The Voodoo Of Voodoo Dolls

The Haitians that practice Voodoo associate with the Jews because when the Haitians were African slaves, the Europeans expressly considered both Jews and Africans to be devil worshippers.

Voodoo is a religion also known as Vodou or Voudon. In modern day society, the word ‘Voodoo’ usually brings others to the thought of dolls with pins stuck in them to cause pain on one’s enemies and the resurrection of the dead as zombies. In addition, black magic, animal sacrifices,

What Will Be Covered Today, I'm going to be talking about the roots of voodoo and what it actually is, the two types of voodoo, voodoo rituals and superstitions, and why voodoo is perceived as a negative or controversial topic. What Is Voodoo? I'm sure everyone has their own perception of voodoo inside

Voodoo Religion      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

Thirdly, “Messenger to the Rain Gods (Heheya) Kachina” is a small art “doll” composed mainly of “wood, paint and string” which was originated in Hopi, Arizona around 1900 (Heheya). This Native American doll is one of many other Native American dolls that are designed for a specific task or religious purposes. For instance, “Heheya Kachina” is designed to be a messenger for the rain of Gods. According to MFAH, we can distinguish it from other dolls by “the zigzag stripes of yellow and red on his cheeks, his prominent red brows, nose, mouth and tab ears, as well as the red chili peppers attached to the top of his head” (Heheya). It’s interesting to know that Native Americans had small dolls to depict their religious believe and cultural values.

The Origins of Voodoo Voodoo is a religion rich in heritage and founded in faith and community. The religion has been villainized by western culture and has been wrongly portrayed as malignant and dangerous. The religion is not founded in any of the (known) "black magics" or fear popularized by Hollywood films, but rather it is based on balance and tradition. The religion is not something that should be encountered with inhibition or fear induced from childhood horror stories, but embraced for its strength and history.

ABSTRACT 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.

Sculptures came in a variety of shapes and sizes. They were often made of wood, metal, cloth, or clay. These sculptures served as personal protection figures, symbols for supernatural powers, and representation of ancestors. Most sculptures were made to represent the human body, but some cultures never carve human faces so it resembled any individual in fear of accusations of witch craft. A great example of one such sculpture is Cango and Zaire.

Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft, Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press copyright 1974. The purpose of this book was to examine the history and social life of Salem Village to try to figure out what was the cause of the events that occurred there. I believe that the authors achieved their objective at least they did to me. Boyer and Nissenbaum's explanation for the outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Salem hinges on an understanding of the economic,

For instance, the principles of Hoodoo are based almost solely on the betterment of one’s own life whereas the main goals of Voodoo are to improve one’s life but to also uphold withstanding connections within the realm of spirits and with other Voodooists (Haas, 2011). Not to mention in a sense of irony, it is Hoodoo culture that finds more use in voodoo dolls and doll magic to curse specific people or influence minds and hearts of individuals as opposed to Voodoo (Raven, n.d.). Furthermore, Voodooism is a mixture of monotheism and polytheism and requires official priests or priestesses to ordain rituals (Haas, 2011). Correspondingly, Voodoo is much akin to other religions in the sense that there are deviations of the practice; indeed, just as there are Protestants, Baptists, and Catholics when referring to the Christian faith, there are variants made in Voodoo, such as Haitian Voudon or Louisiana Voodoo (Voodoo, 2015). Hoodooism’s emphasis on individual power makes it a practice that is available to persons of any faith as it does not require a “formally designated minister” (Hoodoo (folk magic),

Black magic, witchcraft, hocus- pocus, sorcery, conjuring. All words that mean voodoo, a black religious cult practiced in the Caribbean and the southern US, combining elements of Roman Catholic ritual with traditional African magical and religious rites, and characterized by sorcery and spirit possession. The question here is voodoo real or not? In fact voodoo is very real it might not be what you think it is all the bad magic that hurts people, but voodoo can be good also. There are many forms of voodoo and what people use it for. Voodoo is a religion and connected to christianity. Voodoo dolls are real and people do use them. People all around the world practice the magic of voodoo. Voodoo can heal people and problems that they have.

The Nok heads and sculptures of Nigeria are made hallow, life-sized terra-cotta figures with a coiling technique commonly used to make pottery vessels (Thames & Hudson, 2015, pg.451). Nok heads were made with clay and although clay is very durable it is also breakable. However, very few sculpture have been found undamaged. The head of the figures was larger than the bodies because the artists wanted to emphasize the association between the head with knowledge and identity. The Nok head below is from Rafin Kura, sculpted in c. 500 BCE-200 CE. Like many Nok heads, this sculpture has a unique hairstyle, with three buns on top. It also has triangular- shaped eyes with holes in the pupils, nostrils, mouth, and

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

Voodooism is a religion practiced in different parts of the world and is still widely used today. Voodoo has easily been related back to Christianity and Buddhism because specific people believe in Gods, practices and rituals and different ways to celebrate their religion. Voodoo is a culture that is frequently mislead for what it really is. The religion is not merely as awful and horrifying as people think it is today. A substantial amount of people believe Voodoo is a defective culture for crazy people because of movies and books they have seen and read. Voodoo has affected American culture as it is today. American culture has been affected because a substantial amount of people began to settle in America which meant different beliefs and