Voodoo Culture

Zombies, as we know them today, have mortified movie viewers for the last forty six years. Modern zombies first appeared in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968. These zombies were the slow moving, staggering ghouls that one has seen in countless films, but in 1985, Return of the Living Dead featured a new kind of zombie, the first fast moving and talking ghoul. Both Night of the Living dead 1968 and Return of the Living Dead 1985 feature the zombie as its villain, but Return of the living dead’s fast moving, talking zombies are a more modern take on the movie monster.

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.

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.

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, and circles of worshipers dancing to the beat of a drum are just a few of the many other misconceptions about the practice of Voodoo. According to anthropologist Wade Davis, however, “Voodoo is not some kind of dark mystical force, it is simply a legitimate religion” (Handwerk, 2002). Though Voodoo began in West Africa, it is practiced in various forms worldwide. As the religion of Voodoo spread, it encountered a difficult transition. In spite of this hardship,

Voodoo religion is originally a West African religion which was brought to Haiti by slaves. Slaves where working for White plantation owners together suffering hardships and tribulations. Most of these Slaves where taken from tribes who had similar beliefs of Deities, morals and methods of worship (Dancing, drumming and rituals). They would use their religion as a way of mentally resisting against their white owners. The plantation owners did not like the rituals and dancing, forbid it and sealed the deal by having their slaves baptised and superimposed with catholic beliefs. Slaves began to adopt these beliefs and intertwined them with their own and worshipping their religion as well in a secretive way. This formed the true Voodoo religion that we see today that combines catholicism and african tribal worship. Voodoo comes from the word ‘Vodu’ witch came from the fon language of dahomey which was made from what we now know as Togo, Benin and Nigeria. It meant ‘Spirit’ which is definitely correlated with Voodoo as spirits are the core of the practice. The Voodoo practitioners allow Catholicism to expand their religion executing many of their Saints, Relics and Prayers in tribal rituals.

The culture of Haiti is a various mix of African and European elements due to the French colonization of Saint Dominguez. I chose to research this culture for two reason one reason being that I have a friend who is Haitian and I never understood why she did what she did, or even her mother. The second reason is because many people in Haiti is associated with voodoo, and that’s something I personally wouldn’t get to involved with due to my religious views. Throughout this essay we will see in detail the differences in culture from ours to theirs. We will learn about their primary language, religion, their different values and beliefs and last but not least their social practices. While reading on Haiti I started to appreciate their culture more due to the fact that know.

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.

Bethany Mills and Matthew Borella Vodou, also known as Vodoun or Voodoo, is a syncretic religion. The word, 'syncretic', refers to the combination of different forms of beliefs or practices. After this being said, Vodou is a combination of Roman Catholicism and a native African religion or more specifically, the religion of the Dahomey region of Africa. However this is argued by many who do not practice Vodou.

Voodoo Is LIFE There are many different religions that tie into different cultures such as Catholicism, Judaism, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Islam, and so forth. One of the religions that most people don’t recognize is Voodoo. Lots of people think that Voodoo has to do with a lot of voodoo dolls or zombie dolls, but it has little to do with the rituals of Voodoo according to VooDoo Queen Marie Laveau. However, people wouldn’t know because when tourists visit Voodoo museums and shops they see voodoo dolls or zombie dolls and they think that is real voodoo.

The voodoo religion is the most misunderstood religion. Hollywood has deemed voodoo as a religion that practises witchcraft, black magic and engages in human sacrifice by using voodoo dolls as a vehicle to harm someone. Actually, Voodoo is a religion of honouring the various deities who are responsible for different aspects of life and following the cycle of life in order to elevate one’s status in the spiritual world Origin Voodoo is as old as the history of Africa. It is a combination of many tribal religions that were practised in West Africa. The slaves that were captured by Caucasian land owners all came from these different tribes with similar beliefs and practises.

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

Voodoo is most likely as old as african culture itself. It’s main purpose was (and still is) heal the individual relationships within. During slavery african americans combined there religions and Roman Catholicism. Because of this Voodoo (also called/spelled voudon) was created . So something as bad as slavery created a religion that spreads to so many places around the world.

When picturing a zombie the image of a undead person looking for its next human meal comes to mind. While this is the foundation of what the contemporary belief of a zombie is, the actual origin has a far deeper and darker history than what is portrayed today. In the 17th century, Haiti; at the time known as Saint-Domingue, was colonized by France. Slaves were brought in from Africa to work on the sugar plantations. These slaves were subject to such brutal and horrible conditions that many of them died after a few years of service at a rate two to three times higher than any other type of plantation (Berlin 21). A belief rose among the slaves that if they died, they would return to la guinée (Africa) and be free - but there was a catch. If they committed suicide; as many did, they would not be allowed to return to la guinée and instead would spend eternity at the plantation as an undead slave (Mariani).

I'm sure everyone has their own perception of voodoo inside their head. Most people think includes black magic, evil spirits, and causing harm to others. However, voodoo is actually a complex tradition of faiths and beliefs that combine into an overall world full of religion and magic. It is believed to have started sometime around 1724 in Africa, Haiti specifically. Today, there are still people in parts of the United States that believe in voodoo and practice it. Voodoo embraces the

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.