Vodun african voodoo pdf

As noted in your article, people nowadays tend to stigmatize it. Hi, I do think this is an excellent site. I stumbled upon it ; I will revisit yet again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide others. Previous Next. Share This Article! About the Author: Culture Exchange.

Here at Culture Exchange, we take pride in running a platform based around diversity. On our website you can connect with authors from around the globe, giving you access to unique views and ideas found nowhere else.

Reader July 13, at am - Reply. Culture Exchange November 29, at pm - Reply. Samantha Williams February 24, at am - Reply. Culture Exchange February 6, at am - Reply. Rudie May 18, at pm - Reply. Omar December 22, at am - Reply. Leave A Comment Cancel reply Comment. Go to Top. Every kind of undead — from the ghosts of slaves, to incarnations of vampires, witches, and zombies — are part of the collective beliefs of Vodou worshippers of Haiti and adherents of Vodun in Togo and Benin.

When rules and norms are broken, supernatural beings work to create order and discipline. The lougarous werewolves or vampires of Haiti have also experienced a revival of sorts, especially since the Haitian earthquake and due to increased social stratification indicative of present times.

The past decade has seen a pronounced intensification in lougarou accusations and incidents involving victimization. Patriarchal men, and others of privilege, openly discriminate against outspoken and brave women Sarthou, The mysterious werewolves and vampires of Haiti beg deeper questions, especially since such stories and accusations escalate along with parallel increases in poverty, homelessness, criminality, and desperation. The werewolves of Greece lycanthropus and Ireland faoladh were also more popular during tumultuous times of social and political upheaval.

Thus what we are witnessing in the Global South has universal precedence. The sinister nature of neoliberalism bequeaths an equally ominous response when humans can twist and transform into animals. Just as normal humans can be altered by the love of money and its associative greed, so too can other humans turn themselves into greedy monsters feeding on the blood of children and other vulnerable persons. People are afraid, and they are desperate, and this often leads to hate and hysteria.

When the earthquake in Haiti killed tens of thousands and uprooted three million people, folks began keeping a night lookout for monsters, leading to bloody retribution on a massive scale.

Of course, most of these kidnappings are carried out by roving local gangs looking to sell the children into slavery for a profit, but foreigners are also complicit, sometimes in an effort to take them away for legal and illegal adoption in what they believe to be a better world.

One case involved the arrest of ten American Baptist aid workers who were accused of attempting to smuggle across the border 33 homeless children ranging from twelve months to twelve years old. As anthropologists we are not in the business of absolute truth, we leave that to the philosophers. And people in West Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, or the tropical Global South more widely, adamantly insist that there are supernatural creatures Adze, Lougarou, Chupacabra, etc.

As modernity and neoliberalism continues to leave masses of people excluded —the darkness that has descended becomes not only that of disaster and human suffering, but also of frightening supernatural disorder complete with accompanying monsters. In some cultures, stories and characters considered legendary, and what we consider to be myth, become intimately connected to the realities of life.

Furthermore, in Western cultures these beliefs and ideas are also growing, in both our imaginations and our collective imaginations. Conclusion African religions are rarely granted the respect and attention they deserve and have long been excluded from the status and prestige relegated to other religions. Instead they are associated with the zombies and witches of popular culture, and thus misappropriated as gothic. Gothic revival, and renewed interest in African religions, constitute two sides of the same coin — a desire to respond to and resist the inequality and social injustice of the world.

Nevertheless, in this paper I do not intend to romanticize or incorrectly frame aspects of Voodoo by equating this truly global religion with vampirism or even modern gothic culture. This in itself is uncanny and sublime, and yet the fact that both ideas are so prevalent in the postmodern world and often conflated with one another, speaks to the amount of misinformation and misunderstanding of both ideas: Voodoo and The Gothic.

However, upon deeper reflection, I realized that the series actually did as much to clarify Voodoo as it did to mystify it. Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo is not about pins and needles, and curses Bo , but about devotion to the ancestors and a belief in an almighty god Mawu or Bondye. Nevertheless, it is still too often associated with European witchcraft. Unfortunately, these grave misunderstandings and conflations, forged by centuries of racism and colonialism, have become the popular narrative.

Just like the gothic, Vodun allows us to delve into the unknown, the unseen, leaving us in the state of liminality where one is between and betwixt, searching for new truths and fulfilling new desires. Producer True Blood. Ways of seeing Vol. London, UK: Penguin. Brown, K. Mama Lola: A vodou priestess in Brooklyn Vol. Burke, E. A philosophical enquiry into the sublime and beautiful. London, UK: Routledge. Mawu, the moon goddess, provides the cool of the night, peace, fertility, and rain.

Legba is often represented as a phallus or as a man with a prominent phallus. Known as the youngest son of Mawu, he is the chief of all Vodun divinities; in his Diasporic portrayal, Legba is believed to be a very old man who walks on crutches. Being old he is seen as wise, but when seen as a child he is one who is rebellious. It is only through contact with Legba that it becomes possible to contact the other gods, for he is the guardian at the door of the spirits.

As the mediator between the spirits and the living, Dan maintains balance, order, peace and communication. Other popular Lwa , or spiritual entities, include Azaka who rules over agriculture, Erzuli has domain over love, and Ogoun who is in charge of war, defense and who stands on guard. All creation is considered divine and therefore contains the power of the divine. This is how medicines such as herbal remedies are understood, and explains the ubiquitous use of mundane objects in religious ritual.

Specifically, they are objects inhabited by spirits. The entities that inhabit a fetish are able to perform different tasks according to their stage of development.

It is not so different than a young child sitting on the lap of their grandparent listening to the stories being shared. The child learns from the wisdom of their elders, as the believers of Vodun learn from the wisdom of those that have left this world and entered the spiritual world.

One very misunderstood practice with Vodun is the Voodoo doll. The belief by those that are unknowledgeable about the religion is that an individual that practices Vodun uses the doll as a tool to cause pain and misery for others.

They then treat the doll in an unfavorable fashion, such as sticking pins into it, causing pain to the person that they assigned to the doll.

This belief has been popularized by pop culture and Hollywood. This practice, known as hoodoo, is not utilized by the majority in the Vodun religion. Other beliefs that Hollywood has attached to Vodun is devil worship, torture, cannibalism, and malevolent magical workings learnreligions.

A lot of the rituals in Vodun includes symbolic drawings and music. As mentioned earlier, drum and dancing are one form of communication with the spirits of the dead. Vodun pulls from its Roman Catholic roots by using the symbolism during the ritual. In Vodun this is known as Veves.