31 Facts About Haitian Vodou

Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The late 20th century saw growing links between Haitian Vodou and related traditions in West Africa and the Americas, such as Cuban Santeria and Brazilian Candomble, while some practitioners influenced by the Negritude movement have sought to remove Roman Catholic influences.

Haitian Vodou has faced much criticism through its history, having repeatedly been described as one of the world's most misunderstood religions.

In combining varied influences, Haitian Vodou has often been described as syncretic, or a "symbiosis", a religion exhibiting diverse cultural influences.

The word Haitian Vodou now encompasses "a variety of Haiti's African-derived religious traditions and practices", incorporating "a bundle of practices that practitioners themselves do not aggregate".

Related searches

Haitian Vodou is thus a term primarily used by scholars and outsiders to the religion; many practitioners describe their belief system with the term, which especially denotes a moral philosophy and ethical code regarding how to live and to serve the spirits.

Haitian Vodou is depicted as a feeble old man wearing rags and using a crutch.

Haitian Vodou's is a mermaid or siren, and is sometimes described as Ezili of the Waters because she is believed to bring good luck and wealth from the sea.

Haitian Vodou's consort is Gran Brigit; she has authority over cemeteries and is regarded as the mother of many of the other gede.

Haitian Vodou holds that Bondye created humanity in his image, fashioning humans out of water and clay.

Haitian Vodou holds that the identity of a person's tutelary lwa can be identified through divination or through consulting lwa when they possess other humans.

Haitian Vodou reflects people's everyday concerns, focusing on techniques for mitigating illness and misfortune; doing what one needs to in order to survive is considered a high ethic.

Haitian Vodou promotes a belief in destiny, although individuals are still deemed to have freedom of choice.

Mostly revolving around interactions with the lwa, Haitian Vodou ceremonies make use of song, drumming, dance, prayer, possession, and animal sacrifice.

Haitian Vodou has a strong oral culture, and its teachings are primarily disseminated through oral transmission.

Haitian Vodou temple is called an ounfo, varyingly spelled hounfo, hounfort, or humfo.

Haitian Vodou entails practitioners being encouraged to undertake stages of initiation into a state of mind called konesans .

Since developing in the mid-nineteenth century, chromolithography has had an impact on Haitian Vodou imagery, facilitating the widespread availability of images of the Roman Catholic saints who are equated with the lwa.

Haitian Vodou teaches that a lwa can possess an individual regardless of gender; both male and female lwa can possess either men or women.

Haitian Vodou teaches that supernatural factors cause or exacerbate many problems.

Haitian Vodou cemeteries are often marked by large crosses, symbols of Baron Samedi.

Gradually over the course of the 18th century, Haitian Vodou emerged as "a composite of various African ethnic traditions", merging diverse practices into a more cohesive form.

Afro-Haitians adopted other aspects of French colonial culture; Vodou drew influence from European grimoires, as well as European commedia performances.

Haitian Vodou rituals took place in secret, usually at night; one such rite was described during the 1790s by a white man, Mederic Louis Elie Moreau de Saint-Mery.

Many churches left abandoned by Roman Catholic congregations were adopted for Haitian Vodou rites, continuing the syncretization between the different systems.

Related searches

At this point, with no new arrivals from Africa, Haitian Vodou began to stabilise, transforming from "a widely-scattered series of local cults" into "a religion".

Haiti's first three presidents sought to suppress Haitian Vodou, using police to break-up nocturnal rituals; they feared it as a source of rebellion.

Haitian Vodou utilized it for his own purposes, encouraging rumors about his own powers of sorcery.

In U S popular culture, for instance, Haitian Vodou is usually portrayed as destructive and malevolent, attitudes often linked with anti-black racism.

The lack of any central Haitian Vodou authority has hindered efforts to combat these negative representations.

Documentaries focusing on Haitian Vodou have appeared—such as Maya Deren's 1985 film Divine Horsemen or Anne Lescot and Laurence Magloire's 2002 work Of Men and Gods—which have in turn encouraged some viewers to take a practical interest in the religion.