Business Management Cape Sba

The Island/Territory/islands where voodoo is practiced and its origin.

Voodoo originated in Haiti during the colonial period. It is a syncretic religion that is widely practised in Haiti today. The tribal religions of West Africans, which serve as the foundation of Voodoo, were brought to Haiti by slaves during the seventeenth century. According to anthropologists, voodoo beliefs were transplanted from the African shore to the Americas on slave ships. These slaves were mainly captured from the kingdom of Dahomey, which occupied parts of today’s Togo, as well as Benin and Nigeria. Linguistically, the word ‘Voodoo’ is derived from the word ‘Verdun’ which comes from the Fon language, spoken by the people of Dahomey. It means ‘spirit god’. Voodoo was brought to the Americas a little over 250 years ago. From 1720, thousands of African slaves were transported to the West Indies and New Orleans. The first generation of slaves were deemed savage, brooding, sullen and filled with hatred for their captors. The whites hardly considered them as humans. They were treated in the most draconian, vexatious, intolerable and astringent manner. For example, soon after the founding of New Orleans in 1718 a slave camp was established in nearby swamps where blacks were broken. The slaves were worked and beaten until those who survived were considered tame enough to be sold to plantation owners. They were not only punished if caught gathering for dancing, but sometimes, their owners would suffer too. Slave masters prohibited their slaves from meeting to practise voodoo or any African rite. Subjected to forced labour and expected to adopt the Christian religious practices, the slaves turned to their spirit ancestors to help them encounter their capturer. Voodoo underwent some serious changes. In Haiti, slaves from Africa incorporated different beliefs into their spirit religion. They amalgamated their African religious beliefs with those of the form of Christianity taught to them by their captors.

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Slave revolt St. Dominigue (1791)

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This picture shows the numerous countries from which voodoo originates. Every line connects to a country and goes right back to new Orleans as the host country where voodoo has now reached and is widely practised.

History of voodoo its growth and development

The practice of voodoo itself is probably as old as the African continent. Sometimes the word, written voudou, vodou, or voudun, means god creator or Great Spirit. Voodoo has been greatly distorted and misunderstood. Human sacrifices, vampire dripping blood and devil worship were all said to be associated with voodoo. But this is not the case. It is those who do not know the true nature of voodoo that associate it with these spooky things. Voodoo is a life affirming practice that encourages its participants to better understand the natural processes of life and their own spiritual nature. Research has also concluded that voodoo is an ancient religion from Africa that involves the cult of ancestors, of various animistic spirits and the use of trance to communicate with such spirits. It is true that voodoo has its roots in Africa. Today, the cult of voodoo is being practised by millions throughout the world, in Africa, the Caribbean, Central, North and South America in various forms, often with elements of Catholicism mixed in.

                 The main reason of the practice is healing: to heal individuals’ relationships with themselves, with others and ultimately with god. Around 1510 the slave trade began, slaves were being taken from the west coast of Africa (gulf of guinea) from what is now Senegal and Gambia to the Congo regions. The slaves who were torn from their native lands brought with them their beliefs and regional practices. They were prohibited from practising their religious beliefs. Instead, they had to be Christianised. The slave masters considered themselves superior to their slaves in every way, and thus forced upon them their way of life, which includes their religious beliefs. They considered them as savages, incapable of abstract concepts or spirituality, and so this denial of their humanity made it easier for them to be confined and remain as slaves in the hands of their captors and masters. Yet, despite these terrible conditions, the Africans only hope laid in their own faith. They found solace and hope in their faith, and were united by their African rituals, which provided them with a sense of freedom amidst their enslavement.

The most influential of the African slaves came from Nigeria and Dahomey. In 1729 the Dahomey captured their neighbours, the ewes, and sold their prisoners to slave ships in exchange for European goods. Even though they kidnapped the ewes, many people from the Dahomey were kidnapped themselves. The two tribes had in-cooperated snake worship into their rites and many priests from their religion found themselves unwilling on the route to Haiti and the new world. Having found a new place to call their home, these priests set up their temples and developed the practices of their captors. Today about 15% of the population is said to practise voodoo in New Orleans. Modern voodoo has taken several directions: spiritualist reverends and mothers who have their own churches; hoodoos who come together and work spells and superstitions; elements of European witch craft; and traditionalists for whom the practice of voodoo is a natural and important part of their daily lives. For them, this is actually a positive search for ancient roots and wisdom.

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This picture illustrates some of the events that the slaves engaged in during the worship of their spirit gods. The image portrays the skull which is a symbolic element of voodoo, and also the chicken, as well as other markings around the area of their worship. There is also a fire where the people gather around to dance and drum.

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Beliefs and practices of voodoo

The West African form of voodoo came from ancient practices of ancestor worship and animism, which is the belief that spirits inhabit all things. The practitioners of voodoo believe in a supreme god called bondye, who is known to be all powerful. Yet this all powerful god remains detached from the affairs of humans. Bondye and all his other spirits dwell in an invisible world entwined with our own. Although bondye is said to be detached from their own world, the voodoo practitioners can seek his assistance from many spirits of the ancestors and also nature to aid in their problems.

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