Haiti Essay

One of the most famous Louisianians of all time is Marie Laveau, a voodoo practitioner with an interesting background who was considered “The Queen of New Orleans” (“Marie Catherine Laveau: Voodoo Queen of New Orleans (September 10, 1801 - June 15, 1881)”). She was the most well known practitioner of Louisiana or New Orleans voodoo, which was developed by the slaves brought to the south to work on plantations (“Voodoo in New Orleans”). Additionally, it was based on the Creole language and a strong belief in Catholicism, which greatly influenced Laveau during her lifetime. Even after death, Laveau has left a lasting legacy in New Orleans, which has inspired others and even led to the creation of a museum dedicated in her honor.

The final entity of Voodoo is the dead. These are mainly the souls of one’s own family members who have died but have not yet been reclaimed by the family. Ignored family dead can be dangerous, often holding grudges and causing bad things to happen. Honored and cared for family dead are helpful and very nice. All three entities of Voodoo are shown great respect and treated with dignity, because it is dangerous to anger any of

In the biography, Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn, written by Karen McCarthy Brown introduces Mama Lola, or Alourdes, a Voudou priestess whom she met while working on an ethnographic survey (1). The book discusses the dynamics of Haitian Vodou and its importance in the lives of its practitioners. Voudouists serve the spirits and one particular group of spirits; the Ezili is a family of many spirits but three specific spirits that are examined. These three spirits: Lasyrenn, Ezili Dantó, and Ezili Freda act as parallels for Haitian women, like Mama Lola.

Although Voodoo can be described as a religion with an Episcopalian structure, it can also be seen as congregational. Voodoo priests rely on the congregation of other Voodooists to make a living. The priest require payment from each ritual to make a living and maintain the temple. During each private and

The word voodoo means spirit in the West African. It is a religion practiced by much Haitian living in Haiti as well as the Diaspora. For the majority of Haitians, it is a symbol of solidarity of how they stood up and fought for their rights and freedom. For others, it is a painful source of reminder of how their ancestors were cruelly and unjustly treated by the Europeans.Even though the slaves were forced to convert to the Roman Catholic Christianity by missionaries, they continue to practice their faith. As a result, the voodoo is born out of the intermingling of beliefs and practices of African culture and the Catholicism. Nowadays the voodoo plays important role in different integrals politically and socially.In 1676, when the French colonized this Island, they possessed vast land, fields, pastures and garden. They needed cheap labor for the grueling work, especially in those sugars plantations. The slave system has already existed in the 16th century.

One of the most important aspects of Voodoo is the summoning of the Lwa, or spirits. This is done in a service and drumming is an essential part of this service because it provides music. Dancing is also a very important part of the service. These services involve nearly everyone through either the drumming or the dancing.

Haiti is the second largest Caribbean Island. It occupies a third of the western part of the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is also made up of several islands that surround the main territory. The capital is Port-au-Prince. It rains between November and March in the North of the island and between May and October in the South. “Once covered by forest, the country has been heavily logged for wood and fuel and to clear land for farming, and is now largely deforested.” Haiti is divided into “nine administrative departments.” Besides the capital, other important cities are Cap-Haitien and Gonaives.  “Haiti is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the lowest per

It has been almost 6 months now that my girlfriend and I came back from a trip to New Orleans. This is a town rich in history, amazing food, the locals were some of the friendliest people and the music of the city truly seemed to act as a heartbeat that gave the city life. However, something that truly caught my eye, were all the voodoo shops. One of their oldest cemeteries is home to the tomb of the “Voodoo Queen” Marie Laveau. Unfortunately when we went, they weren’t giving tours. When most in modern society most hear the word Voodoo; they probably think about what they’ve seen on movies… witch doctors, dolls that are used to curse Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom or evil possession of people’s bodies through spirits. However, that really isn’t the case, for a religion that a lot of people really don’t know a lot about, the religion of Voodoo or Vodun. “The name was derived from the god Vodun of the West African Yoruba people who lived in 18th and 19th century Dahomey.” The African people were shipped as slaves to Haiti and other islands. Slaves practiced this religion but were also forced by the masters who owned them to practice Christianity. Which if you fast-forward to modern times, you will see that most adults in Haiti and some cities in the Southern States of North America not only still practice Voodoo but are also Roman Catholic.

First and foremost, voodoo is not just black magic, spells, and voodoo dolls that everyone associates with what has been portrayed in the movies and television shows. For example, the movie Serpent and the Rainbow, directed by Wes Craven

     The Voodoo religion is one of the most, if not the most misconceived religions of our time. Often when Voodoo is mentioned, it is related to evil, black magic, devious sorcery, cannibalism, and harm. Although the Voodoo religion appears to the outsider as an illusion or falsehood, it has been an instrumental political force because it has helped the Haitians resist domination and form an identity of their own. Since the end of the 17th century, Haitian Voodoo has overcome every challenge it has been faced with and has endured. The religion is based on a polytheistic belief system and represents a significant portion of Haiti’s 8.3 million people. The engaging religion plays an important role in both the family

Voodoo is an old religion that finds its roots in west Africa. Remnants of its physical history can be found throughout the West African Coast where major slave trading markets were located. An Example of this are locations contain trees of forgetting in which slaves were “Zombified” by administering herbs to make them more compliant. Today these historical sites draw tourist learning about the horrors of the slave trade Voodoo beliefs originated from African animist religions that predate Islam and Christian influences and were not understood by the European slave owners who forbid its practice. It created a fear in the Europeans and is misunderstood even today. Its travel to the Caribbean, Haiti and America had a lasting impact and is still practiced.

80% of the Haitians are catholic, some people regularly participates in religious services while others only draw up their catholic identity,

Introduction: Voodoo dolls, black magic, zombies, witchcraft are what Americans first think of when they hear the word “voodoo” spoken, but even with America's skewed vision of what vodoun genuinely is it has still infected American Culture. Alternatively, American Culture has also influenced Voodooist culture and the way Voodooist Americans live their lives. General Information: Voodoo originates from Haiti and regions around it with spellings ranging from the common, Voodoo and Vodoun, to the unusual, Voudoux and vudu (Devi 7.). Vodoun is an off branch of Catholicism, but many Americans don’t realize this. Americans also don’t commonly know that voodoo isn’t about magic and evil.

I'm sure before I talked about voodoo, you expected something totally different. I, myself, thought voodoo was actually all about black magic and evil spirits. However, voodoo is not actually negative. When the early Haitian slaves came over to different parts of the world, they also brought over their faith. However, because they were black and their religion was not recognized, it was prejudged as evil. The priests were known as witchdoctors, the Loa were thought to be evil when in reality, the

Haiti was once the first black independent republic in the world and the richest island in the Caribbean. Today Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the world. What could have happened to Haiti in almost two hundred years of history? The country experienced repeated civil war and foreign intervention. Haiti is not isolated from the international world. Thus, it was not out of concern for ordinary Haitians that the United States intervened in Haiti. It was out of concern for profit and stability within the United States' own backyard. The purpose of this paper is to show the negative aspect that the United States had played in the government of Haiti.