Haitian Vodou

File:VoodooValris.jpg

A sequined flag, by Haitian artist Georges Valris, depicting the symbol of the Loko Atison; these symbols play an important role in Vodou ritual

Haitian VodouTemplate:Efn (Template:IPAc-en) is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs.

Vodou teaches the existence of a transcendent creator divinity, Bondye, under whom are spirits known as . Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African deities, they are equated with Catholic saints. The divide into different groups, the ("nations"), most notably the Rada and the Petwo, about whom various myths and stories are told. This theology has been labelled both monotheistic and polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists commonly venerate the at an (temple), run by an (priest) or (priestess). Alternatively, Vodou is also practised within family groups or in secret societies like the Bizango. A central ritual involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage a to possess one of their members and thus communicate with them. Offerings to the , and to spirits of the dead, include fruit, liquor, and sacrificed animals. Several forms of divination are utilized to decipher messages from the . Healing rituals and the preparation of herbal remedies and talismans also play a prominent role.

Vodou developed among Afro-Haitian communities amid the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries. Its structure arose from the blending of the traditional religions of those enslaved West and Central Africans brought to the island of Hispaniola, among them Kongo, Fon, and Yoruba. There, it absorbed influences from the culture of the French colonialists who controlled the colony of Saint-Domingue, most notably Roman Catholicism but also Freemasonry. Many Vodouists were involved in the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1801 which overthrew the French colonial government, abolished slavery, and transformed Saint-Domingue into the republic of Haiti. The Catholic Church left for several decades following the Revolution, allowing Vodou to become Haiti's dominant religion. In the 20th century, growing emigration spread Vodou abroad. The late 20th century saw growing links between Vodou and related traditions in West Africa and the Americas, such as Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé, while some practitioners influenced by the Négritude movement have sought to remove Catholic influences.

Most Haitians practice both Vodou and Catholicism, seeing no contradiction in pursuing the two different systems simultaneously. Smaller Vodouist communities exist elsewhere, especially among Haitian diasporas in Cuba and the United States. Both in Haiti and abroad Vodou has spread beyond its Afro-Haitian origins and is practiced by individuals of various ethnicities. Having faced much criticism through its history, Vodou has been described as one of the world's most misunderstood religions.

Definitions and terminology

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Vodou paraphernalia for sale at the Marché de Fer (Iron Market) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Vodou is a religion.Template:Sfnm More specifically, scholars have characterised it as an Afro-Haitian religion,Template:Sfn and as Haiti's "national religion".Template:Sfnm Its main structure derives from the African traditional religions of West and Central Africa which were brought to Haiti by enslaved Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries.Template:Sfn Of these, the greatest influences came from the Fon and Bakongo peoples.Template:Sfn On the island, these African religions mixed with the iconography of European-derived traditions such as Catholicism and Freemasonry,Template:Sfnm taking the form of Vodou around the mid-18th century.Template:Sfn In combining varied influences, Vodou has often been described as syncretic,Template:Sfnm a product of creolization,Template:Sfn or alternatively as a "symbiosis".Template:Sfnm

As formed in Haiti, Vodou represented "a new religion",Template:Sfnm "a creolized New World system",Template:Sfn one that differs in many ways from African traditional religions.Template:Sfn The scholar Leslie Desmangles therefore called it an "African-derived tradition",Template:Sfn Ina J. Fandrich termed it a "neo-African religion",Template:Sfn and Markel Thylefors called it an "Afro-Latin American religion".Template:Sfn Several other African diasporic religions found in the Americas formed in a similar way, and owing to their shared origins in West African traditional religion, Vodou has been characterized as a "sister religion" of Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé.Template:Sfn

Vodou has no central institutional authority,Template:Sfnm no single leader,Template:Sfnm and no developed body of doctrine.Template:Sfn It thus has no orthodoxy,Template:Sfnm no central liturgy,Template:Sfnm and no formal creed.Template:Sfnm Developing over the course of several centuries,Template:Sfnm it has changed over time.Template:Sfn It displays variation at both the regional and local levelTemplate:Sfnm—including variation between Haiti and the Haitian diasporaTemplate:Sfn—as well as among different congregations.Template:Sfnm It is practiced domestically, by families on their land, but also by congregations meeting communally,Template:Sfn with the latter termed "temple Vodou".Template:Sfn

In Haitian culture, religions are not generally deemed totally autonomous. Many Haitians thus practice both Vodou and Roman Catholicism,Template:Sfnm with Vodouists usually regarding themselves as Roman Catholics.Template:Sfnm In Haiti, some Vodouists have also practiced Protestantism,Template:Sfn Mormonism,Template:Sfn or Freemasonry;Template:Sfn in Cuba they have involved themselves in Santería,Template:Sfnm and in the United States with modern Paganism.Template:Sfn Vodou has also absorbed elements from other contexts; in Cuba, some Vodouists have adopted elements from Spiritism.Template:Sfn Influenced by the Négritude movement, other Vodouists have sought to remove Roman Catholic and other European influences from their practice of Vodou.Template:Sfn

Terminology

In English, Vodou's practitioners are termed Vodouists;Template:Sfnm in French and Haitian Creole, they are called Template:Sfnm or .Template:Sfn Another term for adherents is sèvitè (, "devotees"),Template:Sfn reflecting their self-description as people who ("serve the "), the supernatural beings that play a central role in Vodou.Template:Sfnm

File:Houngan ceremony ritual.jpg

An (Vodou priest) with another practitioner at a ceremony in Haiti in 2011

Many words used in the religion derive from the Fon language of West Africa;Template:Sfnm this includes the word itself.Template:Sfnm First recorded in the 1658 Doctrina Christiana,Template:Sfn the Fon word was used in the West African kingdom of Dahomey to signify a spirit or deity.Template:Sfnm In Haitian Creole, came to designate a specific style of dance and drumming,Template:Sfnm before outsiders to the religion adopted it as a generic term for much Afro-Haitian religion.Template:Sfnm The word now encompasses "a variety of Haiti's African-derived religious traditions and practices",Template:Sfn incorporating "a bundle of practices that practitioners themselves do not aggregate".Template:Sfn is thus a term primarily used by scholars and outsiders to the religion;Template:Sfn 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.Template:Sfn

is the common spelling for the religion among scholars, in official Haitian Creole orthography, and by the United States Library of Congress.Template:Sfnm Some scholars prefer the spellings Vodoun, Voudoun, or Vodun,Template:Sfnm while in French the spellings Template:Sfn or also appear.Template:Sfnm The spelling Voodoo, once common, is now generally avoided by practitioners and scholars when referring to the Haitian religion.Template:Sfn This is both to avoid confusion with Louisiana Voodoo, a related but distinct tradition,Template:Sfnm and to distinguish it from the negative connotations that the term Voodoo has in Western popular culture.Template:Sfn

Beliefs

Bondye and the

File:Voodoo exhibit at the Canadian Museum of Civilization (8348740026).jpg

A selection of ritual items used in Vodou practice on display in the Canadian Museum of Civilization.

Vodou is monotheistic,Template:Sfnm teaching the existence of a single supreme God.Template:Sfnm This entity is called Bondye or Bonié,Template:Sfnm a name deriving from the French term ("Good God").Template:Sfnm Another term for this God—borrowed from FreemasonryTemplate:Sfn—is the .Template:Sfnm For Vodouists, Bondye is the ultimate source of power,Template:Sfn the creator of the universe,Template:Sfnm and the maintainer of cosmic order.Template:Sfn Haitians frequently use the phrase ("if Bondye wishes"), suggesting a belief that all things occur in accordance with this divinity's will.Template:Sfnm Vodouists regard Bondye as being transcendent and remote;Template:Sfnm as the God is uninvolved in human affairs,Template:Sfnm they see little point in approaching it directly.Template:Sfn While Vodouists often equate Bondye with the Christian God,Template:Sfn Vodou does not incorporate belief in a powerful antagonist that opposes the supreme being akin to the Christian notion of Satan.Template:Sfn

Vodou has also been characterized as polytheistic.Template:Sfn It teaches the existence of beings called the ,Template:Sfnm a term varyingly translated into English as "spirits", "gods", or "geniuses".Template:Sfn These are also known as the , , , and ,Template:Sfn and are sometimes equated with the angels of Christian cosmology.Template:Sfn Vodou teaches that there are over a thousand .Template:Sfn Serving as Bondye's intermediaries,Template:Sfnm they communicate with humans through their dreams or by directly possessing them.Template:Sfn Vodouists believe the are capable of offering people help, protection, and counsel in return for ritual service.Template:Sfnm Each has its own personality,Template:Sfn and is associated with specific colors,Template:Sfnm days of the week,Template:Sfn and objects.Template:Sfn Particular are also associated with specific human family lineages.Template:Sfn These spirits are not seen as moral exemplars for practitioners to imitate.Template:Sfn The can be either loyal or capricious in their dealings with their devotees;Template:Sfn they are easily offended, for instance if offered food they dislike.Template:Sfn When angered, the are believed to remove their protection from their devotees, or to inflict misfortune, illness, or madness on an individual.Template:Sfnm

Although there are exceptions, most derive their names from the Fon and Yoruba languages and originated as deities venerated in West or Central Africa.Template:Sfn New are nevertheless added to the pantheon, with both talismans and certain humans thought capable of becoming ,Template:Sfn in the latter case through their strength of personality or power.Template:Sfn Vodouists often refer to the living in the sea or in rivers,Template:Sfn or alternatively in Ginen,Template:Sfn a term encompassing a generalized understanding of Africa as the ancestral land of the Haitian people.Template:Sfn

The

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A painting of the Danbala, a serpent, by Haitian artist Hector Hyppolite. Hyppolite was himself an Template:Sfn

The divide into or "nations".Template:Sfnm This classificatory system derives from the way in which enslaved Africans were divided into "nations" upon their arrival in Haiti, usually based on their African port of departure rather than their ethno-cultural identity.Template:Sfn The term (family) is sometimes used synonymously with or alternatively as a sub-division of the latter category.Template:Sfn It is often claimed that there are 17 ,Template:Sfnm of which the Rada and the Petwo are the largest and most dominant.Template:Sfnm

The Rada are seen as being 'cool'; the Petwo as 'hot'.Template:Sfnm This means that the Rada are or , or sweet-tempered, while the Petwo are , indicating that they can be forceful or violent and are associated with fire.Template:Sfn Whereas the Rada are generally righteous, their Petwo counterparts are more morally ambiguous and associated with issues like money.Template:Sfn The Rada owe more to Dahomeyan and Yoruba influences;Template:Sfnm their name probably comes from Arada, a city in the Dahomey kingdom of West Africa.Template:Sfnm The Petwo derive largely from Kongo religion,Template:Sfnm although also exhibit Dahomeyan and creolised influences.Template:Sfn Some exist or , meaning that they are "in two waters" and are served in both Rada and Petwo rituals.Template:Sfnm

Vodou teaches that there are over a thousand ,Template:Sfn although certain ones are especially widely venerated.Template:Sfn In Rada ceremonies, the first saluted is Papa Legba, also known as Legba.Template:Sfnm Depicted as a feeble old man wearing rags and using a crutch,Template:Sfnm Papa Legba is the protector of gates and fences and thus of the home, as well as of roads, paths, and crossroads.Template:Sfnm In Petwo rites, the first invoked is usually Mèt Kalfou.Template:Sfn The second usually greeted are the Marasa or sacred twins.Template:Sfn In Vodou, every has its own Marasa,Template:Sfn reflecting a belief that twins have special powers.Template:Sfnm Another important is Agwe, also known as Agwe-taroyo, who is associated with aquatic life and is the protector of ships and fishermen.Template:Sfnm Agwe is believed to rule the sea with his consort, La Sirène.Template:Sfn She is a mermaid, and is sometimes described as Èzili of the Waters because she is believed to bring good luck and wealth from the sea.Template:Sfn Also given the name Èzili is Èzili Freda or Erzuli Freda, the of love and luxury who personifies feminine beauty and grace,Template:Sfnm and Ezili Dantor, who takes the form of a peasant woman.Template:Sfnm

File:VeveBaronSamedi.svg

A pattern designed to invoke Baron Samedi, the chief of the Gede

Azaka is the of crops and agriculture,Template:Sfnm usually addressed as "Papa" or "Cousin".Template:Sfnm His consort is the female Kouzinn.Template:Sfn Loco is the of vegetation, and because he is seen to give healing properties to various plant species is considered the of healing too.Template:Sfn Ogou is a warrior ,Template:Sfnm associated with weapons.Template:Sfnm Sogbo is a associated with lightning,Template:Sfn while his companion, Bade, is associated with the wind.Template:Sfn Danbala is a serpent and is associated with water, being believed to frequent rivers, springs, and marshes;Template:Sfnm he is one of the most popular deities in the pantheon.Template:Sfn Danbala and his consort Ayida-Weddo are often depicted as a pair of intertwining snakes.Template:Sfnm The Simbi are understood as the guardians of fountains and marshes.Template:Sfn

Usually seen as a rather than a ,Template:Sfn the Gede are associated with the realm of the dead.Template:Sfnm The head of the family is Baron Samedi ("Baron Saturday");Template:Sfnm he is associated with the phallus, the skull, and the graveyard cross,Template:Sfn the latter used to mark out his presence in a Haitian cemetery.Template:Sfnm His consort is Gran Brigit,Template:Sfnm who has authority over cemeteries and is mother to many of the other Gede.Template:Sfn The Gede regularly satirise the ruling authorities,Template:Sfn and are welcomed to rituals as they are thought to bring merriment.Template:Sfnm The Gede's symbol is an erect penis,Template:Sfn while the dance associated with them involves sexual-style thrusting,Template:Sfnm and those possessed by these lwa typically make sexual innuendos.Template:Sfnm

The and the saints

Most are associated with specific Roman Catholic saints.Template:Sfnm These particular links rely on analogies between the respective functions of these figures;Template:Sfnm Azaka, the of agriculture, is for instance associated with Saint Isidore the farmer.Template:Sfnm Similarly, because he is understood as the "key" to the spirit world, Papa Legba is typically associated with Saint Peter, who is traditionally depicted holding keys in Roman Catholic imagery.Template:Sfnm The of love and luxury, Èzili Freda, is associated with Mater Dolorosa.Template:Sfnm Danbala the serpent is often equated with Saint Patrick, who is traditionally depicted with snakes, or with Moses, whose staff turned into serpents according to the Book of Exodus.Template:Sfnm The Marasa, or sacred twins, are typically equated with the twin saints Cosmos and Damian.Template:Sfnm

Vodouists may originally have adopted the Roman Catholic saints to conceal worship when the latter was illegal during the colonial period.Template:Sfnm By at least the late 20th century, many Vodouists came to express genuine devotion to the Roman Catholic saints,Template:Sfn with the scholar Marc A. Christophe stating that most modern Vodouists genuinely see the saints and as one, reflecting Vodou's "all-inclusive and harmonizing characteristics".Template:Sfn Many Vodouists possess chromolithographic prints of the saints,Template:Sfn while images of these Christian figures can also be found on temple walls,Template:Sfnm and on the flags used in Vodou ritual.Template:Sfn Vodouists also often adopt and reinterpret biblical stories and theorise about the nature of Jesus of Nazareth.Template:Sfn Catholic and Vodou identity is sufficiently intertwined that a Haitian proverb maintains that "" ("you have to be a good Catholic to serve the spirits").Template:Sfn

Soul and afterlife

File:Voodoo Banner.jpg

A Haitian banner depicting a Roman Catholic saint

Vodou holds that Bondye created humanity in its image, fashioning humans from water and clay.Template:Sfn It teaches the existence of a soul, usually called the ,Template:Sfnm or sometimes the ,Template:Sfn which is divided in two parts.Template:Sfnm One of these is the ("little good angel"), understood as the conscience that allows an individual to engage in self-reflection and self-criticism. The other part is the ("big good angel") and this constitutes the psyche, source of memory, intelligence, and personhood.Template:Sfnm Both parts are believed to reside within an individual's head,Template:Sfn although the is thought capable of leaving the head and travelling while a person sleeps.Template:Sfn

Vodouists believe that every individual is connected to a specific , regarded as their (master of the head).Template:Sfnm They believe that this informs the individual's personality.Template:Sfn Vodou holds that the identity of a person's tutelary can be identified through divination or by consulting when they possess other humans.Template:Sfn Some of the religion's priests and priestesses are deemed to have "the gift of eyes", capable of seeing the identity of a person's tutelary .Template:Sfn

Vodou holds that Bondye has preordained the time of everyone's death,Template:Sfn but does not teach the existence of an afterlife realm akin to the Christian ideas of heaven and hell.Template:Sfnm Instead, a common belief is that at bodily death, the join the Ginen, or ancestral spirits, while the proceeds to face judgement before Bondye.Template:Sfn This idea of judgement is more common in urban areas, having been influenced by Roman Catholicism, while in the Haitian mountains it is more common for Vodouists to believe that the dissolves into the navel of the earth nine days after death.Template:Sfn The land of the Ginen is often identified as being located beneath the sea, under the earth, or above the sky.Template:Sfn Some Vodouists believe that the stays in the land of the Ginen for a year and a day before being absorbed into the Gede family.Template:Sfn However, Vodouists usually distinguish the spirits of the dead from the Gede proper, for the latter are .Template:Sfn Vodou also teaches that the dead continue to participate in human affairs,Template:Sfnm with these spirits often complaining that they suffer from hunger, cold, and damp,Template:Sfn and thus requiring sacrifices from the living.Template:Sfn

Morality, ethics, and gender roles

Vodou ethical standards correspond to its sense of cosmological order,Template:Sfn with a belief in the interdependence of things playing a role in Vodou approaches to ethical issues.Template:Sfn Serving the is central to Vodou and its moral codes reflect the reciprocal relationship that practitioners have with these spirits;Template:Sfn for Vodouists, virtue is maintained by ensuring a responsible relationship with the .Template:Sfn Vodou also promotes a belief in destiny, although individuals are still deemed to have freedom of choice.Template:Sfn This view of destiny has been interpreted as encouraging a fatalistic outlook,Template:Sfn something that the religion's critics, especially from Christian backgrounds, have argued has discouraged Vodouists from improving their society.Template:Sfnm This has been extended into an argument that Vodou is responsible for Haiti's poverty,Template:Sfn a view that in turn has been accused of being rooted in European colonial prejudices towards Africans.Template:Sfn

File:VeveLegba.svg

A pattern designed to invoke Papa Legba, one of the main spirits worshipped in Haitian Vodou

Although Vodou permeates every aspect of its adherent's lives,Template:Sfnm it offers no prescriptive code of ethics.Template:Sfnm Rather than being rule-based, Vodou morality is deemed contextual to the situation,Template:Sfn with no clear binary division between good and evil.Template:Sfn Vodou reflects people's everyday concerns, focusing on techniques for mitigating illness and misfortune;Template:Sfn doing what one needs to in order to survive is considered a high ethic.Template:Sfn Among Vodouists, a moral person is regarded as someone who lives in tune with their character and that of their tutelary .Template:Sfn In general, acts that reinforce Bondye's power are deemed good; those that undermine it are seen as bad.Template:Sfn , meaning the use of supernatural powers for self-serving and malevolent ends, are usually thought bad.Template:Sfn The term is quite flexible; it is usually used to denigrate other Vodouists, although some practitioners have used it as a self-descriptor in reference to Petwo rites.Template:Sfn

The extended family is of importance in Haitian society,Template:Sfn with Vodou reinforcing family ties,Template:Sfn and emphasising respect for the elderly.Template:Sfn Although there are accounts of male Vodou priests mistreating their female followers,Template:Sfn in the religion women can also lay claim to moral authority as social and spiritual leaders.Template:Sfn Vodou is also considered sympathetic to gay people,Template:Sfn with many gay and bisexual individuals holding status as Vodou priests and priestesses,Template:Sfnm and some groups having largely gay congregations.Template:Sfnm Some Vodouists state that the determine a person's sexual orientation.Template:Sfnm The Èzili Dantò is sometimes regarded as a lesbian,Template:Sfnm and forms of Èzili are also seen as the patron of (gay men).Template:Sfnm

Practices

The anthropologist Alfred Métraux described Vodou as "a practical and utilitarian religion".Template:Sfn Its practices largely revolve around interactions with the ,Template:Sfn and incorporate song, drumming, dance, prayer, spirit possession, and animal sacrifice.Template:Sfnm Practitioners gather together for (services) in which they commune with the .Template:Sfnm Ceremonies for a particular often coincide with the feast day of the Roman Catholic saint which that is associated with.Template:Sfnm The mastery of ritual forms is considered imperative in Vodou.Template:Sfn The purpose of ritual is to ("heat things up"), thus bringing about change, whether that be to remove barriers or to facilitate healing.Template:Sfn Ritual activities are often termed travay (work).Template:Sfn

Secrecy is important in Vodou.Template:Sfnm It is an initiatory tradition,Template:Sfn operating through a system of graded induction or initiation.Template:Sfn When an individual agrees to serve a , it is deemed a lifelong commitment.Template:Sfn Vodou has a strong oral culture, and its teachings are primarily disseminated through oral transmission,Template:Sfn although many practitioners began to use texts after they appeared in the mid-20th century.Template:Sfn The terminology used in Vodou ritual is called .Template:Sfnm Unlike in Santería and Candomblé, which employ Yoruba as a liturgical language not understood by most practitioners, in Vodou the liturgies are predominantly in Haitian Creole, the everyday language of most Vodouists.Template:Sfn

and

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Ceremonial suit worn in Haitian Vodou rites, on display in the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, Germany

Male priests are referred to as an , alternatively spelled or ,Template:Sfnm or a ("Vodou priest").Template:Sfn Priestesses are termed , alternatively spelled .Template:Sfnm numerically dominate in rural Haiti, while there is a more equitable balance of priests and priestesses in urban areas.Template:Sfn The and are tasked with organising liturgies, preparing initiations, offering consultations with clients using divination, and preparing remedies for the sick.Template:Sfn There is no priestly hierarchy, with and being largely self-sufficient.Template:Sfn In many cases, the role is hereditary.Template:Sfn Historical evidence suggests that the role of the and intensified over the course of the 20th century.Template:Sfn As a result, "temple Vodou" is now more common in rural areas of Haiti than it was in historical periods.Template:Sfn

Vodou teaches that the call an individual to become an or ,Template:Sfn and if the latter refuses then misfortune may befall them.Template:Sfnm A prospective or must normally rise through the other roles in a Vodou congregation before undergoing an apprenticeship with a pre-existing or lasting several months or years.Template:Sfn After this apprenticeship, they undergo an initiation ceremony, the details of which are kept secret from non-initiates.Template:Sfn Other and do not undergo any apprenticeship, but claim that they have gained their training directly from the .Template:Sfnm Their authenticity is often challenged, and they are referred to as , a term bearing some disparaging connotations.Template:Sfn Becoming an or is expensive, often requiring the purchase of ritual paraphernalia and land on which to build a temple.Template:Sfn To finance this, many save up for a long time.Template:Sfn

Vodouists believe that the 's role is modelled on the Loco;Template:Sfnm in Vodou mythology, he was the first and his consort Ayizan the first .Template:Sfn The and are expected to display the power of second sight,Template:Sfn something regarded as a gift from Bondye that can be revealed to the individual through visions or dreams.Template:Sfn Many priests and priestesses are often attributed fantastical powers in stories told about them,Template:Sfn and may bolster their status with claims to have received revelations from the , sometimes via visits to the 's own abode.Template:Sfn

There is often bitter competition between different and .Template:Sfn Their main income derives from healing the sick, supplemented with payments received for overseeing initiations and selling talismans and amulets.Template:Sfn In many cases, and become wealthier than their clients.Template:Sfn and are generally powerful and well-respected members of Haitian society.Template:Sfn Being an or provides an individual with both social status and material profit,Template:Sfn although the fame and reputation of individual priests and priestesses can vary widely.Template:Sfn Respected Vodou priests and priestesses are often literate in a society where semi-literacy and illiteracy are common.Template:Sfn They can recite from printed texts and write letters for illiterate members of their community.Template:Sfn Owing to their prominence in a community, the and can effectively become political leaders,Template:Sfn or otherwise exert an influence on local politics.Template:Sfn

The

A Vodou temple is called an ,Template:Sfnm varyingly spelled ,Template:Sfnm ,Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfn An alternative term is , although the connotations of this term vary regionally in Haiti.Template:Sfn Most communal Vodou activities centre around this ,Template:Sfn forming what is called "temple Vodou".Template:Sfn The size and shape of vary, from basic shacks to more lavish structures, the latter being more common in Port-au-Prince.Template:Sfn Their designs are dependent on the resources and tastes of the or running them.Template:Sfn Each is autonomous,Template:Sfnm and often has its own unique customs.Template:Sfn

File:VOODOO PERISTILE Croix des Mission, Haiti 1980.jpg

A Vodou in Croix des Mission, Haiti, photographed in 1980

The main ceremonial room in the is the ,Template:Sfnm understood as a microcosmic representation of the cosmos.Template:Sfn In the , brightly painted posts hold up the roof;Template:Sfnm the central post is the ,Template:Sfnm which is used as a pivot during ritual dances and the pillar through which the enter the room during ceremonies.Template:Sfnm It is around this central post that offerings, including both patterns and animal sacrifices, are made.Template:Sfn However, in the Haitian diaspora many Vodouists perform their rites in basements, where no are available.Template:Sfn The typically has an earthen floor, allowing libations to the to drain directly into the soil;Template:Sfn where this is not possible, libations are poured into an enamel basin.Template:Sfn Some include seating around the walls.Template:Sfn

Adjacent rooms in the include the , also known as the , , or .Template:Sfnm This is where stonework altars, known as , stand against the wall or are arranged in tiers.Template:Sfnm Also present may be a sink dedicated to the Danbala-Wedo.Template:Sfnm The is also used to store clothing that will be worn by those possessed by the during rituals.Template:Sfnm If space is available, the may also have a room set aside for the patron of that temple.Template:Sfn Many have a room known as the in which the initiate is confined during their initiatory ceremony.Template:Sfnm Every usually has a room or corner of a room devoted to Erzuli Freda.Template:Sfnm Some will also have additional rooms in which the or lives.Template:Sfn

The area around the often contains objects dedicated to particular , such as a pool of water for Danbala, a black cross for Baron Samedi, and a (iron bar) embedded in a brazier for Criminel.Template:Sfn Sacred trees, known as , sometimes mark the 's external boundary.Template:Sfn Hanging from these trees can be found straw sacks, strips of material, and animal skulls.Template:Sfn Various animals, particularly birds but also some mammal species such as goats, are sometimes kept within the perimeter of the for use as sacrifices.Template:Sfn

The congregation

File:JacmelVodou.jpg

A Vodou ceremony taking place in an in Jacmel, Haiti

Forming a spiritual community of practitioners,Template:Sfn the 's congregation are known as the (children of the house).Template:Sfnm They worship under the authority of an or ,Template:Sfn below whom is ranked the , individuals who make a lifetime commitment to serving the .Template:Sfnm Members of either sex can join the , although most are female.Template:Sfnm The 's duties include cleaning the , sacrificing animals, and taking part in the dances at which they must be prepared to be possessed by a .Template:Sfn The and conduct initiatory ceremonies whereby people become ,Template:Sfn oversee their training,Template:Sfn and act as their counsellor, healer, and protector.Template:Sfn In turn, the are expected to be obedient to their or .Template:Sfn

One of the becomes the or , the mistress of the choir. They are responsible for overseeing the liturgical singing and shaking the rattle which dictates the rhythm during ceremonies.Template:Sfnm They are aided by the , , or quartermaster, who is charged with overseeing offerings and keeping order during the rites.Template:Sfn Another figure is (the confidant), the who oversees the 's administrative functions.Template:Sfnm Congregants often form a (, support society), through which subscriptions are paid to help maintain the and organize the major religious feasts.Template:Sfn Another ritual figure sometimes present is the ("bush priest"), a man with a knowledge of Latin who is capable of administering Catholic baptisms, weddings, and the last rites, and who is willing to perform these at Vodou ceremonies.Template:Sfn

In rural areas especially, a congregation may consist of an extended family.Template:Sfn Here, the priest will often be the patriarch of that family.Template:Sfn Families, particularly in rural areas, often believe that through their (ancestors) they are tied to a (original founder); their descent from this figure is seen as giving them their inheritance both of the land and of familial spirits.Template:Sfn In other examples, particularly in urban areas, an can act as an initiatory family.Template:Sfnm A priest becomes the ("father") while the priestess becomes the ("mother") to the initiate;Template:Sfnm the initiate becomes their initiator's (spiritual child).Template:Sfn Those who share an initiator refer to themselves as "brother" and "sister."Template:Sfn Individuals may join a particular because it exists in their locality or because their family are already members. Alternatively, it may be that the places particular focus on a whom they are devoted to, or that they are impressed by the or who runs the in question, perhaps having been treated by them.Template:Sfn

Initiation

File:VeveBrigitte.svg

A pattern designed to invoke Gran Brigit, one of the spirits worshipped in Haitian Vodou

Vodou is hierarchical and includes a series of initiations.Template:Sfnm There are typically four levels of initiation,Template:Sfnm the fourth of which makes someone an or .Template:Sfn There is much variation in what these initiation ceremonies entail,Template:Sfn and the details are kept secret.Template:Sfn Each initiatory stage is associated with a state of mind called a ( or knowledge).Template:Sfnm Successive initiations are required to move through the various ,Template:Sfn and it is in these that priestly power is believed to reside.Template:Sfn

The first initiation rite is the ;Template:Sfnm this term also describes the initiate themselves.Template:Sfn Initiation is generally expensive,Template:Sfnm complex,Template:Sfn and requires significant preparation.Template:Sfn Prospective initiates are for instance required to memorise many songs and learn the characteristics of various .Template:Sfn Vodouists believe the may encourage an individual towards initiation, bringing misfortune upon them if they refuse.Template:Sfn

Initiation will often be preceded by bathing in special preparations.Template:Sfn The first part of the initiation rite is known as the or , and is marked by salutations and offerings to the .Template:Sfnm It begins with the , a ceremony in which palm leaves are frayed and then worn by the initiate.Template:Sfn Sometimes the or ("beating war") is performed instead, designed to beat away the old.Template:Sfn During the rite, the initiate comes to be regarded as the child of a particular , their .Template:Sfn

This is followed by a period of seclusion within the known as the .Template:Sfn A deliberately uncomfortable experience,Template:Sfn it involves the initiate sleeping on a mat on the floor, often with a stone for a pillow.Template:Sfn They wear a white tunic,Template:Sfn and a specific salt-free diet is followed.Template:Sfn It includes a ("head washing") to prepare the initiate for having the enter and reside in their head.Template:Sfnm Voudoists believe that one of the two parts of the human soul, the , is removed from the initiate's head, thus making space for the to enter and reside there.Template:Sfn

The initiation ceremony requires the preparation of (head pots), usually white porcelain cups with a lid in which a range of items are placed, including hair, food, herbs, and oils. These are regarded as a home for the spirits.Template:Sfnm After the period of seclusion in the , the new initiate is brought out and presented to the congregation; they are now referred to as .Template:Sfn When the new initiate is presented to the rest of the community, they carry their on their head, before placing it on the altar.Template:Sfn The final stage of the process involves the initiate being given an rattle.Template:Sfn The initiation process is seen to have ended when the new initiate is first possessed by a .Template:Sfn Initiation is seen as creating a bond between a devotee and their tutelary ,Template:Sfn and the former will often take on a new name that alludes to the name of this .Template:Sfn Finally, after the , the new initiate may be expected to visit a Catholic church.Template:Sfn

Shrines and altars

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An altar in Boston, Massachusetts established during the November festival of the Gede

The creation of sacred works is important in Vodou.Template:Sfn Votive objects used in Haiti are typically made from industrial materials, including iron, plastic, sequins, china, tinsel, and plaster.Template:Sfn

An altar, or , will often contain images (typically lithographs) of Roman Catholic saints.Template:Sfnm Since developing in the mid-19th century, chromolithography has also had an impact on Vodou imagery, facilitating the widespread availability of images of the Roman Catholic saints who are equated with the .Template:Sfn Various Vodouists have made use of varied available materials in constructing their shrines. Cosentino encountered a shrine in Port-au-Prince where Baron Samedi was represented by a plastic statue of Santa Claus wearing a black sombrero,Template:Sfn and in another by a statue of Star Wars-character Darth Vader.Template:Sfn In Port-au-Prince, it is common for Vodouists to include human skulls on their altar for the Gede.Template:Sfn In where both Rada and Petwo deities are worshipped, their altars are kept separate.Template:Sfn

Various spaces other than the temple are used for Vodou ritual.Template:Sfn Cemeteries are seen as places where spirits reside, making them suitable for certain rituals,Template:Sfn especially to approach the spirits of the dead.Template:Sfn In rural Haiti, cemeteries are often family owned and play a key role in family rituals.Template:Sfn Crossroads are also ritual locations, selected as they are believed to be points of access to the spirit world.Template:Sfn Other spaces used for Vodou rituals include Christian churches, rivers, the sea, fields, and markets.Template:Sfn

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An , the ritual rattle emblematic of the Vodou priesthood

Certain trees are regarded as having spirits resident in them and are used as natural altars.Template:Sfn Different species of tree are associated with different ; Oyu, for example, is linked with mango trees, and Danbala with bougainvillea.Template:Sfn Selected trees in Haiti have had metal items affixed to them, serving as shrines to Ogou, who is associated with both iron and the roads.Template:Sfn Spaces for ritual also appear in the homes of many Vodouists,Template:Sfn namely as a home altar called a .Template:Sfnm These may vary from complex altars to more simple variants including only images of saints alongside candles and a rosary.Template:Sfn Many practitioners will also have an altar devoted to their ancestors in their home, to which they direct offerings.Template:Sfn

Drawings known as are sketched onto the floor of the using cornmeal, ash, coffee grounds, or powdered eggshells;Template:Sfnm these are central to Vodou ritual.Template:Sfn Usually arranged symmetrically around the ,Template:Sfn these designs sometimes incorporate letters;Template:Sfn their purpose is to summon .Template:Sfn Inside the , practitioners also unfurl ceremonial flags known as (flags) at the start of a ceremony.Template:Sfnm Often made of silk or velvet and decorated with shiny objects such as sequins,Template:Sfnm the often feature either the of specific they are dedicated to or depictions of the associated Roman Catholic saint.Template:Sfn These are understood as points of entry through which the can enter the .Template:Sfn

A (baptism) is a ritual used to make an object a vessel for the .Template:Sfn Objects consecrated for ritual use are believed to contain a spiritual essence or power called .Template:Sfn The is a sacred rattle used in summoning the ,Template:Sfnm especially for Rada rites.Template:Sfn It consists of an empty, dried gourd covered in beads and snake vertebra.Template:Sfnm Prior to being used in ritual it requires consecration.Template:Sfn It is a symbol of the priesthood;Template:Sfn assuming the duties of a or is referred to as "taking the ."Template:Sfnm For Petwo rites a different rattle, the , is favored.Template:Sfn Another type of sacred object are the "thunder stones", often prehistoric axe-heads, which are associated with specific and kept in oil to preserve their power.Template:Sfn

Offerings and animal sacrifice

File:Trop Pou Te Haitian Vodou banners.jpg

A flag, which are used to invoke the at Vodou ceremonies

Feeding the is of great importance,Template:Sfn with offering rites often termed ("feeding the ").Template:Sfnm Offering food and drink to the is Vodou's most common ritual, conducted both communally and in the home.Template:Sfn The choice of food and drink offered varies depending on the in question, with different believed to favor certain foodstuffs and beverages.Template:Sfnm Danbala for instance requires white foods, especially eggs,Template:Sfnm while Legba's offerings, whether meat, tubers, or vegetables, need to be grilled on a fire.Template:Sfn The of the Ogu and Nago nations prefer raw rum or clairin,Template:Sfn while the Ayizan avoids alcohol.Template:Sfn Certain foods are also offered in the belief that they are intrinsically virtuous, such as grilled maize, peanuts, and cassava.Template:Sfn

A (dry meal) is an offering of grains, fruit, and vegetables that often precedes a simple ceremony; it takes its name from the absence of blood.Template:Sfnm Animal sacrifices are often favored at annual feasts that an or organizes for their congregation.Template:Sfn Species used for sacrifice include chickens, goats, and bulls, with pigs often favored for Petwo .Template:Sfn The animal may be washed, dressed in the color of the specific , and marked with food or water.Template:Sfn Often, the animal's throat will be cut and the blood collected in a calabash.Template:Sfn Chickens are often killed by the pulling off of their heads; their limbs may be broken beforehand.Template:Sfn In the case of Agwé, a of the sea, a white sheep may be sailed out to Trois Ilets and thrown overboard as a sacrifice.Template:Sfnm

Once killed, the animal may be butchered and organs removed, sometimes cooked, and placed on the altar or .Template:Sfn Here, it sometimes sites within a , a calabash shell bowl.Template:Sfn Vodouists believe that the consume the essence of the food.Template:Sfn Food is typically offered when it is cool, and is left for a while before humans may eat it.Template:Sfn Offerings not consumed by the celebrants are often buried or left at a crossroads.Template:Sfnm Libations might be poured into the ground.Template:Sfn

The

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Multiple styles of drum are employed in Vodou ritual; this example is used in rites invoking Rada lwa

Vodou's nocturnal gatherings are often referred to as the ("dance"), reflecting the prominent role that dancing has in such ceremonies.Template:Sfn Their purpose is to invite a to enter the ritual space and possess one of the worshippers, through whom they can communicate with the congregation.Template:Sfn The success of this procedure is predicated on mastering the different ritual actions and on getting the aesthetic right to please the .Template:Sfn The proceedings can last for the entirety of the night.Template:Sfn

On arriving, the congregation typically disperse along the perimeter of the .Template:Sfn The ritual often begins with Roman Catholic prayers and hymns;Template:Sfnm these may be led by the , although not all have anyone in this role.Template:Sfn This is followed by the shaking of the rattle to summon the .Template:Sfn Two Haitian Creole songs, the Priyè Deyò ("Outside Prayers"), may then be sung, lasting from 45 minutes to an hour.Template:Sfn The main are then saluted, individually, in a specific order.Template:Sfn Legba always comes first, as he is believed to open the way for the others.Template:Sfn Each may be offered either three or seven songs, which are specific to them.Template:Sfn

The rites employed to call down the vary depending on the in question.Template:Sfn During large-scale ceremonies, the are invited to appear through the drawing of on the ground using cornmeal.Template:Sfn Also used to call down the spirits is a process of drumming, singing, prayers, and dances.Template:Sfn Libations and offerings of food are made to the , which includes animal sacrifices.Template:Sfn The order and protocol for welcoming the is referred to as .Template:Sfnm

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Dancing at Vodou ceremony in Port-au-Prince in 1976

A symbol of the religion,Template:Sfn the drum is perhaps the most sacred item in Vodou.Template:Sfn Vodouists believe that ritual drums contain an etheric force, the ,Template:Sfnm and a spirit called .Template:Sfn Specific ceremonies accompany the construction of a drum so that it is considered suitable for ritual use.Template:Sfnm In the ("feeding of the drum") ritual, offerings are given to the drum itself.Template:Sfnm Reflecting its status, when Vodouists enter the they customarily bow before the drums.Template:Sfn Different types of drum are used, sometimes reserved for rituals devoted to specific ; Petwo rites for instance involve two types of drum, whereas Rada rituals require three.Template:Sfn Ritual drummers are called ,Template:Sfn and becoming one requires a lengthy apprenticeship.Template:Sfn The drumming style, choice of rhythm, and composition of the orchestra differs depending on which nation of are being invoked.Template:Sfnm The drum rhythms typically generate a ("break"), which the master drummer will initiate to oppose the main rhythm being played by the rest of the drummers. This is seen as having a destabilizing effect on the dancers and helping to facilitate their possession.Template:Sfn

Drumming is typically accompanied by singing,Template:Sfn usually in Haitian Creole,Template:Sfnm although sometimes in Fon or Yoruba.Template:Sfn These songs are often structured around a call and response, with a soloist singing a line and the chorus responding with either the same line or an abbreviated version.Template:Sfn The soloist is the , who maintains the rhythm with a rattle.Template:Sfnm Lyrically simple and repetitive, these songs are invocations to summon a .Template:Sfn Dancing also plays a major role in ritual,Template:Sfn utilising the rhythm of the drummers.Template:Sfn The dances are simple, lacking complex choreography, and usually involve the dancers moving counterclockwise around the .Template:Sfnm Specific dance movements can indicate the or their being summoned;Template:Sfnm dances for Agwe for instance imitate swimming motions.Template:Sfn Vodouists believe that the renew themselves through the vitality of the dancers.Template:Sfn

Spirit possession

File:Frisner Augustin drums for a Vodou dance in Brooklyn, early 1980s.jpg

Drummer Frisner Augustin in a Vodou ceremony in Brooklyn, New York City during the early 1980s.

Spirit possession is important,Template:Sfnm being central to many Vodou rituals.Template:Sfn The person being possessed is called the (horse);Template:Sfnm the act of possession is termed "mounting a horse".Template:Sfnm Vodou teaches that both male and female can possess either men or women.Template:Sfnm Although children are often present at these ceremonies,Template:Sfn they are rarely possessed as it is considered too dangerous.Template:Sfn Some individuals attending the dance will put a certain item, often wax, in their hair or headgear to prevent possession.Template:Sfn While the specific drums and songs used are designed to encourage a specific to possess someone, sometimes an unexpected appears and takes possession instead.Template:Sfn

The possession trance is termed the .Template:Sfn Vodouists believe that the enters the head of the and displaces their ,Template:Sfnm making the tremble and convulse.Template:Sfnm As their consciousness has been removed from their head during the possession, Vodouists believe that the will have no memory of the incident.Template:Sfnm The length of the possession varies, often lasting a few hours but sometimes several days.Template:Sfn Sometimes a succession of possess the same individual, one after the other.Template:Sfnm Possession may end with the collapsing in a semi-conscious state,Template:Sfn being left physically exhausted.Template:Sfn

Once the possesses an individual, the congregation greet it with a burst of song and dance.Template:Sfn The will typically bow before the officiating priest or priestess and prostrate before the .Template:Sfnm The is often escorted into an adjacent room where they are dressed in clothing associated with the possessing . Alternatively, the clothes are brought out and they are dressed in the itself.Template:Sfnm These costumes and props help the take on the appearance of the ;Template:Sfn many have a large wooden phallus used by those possessed by Gede , for instance.Template:Sfnm Once the has been dressed, congregants kiss the floor before them.Template:Sfnm

The adopts the behavior of the possessing ;Template:Sfnm their performance can be very theatrical.Template:Sfn Those believing themselves possessed by the serpent Danbala, for instance, often slither on the floor, dart out their tongue, and climb the posts of the .Template:Sfnm Those possessed by Zaka, of agriculture, will dress as a peasant in a straw hat with a clay pipe and will often speak in a rustic accent.Template:Sfnm The will often join in with the dances,Template:Sfn eat or drink.Template:Sfn Sometimes the , through the , will engage in financial transactions with members of the congregation, for instance by selling them food that has been given as an offering or lending them money.Template:Sfnm

Possession facilitates direct communication between Vodouists and the ;Template:Sfn through the , the communicates with their devotees, offering counsel, chastisement, blessings, warnings about the future, and healing.Template:Sfnm possession has a healing function, with the possessed individual expected to reveal possible cures to the ailments of those assembled.Template:Sfn Clothing that the touches is regarded as bringing luck.Template:Sfnm The may also offer advice to the individual they are possessing; because the latter is not believed to retain any memory of the events, it is expected that other members of the congregation will pass along the 's message.Template:Sfnm In some instances, practitioners have reported being possessed at other times of ordinary life, such as when someone is in the middle of the market,Template:Sfn or when they are asleep.Template:Sfn

Divination

A common form of divination employed by and is to invoke a into a pitcher, where it will then be asked questions.Template:Sfn Other forms of divination used by Vodouists include the casting of shells,Template:Sfn cartomancy,Template:Sfn studying leaves, coffee grounds or cinders in a glass, or looking into a candle flame.Template:Sfn A form of divination associated especially with Petwo is the use of a shell, sometimes with a mirror attached to one side and affixed at both ends to string. The string is twirled and the directions of the shell used to interpret the responses of the .Template:Sfn

Healing

File:Collectie Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen AM-670-7 Paquet Kongo Haiti Pierot Barra (Vervaardiging).jpg

A pakèt kongo on display in the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen in the Netherlands

Healing plays an important role in Vodou.Template:Sfn A client will approach a or complaining of illness or misfortune and the latter will use divination to determine the cause and select a remedy.Template:Sfn and typically have a wide knowledge of plants and their medicinal uses.Template:Sfn When collecting plants they are expected to show them respect, for instance by leaving coins in payment for removing leaves.Template:Sfn

To heal, Vodou specialists often prescribe baths, consisting of water infused with various ingredients,Template:Sfnm or produce powders for a specific purpose, such as to attract good luck or aid seduction.Template:Sfn Alternatively, they may create a material object infused with spirits or medicines, a wanga,Template:Sfn although these can also be devoted to harmful purposes.Template:Sfnm and often provide talismans,Template:Sfnm called a (point),Template:Sfnm (magic work),Template:Sfn or .Template:Sfnm The latter term highlights the potential influence of the Bakongo minkisi on these Haitian ritual creations.Template:Sfnm

In Haiti, or may advise their clients to seek assistance from medical professionals, while the latter may also send their patients to see an or .Template:Sfn Although in the late 20th century there were concerns that the Haitian reliance on and was contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS,Template:Sfn by the early 21st century, various NGOs and other groups were working on bringing Vodou officiants into the broader campaign against the virus.Template:Sfn In Haiti, there are also ("herb doctors"; "leaf doctors") who offer herbal remedies for ailments but deal in fewer problems than and .Template:Sfnm

Harming practices

Vodou teaches that supernatural factors cause or exacerbate many problems.Template:Sfn It holds that humans can cause supernatural harm to others, either unintentionally or deliberately,Template:Sfn in the latter case exerting power over a person through possession of hair or nail clippings belonging to them.Template:Sfn Vodouists also often believe that supernatural harm can be caused by other entities. The is a human, usually female, who transforms into an animal and drains blood from sleeping victims,Template:Sfnm while members of the Bizango secret society are feared for their reputed ability to transform into dogs, in which form they walk the streets at night.Template:Sfnm

An individual who turns to the to harm others is a ,Template:Sfn or a ,Template:Sfnm although this latter term can also refer to an generally.Template:Sfn They are described as someone who ("serves with both hands"),Template:Sfnm or is ("working with both hands").Template:Sfn As the good have rejected them as unworthy, are believed to work with ("bought "),Template:Sfnm spirits that will work for anyone who pays them,Template:Sfn and often members of the Petwo .Template:Sfn According to Haitian popular belief, engage in ("expeditions"), setting the dead against an individual to cause the latter's sudden illness and death,Template:Sfnm and utilise , malevolent spirits sometimes in animal form.Template:Sfnm In Haiti, there is much suspicion and censure toward those suspected of being .Template:Sfn The curses of the are believed to be countered by the and , who can revert the curse through an exorcism that incorporates invocations of protective , massages, and baths.Template:Sfnm In Haiti, some and have been accused of working with a , arranging for the latter to curse individuals so that they can financially profit from removing these curses.Template:Sfn

Funerals, the dead, and

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A cross in a Haitian cemetery, photographed in 2012. The crucifix is central to the iconography of the Gede; the is a public crucifix associated with Baron Samedi, chief of the Gede.Template:Sfn

Vodou features complex funerary customs.Template:Sfn Following an individual's death, the ritual frees the from their body and disconnects them from their tutelary .Template:Sfnm The corpse is then bathed in a herbal infusion by an individual termed the , who gives the dead person messages to take with them.Template:Sfnm A wake, the , follows.Template:Sfnm The body is then buried in the cemetery,Template:Sfn often according to Roman Catholic custom.Template:Sfn

In northern Haiti, an additional rite takes place at the on the day of the funeral, the (breaking of the clay pot). In this, a jar is washed in substances including kleren, placed within a trench dug into the floor, and smashed. The trench is then refilled.Template:Sfnm The night after the funeral, the takes place at the home of the deceased, involving Roman Catholic prayers;Template:Sfnm a mass for them is held a year after death,Template:Sfn sometimes performed by a .Template:Sfn Vodouists fear the dead's ability to harm the living;Template:Sfn it is believed that the deceased may for instance punish their living relatives if the latter fail to appropriately mourn them.Template:Sfn

Many Vodouists believe that a practitioner's spirit dwells in the land of Ginen, located at the bottom of a lake or river, for a year and a day.Template:Sfnm A year and a day after death, the ("extracting the dead from the waters of the abyss") ritual may take place, in which the deceased's is reclaimed from the realm of the dead and placed into a clay jar or bottle called the . Now ensconced in the world of the living, the of this ancestor is deemed capable of assisting its descendants and guiding them with its wisdom.Template:Sfnm Practitioners sometimes believe that failing to conduct this ritual can result in misfortune, illness, and death for the family of the deceased.Template:Sfn Offerings then given to this spirit of the dead are termed .Template:Sfn The notion of a spirit being encased in a vessel and then used for workings likely derives from Bakongo influences,Template:Sfn and has similarities with the Bakongo-derived Palo religion from Cuba.Template:Sfn

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Haitian skulls at the Ethnographic Museum in Berlin. In Vodou, human skulls may be used either for sorcery or for healing.Template:Sfn

Another belief about the dead, that of , is one of the most sensationalized aspects of Haitian religion.Template:Sfn are often regarded as the of the recently deceased that have been captured and forced to work for their master.Template:Sfn The may then be kept inside a bottle or other vessel.Template:Sfn The practice is often linked to (secret societies), which are suspected of murdering the individual they wish to turn into a .Template:Sfn To achieve this, they may obtain the bones of a deceased person, especially their skull, sometimes by bribing cemetery workers;Template:Sfnm the skull will often be baptised, given food, and set a particular task to specialise in, such as healing a specific malady.Template:Sfn Those intending to take a as a may have to borrow or buy them from Baron Samedi.Template:Sfn

An alternative idea in Haitian lore is that it is the body that is turned into a ,Template:Sfnm in which case a has seized an individual's and left the body as an empty vessel that can be manipulated.Template:Sfn The reality of this phenomenon is contested,Template:Sfn although the anthropologist Wade Davis argued that this was based on a real practice whereby Bizango societies used poisons to make certain individuals more pliant.Template:Sfn Haitians generally do not fear , but rather fear becoming one themselves.Template:Sfn The figure of the has also been interpreted as a metaphor for the enslavement central to Haitian history.Template:Sfnm

Festival

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Vodouists washing in a river following a ceremony; photographed in Haiti in 2010

On the saints' days of the Roman Catholic calendar, Vodouists often hold "birthday parties" for the associated with the saint whose day it is.Template:Sfn These are marked with special altars for the celebrated ,Template:Sfn as well as the preparation of their preferred food.Template:Sfn Devotions to the Gede are particularly common around the days of the dead, All Saints (1 November) and All Souls (2 November),Template:Sfnm with celebrations largely taking place in the cemeteries of Port-au-Prince.Template:Sfn At this festival, those devoted to the Gede dress in black and purple, with funeral frock coats, black veils, and top hats, all linking to the Gede's associations with death.Template:Sfnm

The build-up to Easter sees Rara bands, largely consisting of peasants and the urban poor, process through the streets singing and dancing.Template:Sfn Each Rara band is considered to be under the patronage of a particular , holding a contract with them that typically lasts seven years.Template:Sfn Performing Rara is regarded as a service to the ,Template:Sfn and some Rara leaders claim that a instructed them to form their band.Template:Sfn An will typically be part of the Rara band and will oversee their religious obligations, for instance performing rituals during their procession,Template:Sfn or providing members with a protective bath before they perform.Template:Sfn They may also attempt to curse or poison rival Rara bands.Template:Sfn

Pilgrimage

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The Saut d'Eau, a popular pilgrimage site for Vodouists

Pilgrimage is part of Haitian religious culture.Template:Sfn In July, Vodouist pilgrims visit Plaine du Nord near Bwa Caiman, where according to legend the Haitian Revolution began. There, sacrifices are made and pilgrims immerse themselves in the (mud pits).Template:Sfnm The pilgrims often mass before the Church of Saint Jacques, with Saint Jacques perceived as being the Ogou.Template:Sfnm Another popular pilgrimage site, again typically visited in July, is Saut d'Eau ("waterfall") or Sodo, located outside the village of Ville-Bonheur where the Virgin Mary (Èzili) allegedly appeared in the 1840s. At the site, pilgrims bathe under waterfalls associated with water-spirits like Danbala.Template:Sfnm

Haitian pilgrims commonly wear coloured ropes around their head or waist;Template:Sfn a tradition that may derive from a Bakongo custom, kanga ("to tie"), during which sacred objects were bound with rope.Template:Sfn Haitians abroad have also established pilgrimage sites, with thousands of Haitians visiting the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in East Harlem, New York City for the feast day of the Virgin, whom the Vodouists in attendance interpret as Èzili Dantò.Template:Sfn

History

Before the Revolution

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Area of West African Vodun practice, the religion with the greatest influence on Haitian Vodou

In 1492, Christopher Columbus' expedition established a Spanish colony on Hispaniola.Template:Sfn A growing European presence decimated the island's Indigenous Taíno population, both through introduced diseases and exploitation as laborers.Template:Sfn The European colonists then turned to imported West African slaves as a new source of labor; Africans first arrived on Hispaniola circa 1512.Template:Sfn Most of the enslaved were prisoners of war.Template:Sfn Some were probably priests of traditional religions, helping to transport their rites to the Americas.Template:Sfn Others were probably Muslim, although Islam exerted little influence on Vodou,Template:Sfn while some probably practiced traditional religions that had already absorbed Roman Catholic iconographic influences.Template:Sfn

By the late 16th century, French colonists were settling in western Hispaniola; Spain recognized French sovereignty over that part of the island, which became Saint-Domingue, in a series of treaties signed in 1697.Template:Sfnm Moving away from its previous subsistence economy, in the 18th century Saint-Domingue refocused its economy around the mass export of indigo, coffee, sugar, and cocoa to Europe.Template:Sfnm To work the plantations, the French colonists placed a renewed emphasis on importing enslaved Africans; whereas there were twice as many Africans as Europeans in the colony in 1681, by 1790 there were eleven times as many Africans as Europeans.Template:Sfnm Ultimately, Saint-Domingue became the colony with the largest number of slaves in the Caribbean.Template:Sfn

Roman Catholicism was the official religion of Saint-Domingue.Template:Sfn The Code Noir issued by King Louis XIV in 1685 forbade the open practice of African religions on the colony.Template:Sfnm This Code compelled slave-owners to have their slaves baptised and instructed as Roman Catholics;Template:Sfnm the fact that the process of enslavement led to these Africans becoming Christian was a key way in which the slave-owners sought to morally legitimate their actions.Template:Sfn However, many slave-owners took little interest in having their slaves instructed in Roman Catholic teaching;Template:Sfn they often did not want their slaves to spend time celebrating saints' days rather than laboring and were also concerned that black congregations could provide scope to foment revolt.Template:Sfnm

Enslavement destroyed the social fabric of African traditional religions, which were typically rooted in ethnic and family membership.Template:Sfn Although certain cultural assumptions about the nature of the universe would have been widely shared among the enslaved Africans, they came from diverse linguistic and ethno-cultural backgrounds and had to forge common cultural practices on Hispaniola.Template:Sfn Gradually over the course of the 18th century, Vodou emerged as "a composite of various African ethnic traditions", merging diverse practices into a more cohesive form.Template:Sfn

African religions had to be practiced secretly, with Roman Catholic iconography and rituals probably used to conceal the true identity of the deities venerated.Template:Sfn This resulted in a system of correspondences between African spirits and Roman Catholic saints.Template:Sfn Afro-Haitians adopted other aspects of French colonial culture;Template:Sfn Vodou drew influence from European grimoires,Template:Sfnm commedia performances,Template:Sfn and Freemasonry, with Masonic lodges having been established across Saint-Domingue in the 18th century.Template:Sfnm Vodou rituals took place in secret, usually at night; one such rite was described during the 1790s by a white man, Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry.Template:Sfnm Some enslaved Afro-Haitians escaped to form Maroon groups, which often practiced Vodou.Template:Sfnm

The Haitian Revolution and the 19th century

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The Affaire de Bizoton of 1864. The murder and alleged cannibalization of a child by eight Vodou devotees caused a scandal worldwide and was taken as proof of the evil nature of Vodou.

In Haitian lore, Vodou is often presented as having played a vital role in the Haitian Revolution,Template:Sfn although scholars debate the extent to which this is true.Template:Sfn According to legend, a Vodou ritual took place in Bois-Caïman on 14 August 1791 at which the participants swore to overthrow the slave owners before massacring local whites and sparking the Revolution.Template:Sfnm Although a popular tale in Haitian folklore, it has no historical evidence to support it.Template:Sfnm Moreover, two of the revolution's early leaders, Boukman and Francois Mackandal, were reputed to be powerful .Template:Sfn Amid growing rebellion, the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ordered troops into the colony in 1801,Template:Sfn but in 1803 the French conceded defeat and the rebel leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines proclaimed Saint-Domingue to be a new republic named Haiti.Template:Sfn

The Revolution broke up the large land-ownings and created a society of small subsistence farmers.Template:Sfnm Haitians largely began living in , or extended family compounds, which enabled the preservation of African-derived Creole religions.Template:Sfnm These often had their own (root ),Template:Sfn being intertwined with concepts of land and kinship.Template:Sfn Many Roman Catholic missionaries had been killed in the Revolution,Template:Sfn and after its victory Dessalines declared himself head of the Church in Haiti.Template:Sfn Protesting these actions, the Roman Catholic Church cut ties with Haiti in 1805;Template:Sfnm this allowed Vodou to predominate in the country.Template:Sfnm Many churches left abandoned were adopted for Vodou rites, continuing the syncretization between the two systems.Template:Sfnm At this point, with no new arrivals from Africa, Vodou began to stabilise,Template:Sfn transforming from "a widely-scattered series of local cults" into "a religion".Template:Sfn The Roman Catholic Church re-established its formal presence in Haiti in 1860.Template:Sfnm

Haiti's first three presidents sought to suppress Vodou, using police to break-up rituals which they feared as a source of rebellion.Template:Sfn In 1847, Faustin Soulouque became president; he was sympathetic to Vodou and allowed it to be practiced more openly.Template:Sfn In the Bizoton Affair of 1863, several Vodou practitioners were accused of ritually killing a child before eating it. Historical sources suggest that they may have been tortured prior to confessing to the crime, at which they were executed.Template:Sfn The affair received much attention.Template:Sfn

20th century to the present

File:Duvalier crop2.jpg

Haitian president François Duvalier called Vodou "the supreme factor of Haitian unity".Template:Sfn

The United States occupied Haiti between 1915 and 1934,Template:Sfnm although it faced armed resistance from Haitian peasants, many of them Vodouists.Template:Sfnm American occupation encouraged international interest in Vodou,Template:Sfn something catered for in the sensationalist writings of Faustin Wirkus, William Seabrook, and John Craige,Template:Sfn as well as in Vodou-themed shows for tourists.Template:Sfn The period also saw the growing influence of the Roman Catholic Church,Template:Sfn and in 1941 the Church backed Operation Nettoyage (Operation Cleanup), a government campaign to expunge Vodou, during which many were destroyed.Template:Sfnm Violent responses from Vodouists led President Élie Lescot to abandon the Operation.Template:Sfn

During the occupation, the (indigenist) movement developed among Haiti's middle classes, later transmogrifying into the international Négritude movement. These encouraged a more positive assessment of Vodou and peasant culture, a trend supported by the appearance of professional ethnological research on the topic from the 1930s onward.Template:Sfnm Church influence in Haiti was curtailed by François Duvalier, the country's president from 1957 to 1971.Template:Sfn Although he restored Catholicism as the state religion, Duvalier was widely perceived as a champion of Vodou,Template:Sfn calling it "the supreme factor of Haitian unity".Template:Sfn He utilized it for his own purposes, encouraging rumors about his own supernatural powers,Template:Sfnm and selecting as his (rural section chiefs).Template:Sfn

After Duvalier's son and successor, Jean-Claude, was overthrown in 1986, there were attacks on Vodouists perceived to have supported the Duvaliers, partly motivated by Protestant anti-Vodou campaigns; practitioners called this violence the Dechoukaj ('uprooting').Template:Sfnm Two groups, the Zantray and Bode Nasyonal, were formed to defend the rights of Vodouists and hold rallies.Template:Sfnm Haiti's 1987 constitution enshrined freedom of religion,Template:Sfnm after which President Jean-Bertrand Aristide granted Vodou official recognition in 2003,Template:Sfnm thus allowing Vodouists to officiate at civil ceremonies such as weddings and funerals.Template:Sfn

File:Swearing-in ceremony of Diaspora GwètòDe by Konfederasyon Nasyonal Vodou Ayisyen 07.jpg

A Vodou ceremony taking place at the National Black Theatre in New York City in 2017

The latter half of the 20th century saw the substantial growth of evangelical Protestantism in Haiti, generating tensions with Vodouists.Template:Sfnm These Protestants regard Vodou as Satanic,Template:Sfnm and unlike the Roman Catholic authorities have generally refused to compromise with its practitioners.Template:Sfn The 2010 Haiti earthquake fuelled conversion from Vodou to Protestantism,Template:Sfn with many Protestants claiming that the earthquake was punishment for the sins of the Haitian population, including their practice of Vodou.Template:Sfnm Mob attacks on Vodouists followed in the wake of the earthquake,Template:Sfn and again following the 2010 cholera outbreak.Template:Sfnm

The first three decades of the 20th century saw growing Haitian migration to eastern Cuba, introducing Vodou to the island.Template:Sfn From 1957, many Haitians emigrated to escape Duvalier, taking Vodou with them.Template:Sfn In the U.S., Vodou has attracted non-Haitians, especially African Americans and Caribbean migrants,Template:Sfn and has syncretized with other religions like Santería and Spiritism.Template:Sfn During the latter half of the 20th century, those seeking to revive New Orleans Voodoo initiated practices that brought the religion closer to Haitian Vodou or Santería than it had been early in that century.Template:Sfn

Demographics

File:Flag of Haiti.svg

Many Vodouists interpret Haiti's flag through their own theology; in this view, the blue is for Ezili Dantò, and the red for Ogou Feray.Template:Sfnm

Vodou is the majority religion of Haiti,Template:Sfn for most Haitians practice both Vodou and Roman Catholicism.Template:Sfn An often used joke about Haiti holds that the island's population is 85% Roman Catholic, 15% Protestant, and 100% Vodou.Template:Sfnm Even some of those who reject Vodou acknowledge its close associations with Haitian identity.Template:Sfn

It is difficult to determine how many Haitians practice Vodou, largely because the country has never had an accurate census and many Vodouists will not openly admit they practice the religion.Template:Sfn Among the country's middle and upper-classes, for instance, many individuals publicly decry Vodou yet privately practice it.Template:Sfn Estimates have nevertheless been made; one suggested that 80% of Haitians practice Vodou,Template:Sfn while in 1992, Desmangles put the number of Haitian practitioners at six million.Template:Sfn Several scholars have suggested that Haitian religion could be seen as a continuum with Vodou on one end and Roman Catholicism at the other, but with most Haitians operating between the two, going through Roman Catholic rites of passage but turning to Vodou ritual specialists in times of crisis.Template:Sfnm

Vodouists learn about the religion by taking part in its rituals,Template:Sfn with children learning by observing adults.Template:Sfn Vodou does not focus on proselytizing;Template:Sfnm according to Brown, it has "no pretensions to the universal."Template:Sfn It has nevertheless spread beyond Haiti; amid the Revolution, many Haitians fled to Louisiana, where their Vodou contributed to the development of Louisiana Voodoo.Template:Sfn Since then, Vodou has also spread to other Caribbean countries like the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico,Template:Sfn as well as to Western countries such as France,Template:Sfn Canada,Template:Sfn and the United States.Template:Sfn Major exist in U.S. cities such as Miami, New York City, Washington, DC, Boston, and Oakland, California.Template:Sfnm

Reception and legacy

Various scholars describe Vodou as one of the world's most maligned and misunderstood religions.Template:Sfnm Throughout Haitian history, Christians have often presented Vodou as Satanic,Template:Sfn while in broader Anglophone and Francophone society it has been widely associated with sorcery, witchcraft, and black magic.Template:Sfnm In U.S. popular culture, for instance, Haitian Vodou is usually portrayed as destructive and malevolent.Template:Sfn Non-practitioners have often depicted Vodou in literature, theater, and film;Template:Sfn in many cases, such as the films White Zombie (1932) and London Voodoo (2004), these promote sensationalist views of the religion.Template:Sfn The lack of any central Vodou authority has hindered efforts to combat these negative representations.Template:Sfn

Humanity's relationship with the has been a recurring theme in Haitian art,Template:Sfn and the Vodou pantheon was a major topic for the mid-20th century artists of the "Haitian Renaissance."Template:Sfn In the late 1950s, art collectors began to take an interest in Vodou ritual paraphernalia and by the 1970s an established market for this material had emerged.Template:Sfn Exhibits of Vodou ritual material have been displayed abroad; the Fowler Museum's exhibit on "Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou" for instance traveled the U.S. for three years in the 1990s.Template:Sfnm Vodou has appeared in Haitian literature,Template:Sfn and has also influenced Haitian music, as with the rasin band Boukman Eksperyans,Template:Sfnm while theatre troupes have performed simulated Vodou rituals for audiences outside Haiti.Template:Sfn Documentaries focusing on Vodou have appearedTemplate:Sfn—such as Maya Deren's 1985 film Divine HorsemenTemplate:Sfn or Anne Lescot and Laurence Magloire's 2002 work Of Men and GodsTemplate:Sfnm—which have in turn encouraged some viewers to take a practical interest in the religion.Template:Sfn

See also

• Haitian mythology
• Haitian Vodou art
• Voodoo in popular culture

References

Citations

Williams 1997

External links

• Living Vodou. Speaking of Faith from American Public Media. Audio and transcript. February 4, 2010