Voodoo And Amish Similarities

Approximately 90 percent of Haitians are Catholic and 10 % are Protestant (Jacobson, 2003). Within the Haitian-American community, however, Voodoo exists side by side with Christian faiths. Jacobson goes on to explain that “many Haitians see no contradiction in calling themselves Christians while engaging in Voodoo practices” (2003). In Haiti, Catholicism is highly ritualistic and religious practices combine the ancient rituals of African-based cultures with Western-based faith practices. Jacobson explains that “Voodoo cosmology is made up of a large numbers of supernatural spirits…these spirits are believed to have great influence on human beings and for that reason, they must be respected” (2003).

The Amish is a group of traditionalist Christians that rely on simple living, plain dress and refuse to adapt to modern technology. The history of the Amish started in Switzerland in 1693 led by Jakob Amman. Today majority of the traditional descendants of the Amish live in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Santeria is built on sympathetic, homeopathic magic, imitative. It revolves around the laws of contact and similarity.

When most western people think about Native American or African religions there is a certain stigma that comes with the topic. This is in part because there is a lot of misinformation in the world about Native American and African religions. When most westerners think of African religions they think of voodoo and black magic. Likewise, the view of Native American religions is still looked at through the lens of the pilgrims who wrote about Native Americans as being savages and less than human. These stereotypes were all formed from a lack of accurate information. African and Native American religions are very similar. It is difficult to find a lot of accurate information on African and Native American indigenous religions because of the lack of written history but there is a lot of oral history that has been passed down from generation to generation. From this information, it is clear that Native American and African religions have many more similarities than they do differences. Three of these similarities will be discussed in this paper. The first topic of discussion is the similarity between African and Native American people when it comes to their perception of the spirit world. Following this topic are the similarities between Native American and African views on the afterlife and finally, the diversity of beliefs within African and Native American religions.

One can be very confused with the modern ideas present today. In fact, a lot of individuals are so involved in their own lives that they do not even bother to think where these modern popular beliefs came from. Modern constructs, such as religion, politics, warfare and even the internet all originated somewhere, and it is important that people know at least a little about the history of something before completely use it as a part of their everyday life. Take the case of Witchcraft and Wicca: while most people would probably combine these two in the same area of interest such as witchcraft and spells with the occasional magical tool such as the voodoo doll, one might be surprised that Wicca is actually a religion and witchcraft actually originated from the Wiccan movement.

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.

In regards to the Amish beliefs and customs, they live faithfully by the Bible. Evident from the previous information given, their religion conducts every act of their life. “A strong sense of community regulates the rhythms of Amish life. One of the tenets of Amish faith is care and

Amish culture is a European born group of Christians who are descendents of Mennonite church. Due to few fundamental religious differences, they separated from Mennonite regime which made them go through a series of violence causing a remarkable decrease in their population. However, after gaining ground sin United States and Canada, they are living their lives peacefully in isolation. The current culture of Amish people is a true representative of simplicity, humility, thrift, obedience,

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.

Though not a new religion, this religion has a lot of history and similar beliefs of other religions. The interpretation of death and the afterlife is interesting. Before, I touch on this its, important to know that community and the people is very important when it comes to Voodoo as a religion. In the event of a death the community gets really involved, if a loved one is dying, the family all tries to come together for prayer. People, who practice Voodoo, don’t believe that death is the end. When death occurs, they believe that certain rituals need to be done to help the soul. Loved ones of the deceased perform a “Rite of Reclamation” which is to call back the spirit. A priest or priestess, which are called houngan or mambo; serve as healers, diviners, psychologists, counselors and spiritual leaders; help during this time to bring the spirit back so they family can

A powerful sense of community and others before self is expressed by the Amish, according to the Encyclopedia of American Religious History.

Many Haitians also still practice their native religion of voudou (“voodoo” in the west). So, while it is clear that European religions have persisted since the time of colonization, it is interesting that Haitians have also maintained their native beliefs. Some estimates of Haitians that practice voudou are as high as 90 percent.

Many of today’s religions share strict beliefs that are found only within their own religion, they restrict the possibility to believe anything other that what the religion tells its followers to believe, in Voodoo you are not a follower. Voodoo is a religion influenced by many other religions; it allows its followers to feel free. When Voodoo worshipers left Africa and reached the far away island of Haiti, the Voodoo religion changed. Catholicism of the slave owners, and various alternative religions from native islanders, influenced Voodoo. Voodoo easily incorporated these other religions because of its welcoming nature. Voodoo was appealing, especially to the slaves and poor members of a community. Because it was so inviting, it became a way for people with troubles and turmoil to unite. The slaves united through Voodoo to throw off white rule. It was the first successful slave

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

Primary religions involved in the African aspect of voodoo are Macumba and Candomble of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, and several now extinct tribes from the Congos and Cameroon. These religions lay the groundwork for the course of religious ceremonies and contain the origins for the deities worshipped in modern voodoo. Voodoo?s principle deity, Olorun is the voodoo equivalent to God. Though the name can be traced to the Yoruba tribe, it is unknown if