How did the word 'voodoo' originate?

Answer 1

Voodoo is from the Caribbean Islands, Haiti being the primary place. It really is a combination of African rituals and Catholicism. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Voodoo actually came from Afrika and it can be traced back to Anceint Egypt (Kemet) to the followers of the snake god. Vudu, Voodoo, Vaudou or Vaudoux comes from the Fon language and it means The Great Spirit or The Creator.

Answer 2

Voodoo as such developed among the African slaves in the Mediterranean, as they tried to remember the beliefs and rituals from sub-Saharan Africa, where it is known as njunju, juju, or animism. At its core is the belief that the dead move among the living and may help or harm the living at their whim or as they are asked and given gifts by the living to encourage them to take action. You have to be careful what you ask for, because it might come back thanks to a deceased friend of the living person you are affecting. Basically, it is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" - living or dead!

Having lived in West Africa (where American slaves came from), I can tell you this belief is still very powerful and I believe I encountered subtle effects that could not be explained rationally. And I had a clock that stopped for no reason I could find the day my father died.

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Actually Voodoo comes from Afrika. It comes from Mali. The word Voodoo means The Divine One or The Creator.

Answer 3

Satan, Lucifer, the Devil. Period!

(from a previous poster)and untrue nor is it god, Allah, moses.

• This is a christan/Muslim thought and as always wrought with fear and ignorance but that is the basis of all religion the fact is its like all native religions voodoo is a conglomerate of many preceding religions some say origin of the name is France with the which hunts and named after a witching family others say its a pagan religion with christan overtones each movement of a people adds the old religion with new deities and local customs.

  The cultural values which Voodoo embraces center around ideas of honor and respect--to God, to the spirits, to the family, to society and to yourself. The most important aspect of Voodoo is that it is a glue that holds the community together. Everyone is connected. All are one.

There are many similarities between Roman Catholicism and Voodoo. Both venerate a supreme being, believe in the existence of the invisible, and in an afterlife. A Voodoo ceremony always begins with Roman Catholic prayers to ask God, either Bondye (Good God) or Gran Mèt ( Gran Master) for guidance, and then Legba is invoked to open up the gate between mortals and spirits.

Hougansydney

Answer 4

Vodun (a.k.a. Vodoun, Voudou, Voodoo,Sevi Lwa) is commonly called Voodoo by the public, especially Hollywood. The name is traceable to an African word for "spirit". Vodun's can be directly traced to the West African Yoruba people who lived in 18th and 19th century Dahomey. Its roots may go back 6,000 years in Africa. That country occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria. Slaves brought their religion with them when they were forcibly shipped to Haiti and other islands in the West Indies.

Answer 5

HOW DID VOODOO BEGIN?

The word "voodoo," (there are many different correct variations and spellings), simply means spirits.

A long, long, long, long time ago, in Africa, God used to live on earth and interact with mortals on a daily basis. He lived in a nice hut with a vegetable garden outside and with a servant named Legba. Legba, besides being God's servant, was also a spirit and a trickster (or practical joker). Things were good but God had a problem. Every night someone was stealing from his vegetable garden. God came up with a plan to catch the thief. He would make it rain that night and the person who was the thief would either have to leave footprints in the mud or would have telltale muddy sandals inditing him the next morning. So, it poured down raining that night. The next morning God got up and went outside to the vegetable garden. Not only had the thief been there, but also the whole garden was wiped out! God was very upset and getting really angry now. At that same moment, Legba appeared showing off a muddy pair of sandals and a big grin. These were clearly the guilty person's sandals. The only problem, the reason Legba was grinning, was because these were God's own sandals! Legba, the joker, then suggested that God apparently both got hungry at night and walked in his sleep. But, God knew better. Knowing Legba was a trickster, he immediately detected that what had really happened was Legba had stolen God's sandals during the night and then gone out in them to wipe out the vegetable garden (just so he could have this great joke the next morning). Unfortunately, God was not in a very jovial mod. He got angry, and made a decision. He was going to move to heaven and leave the earth behind. When God made the move, Legba attempted to follow, but at the gate to heaven, God shut Legba out. Knowing he was abandoning earth, and still being upset with Legba, he told Legba that for now on he would remain on earth, among mortals, and would be the primary conduit between the mortals and all the other spirits, and God. Thus charged, God facilitated Legba's task by making him into a rainbow, a bridge between heaven and earth. Now Legba, and all the other spirits, were left on earth to be the primary attendants to the spiritual needs of mortals. The people, meanwhile, finding that the rainbow was not always available adopted another long, thin and colorful creature of nature to represent Legba, the serpent. In time Legba also became know under other names such as Ellegua, Danballah, Papa LaBas, Le Grand Zombi, St. Peter and others. And, together with all the other spirits, Legba, initiated the practices of Voodoo.

Thus was created Voodoo, the belief in, and interaction with, spirits in all the phases and events in life. Voodoo may be the oldest religion on earth, older than Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism. While the Voodoo (spirits) are the primary focus, God is still recognized as the Supreme Being, and ancestors are revered as spirits as well. In time, Voodoo spread from West Africa to the Americas with the African transatlantic slave trade. It is know by various names, and with various differences throughout West Africa, the Caribbean, Central America, South America and the southeastern portion of North America, specifically New Orleans and Louisiana. It appears to have originated in West Africa in the present Republic of Benin among the Fon peoples (who are credited with the word, voodoo.)

Source: West African folklore (several versions). Note: contemporary historians may accept folklore in lieu of historical documentation in instances where there is no written, or archaeological, evidence. Voodoo is pre-literate.

yes, despite the fact that it's actually Vodoun, and a mambo high priestess said that "Voodoo" is a mocking term Americans gave the religion.

Answer 6

Voodoo is old. It can be traced back to ancient Egypt. There is a book by Joseph J. Williams that goes thru the origins of Voodoo. Its really good.

Answer 7

Voodoo originated in Benin. It is an animistic religion.

Answer 8

Haiti/Africa.

Answer 9

In Benin.