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This article is about the West African religion. For the syncretistic New World religions, see
Voodoo.
The term Vodou (Vodun or Vudun in Benin; and Togo; also
Vodon, Vodoun, Voudou, or other phonetically equivalent spellings. In Haiti;
Vudu (an Ewe word, also used in the Dominican Republic) is by some individuals
applied to the branches of a West African ancestral religious tradition. It is important to
note that the word "Voodoo" is the most common and known usage in American and popular culture,
and is often viewed as offensive by the Afro-Diaspora practicing communities. However, the different spellings of this term can
be explained as follows:
Vodou is used to describe the Haitian Vodou religious tradition, while vudon and vodun and vodoun are used to describe the
deities honoured in the Brazilian Jeje (Ewe) sect of Candomble as well as West African Vodoun. When the word
"Vodou/Vodoun" is capitalized, it denotes the Religion proper. When the word is used in small caps, it denotes the actual deities
honored in each respective tradition. The word "Voodoo" is properly used to describe
the Creole rituals and herbal remedies of New
Orleans, usually in absence of communal religious practices or polytheism. Similar traditions are practiced throughout the
African-American community, sometimes combined with Native American traditions and called Hoodoo.
Its roots are believed to be varied and include the Fon, Mina, Kabye, Ewe, and Yoruba peoples of West Africa, from western Nigeria to eastern Ghana. The word Vodún "Vodoun" "Vudu" is the
Fon-Ewe word for spirit. Voodoo in Haiti is highly
influenced by Central African traditions. The Kongo rites, also known in the north of
Haiti as Lemba (originally practiced among the Bakongo) and is as widespread as the West African elements.
African origins
Vodun/Vodoun is a name attributed to a West African ancestral religious system of
worship and ritual practices, where specific deities are born and honored, along with the veneration of ancient and recent
ancestors who earlier served the same tutelary deities. This system of worship is believed to
be widespread in a multitude of African groups in West Africa and throughout all of Africa.
They are considered by the Diaspora adherents to arguably be some of the oldest religious systems predating historical times.[citation needed]
Vodou cosmology in West Africa
The cultural area of the Fon, Gun, Mina and Ewe peoples share
common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle: Nana Buluku, the God-Creator, and the God-Actor(s) or Vodun(s), daughters and sons of the Creator's twin children
Mawu (goddess of the moon) and Lisa (sun god). The God-Creator is the
cosmogonical principle, who does not trifle with the mundane, and the Vodun(s) are the
God-Actor(s) who actually govern the earth.
The Pantheon of Voduns, though not complete,
is quite large and complex. In one version, there are seven direct daughters and sons of Mawu, inter-ethnic and related to
natural phenomena or historical or mythical individuals, and dozens of ethnic Voduns, defenders of a certain clan or tribe.
West African Vodu, just as all indigenous African Religions, has its primary emphasis on the ancestors, with each family of
spirits having its own specialized priest and priestesshood who are often hereditary. In many African clans, deities might
include Mami Wata, who are god/desses of the waters; Legba, who in some clans is virile and young in contrast to the old man form he takes in Haiti;
Gu, ruling iron and smithcraft; Sakpata, who rules diseases; and
many other spirits distinct in their own way to West Africa. Following this is the ancestral lineageal Mama Tchamba demoniations. An ancient matriarchal system of elevated enslaved ancestors, who now encompass all of the
enslaved Africans across the world.
European colonialism, followed by totalitarian regimes in West Africa, tried to suppress Vodun as well as other forms of the religion. However, because the Vodou
deities are born to each African clan-group, and its clery is central to maintaining the moral, social and political order and
ancestral foundation of its villagers, it was near to impossible to eradicate the tradition. Today in West Africa, the Vodou
religion is estimated to be practiced by over 30 million people.
Demographics
About 60% of the population of Benin, about 4½ million people, practice Vodun. (This does not count other ancestral religions
in Benin.) In addition, many of the 15% of the population that refer to themselves as Christian practice Vodun, not
dissimilar from Haitian Vodou. In Togo about half the population practices indigenous religions, of
which Vodun is by far the largest, with approximately 2½ million followers; there may be perhaps another million among the Ewe of
Ghana (13% Ewe and 38% indigenous beliefs overall out of a population of 20 million.) In the
United Sates, due to the continual stigma, there are no confirmed statistics on the actual number of adherents in the Diaspora.
However, it is believed that a growing number of the Diaspora are practicing the Vodou religion of their ancestors, as well as
other African/Diaspora traditional religions. In Haiti, Haitian Vodou is practiced alongside Christianity by about half the
population, or some 4 million people, and this has been carried abroad particularly to Louisiana with Haitian emigration.
See also
References
- Ajayi, J.F. and Espie, I. “Thousand Years of West African History" (Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1967).
- Akyea, O.E. "Ewe." New York: (The Rosen Group, 1988).
- Asamoa, A.K. "The Ewe of South-Eastern Ghana and Togo: On the eve of colonialism," (Ghana: Tema Press. 1986).
- Ayivi Gam l . Togo Destination. High Commissioner for Tourism. Republic of Togo, 1982.
- Bastide. R. African Civilizations in the New World. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1971.
- Decalo, Samuel. "Historical Dictionary of Dahomey" (Metuchen, N.J: The Scarecrow Press, 1976).
- Deren, Maya. "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti." (London: Thames and Hudson, 1953).
- “Demoniacal Possession in Angola, Africa”. Journal of American Folk-lore. Vol VI., 1893. No. XXIII.
- Ellis, A.B. "Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa" (Chicago: Benin Press, 1965).
- Fontenot, Wonda. L. "Secret Doctors: Enthnomedicine of African Americans" (Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1994).
- Hazoum ‚ P. “Doguicimi. The First Dahomean Novel" (Washington, DC: Three Continents Press, 1990).
- Herskovits, M.J. and Hersovits, F.S. Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. Evanston, IL: Northwestern
University
- Herskovits, M.J. and Hersovits, F.S. "An Outline of Dahomean Religious Belief" (Wisconsin: The American
Anthropological Association, 1933).
- Hurston, Zora Neale. "Tell My Horse: Voodoo And Life In Haiti And Jamaica." Harper Perennial reprint edition,
1990.
- Hyatt M. H. "Hoodoo-Conjuration-Witchcraft-Rootwork" (Illinois: Alama Egan Hyatt Foundation, 1973), Vols. I-V.
- Journal of African History. 36. (1995) pp. 391-417.Concerning Negro Sorcery in the United States;
- Language Guide (Ewe version). Accra: Bureau of Ghana Languages,
- Manoukian, Madeline. “The Ewe-Speaking People of Togland and the Gold Coast”. London: International African Insittute,
1952.
- Maupoil, Bernard. "La Geomancie L'ancienne des Esclaves" (Paris: L'universit‚ de Paris, 1943).
- Metraux, Alfred. "Voodoo In Haiti." (Pantheon reprint edition, 1989)
- Newbell, Pucket. N. “Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro”. S.C.: Chapel Hill, 1922.
- Newell, William, W. "Reports of Voodoo Worship in Hayti and Louisiana," Journal of American Folk-lore, 41-47, 1888. p.
41-47.
- Pliya, J. "Histoire Dahomey Afrique Occidental" (Moulineaux: France, 1970).
- “Slave Society on the Southern Plantation.” The Journal of Negro History. Vol. VII-January, 1922-No.1.
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