Other names: Damballah-Wedo, Damballah Weddo, Papa Damballah
He is also referenced in pop culture such as movies and books.
Voodoo is a religion the same way Judaism or Christianity is, except voodoo doesn't have a sacred text, a church, or a structure of leaders, but it is still the same culturally.
by: Iyara, Adriyan, Erielle and Mekayla