Voodoo, juju, obeah, there are many names for it. Growing up I thought that voodoo was evil and came from the devil. However my opinion started to change at one Black history talk I went to years ago. One of the speakers said he practised voodoo and straight away the audience felt uneasy which he noticed and commented on. He went on further to explain that voodoo is actually just an African religion. Since then I started my own research on voodoo.
Voodoo is a religion that originated from West Africa.Voodoo comes from the word Vodun which means spirit. Like most monotheist religions Voodooists believe in a supreme being called Bondye who created the universe. It is believed that this supreme being does not interfere with human affairs. Voodooists believe in spirits called "Loa's"and believe that their ancestors are part of this spirit world.
Each Loa represents a different aspect of life i.e spirit of agriculture, spirit of love etc. Loa's are an intermediary between voodooists and Bondye (God). Voodooists pray to Loa's to help them with their life and for guidance.Voodoo has priest and priestesses who people go to to seek help and spiritual guidance and healing through herbal medicines.
There are many voodoo rituals which include singing, drumming and dancing which are an expression of spirituality. These rituals are a way for voodooist to make contact with a Loa to improve their standard of living, receive healing and to protect them from evil forces. This includes spiritual possession and animal sacrifice.
During the trans-atlantic slave trade Europeans did all they could to strip africans from anything to do with their heritage i.e. names, language and religion. Slave owners wanted their slaves to follow their religion of Christianity. They forced their religion onto the slaves and punished those slaves who they saw practicing their own religion. There was a law that was passed that banned slaves from practicing African religions and for slaves to be christianised. During this time is when Europeans demonized this African religion and promoted their idea that African religion is "evil". This idea of voodoo being evil is still very alive today.This has been influenced by the media portraying voodoo as en evil satanic religion. Even the concept of the voodoo doll was invented by Hollywood. Just type in "voodoo" in google and see the scary images that come up.
Many slaves continued practicing voodoo secretly and because they were forced to practice Christianity they incorporated some aspects of Catholicism into voodoo. Hence Voodoo is a combination of the African beliefs with Catholicism. African slaves bought Voodoo to America, the Caribbean and South America. Voodoo is predominantly practiced in Louisiana and Haiti. In Haiti and Benin, voodoo is the official religion. Depending on where Voodoo is practised, there are different variations of it.
There are similarities between Voodoo and other world religions. The idea of one supreme being and spirits are common in most religions. It is unfortunate that due to white supremacy this African religion has been negatively labelled. Voodoo is probably the most misunderstood religion in the world but through educating ourselves we realise it is not as evil as we thought.
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