Haitian Voodoo, Vodun, Vaudin, Voudoun, Vodou, Vaudoux

Note: This video was produced by National Geographic and while it does not show all the aspects of a typical ritual, (there is less dancing and lack of traditional garb) the footage and sound is much better than in many amateur videos that have been taken of other rituals and this video still includes many of the aspects of the system of symbols found in voodoo religion focusing on smaller rituals rather than larger community rituals. Some other rituals are exclusive and secretive and do not allow outsiders to view.




Thanks mostly to the exaggeration and twisting of stories of Hollywood, there are many misconceptions about Voodoo religion. When Americans think of Voodoo they often picture voodoo dolls, dark magic,  and zombies but in reality dark magic is a relatively minuscule part of voodoo religion. Most of the religion of voodoo (also spelled Vodun, Vaudin, Voudoun, Vodou, and Vaudoux)  that is practiced is not dark at all and is called Rada and focuses on kind and benevolent spirits rather than spirits that seek to harm people. While voodoo may appear to an outsider to be a polytheistic religion, most sects of voodoo are actually monotheistic and believe in one supreme being named Bondye and a whole host of spirits which are called Iwa or Loa who act as mediators between Bondye and man. Voodoo is a very ritualistic religion and rituals are performed to ask specific spirits to help the followers of voodoo to gain a greater abundance of food, a higher standard of living or greater health. Voodoo is a decentralized religion with beliefs that vary from place to place. Many communities have their own set of spirits that they call upon that are often different from the spirits of another community. Despite high levels of decentralization, much of the voodoo religion, regardless of where it is practiced, focuses on healing illnesses, many of which are believed to be caused by restless dead ancestors whose souls were not properly recalled at the right time. 

Depiction of ti-bon-ange

Voodoo believes in a two part soul that consists of a gros-bon-ange (big good angel) which is equivalent to the concept of a soul in western traditions except that this soul is much more separate from the body than the western concept of a soul and a ti-bon-ange which means little good angel and is similar to the western conception of the conscience. After death in order for the ti-bon-ange to have a peaceful rest the gros-bon-ange must be returned to the cosmos. In order for this to occur, a particularly expensive ritual must take place in which a large animal such as an ox must be sacrificed in order to appease the ti-bon-ange and release the gros-bon-ange so that it is no longer earthbound. If the gros-bon-ange is not released, it will become restless and cause illness and wreak disaster on the community. Uncontent ancestors are usually found to be the cause of illness and strange behavior. In the video, it is Berto's father that is found as the source of his illness. Berto's father had neglected the spirits of the ancestors and the ancestors were taking it out on his son, Berto. In voodoo, connections are made between ancestors and their families that are still living. While these connections may be arbitrary to many, it gives voodoo practicers a solution to an otherwise puzzling problem, at least a problem that would be puzzling without modern medicine. However even with modern medicine people everywhere are always searching for justification for why bad things happen to people even when they have the scientific answers.

It was the Iwa, Baron Samedi, that led the priest to the root of the problem  The belief that deceased ancestors, if not properly cared for, can wreak havoc on society instills respect and a system that serves to honor the deceased out of necessity for the good of the community. It also sets up a system of reasoning for previously unexplainable phenomena such as how diseases are spread and why people become ill. Explaining the unexplainable by means of the supernatural is a common thread in many religions and serves as one of the fundamental purposes that humans make and follow religions. Such attributions seem particularly common in religions that originated in ancient times.




This voodoo priest is possessed by an Iwa

 There is no religious text or scripture in voodoo but there are many complex rituals that are done for various occasions. Rituals are a central part of the religion and make up a majority of the worship of voodoo and serve as major symbol in and of themselves. Rituals are led by priests or priestesses called houngans or mambos respectively. In the rituals participants dance and call upon the spirits to possess one of the members in attendance to ask that spirit for help in a particular task and to ask for its blessing. The spirits or "Iwa" can posses or "mount" almost any member participating in the ritual. In this case, the spirit Baron Samedi mounts the priest and takes over his body for a short time.While Bondye is seen as a far away god, the spirits are much closer and interact directly with people.  The spirits are often called upon to heal a member of the community. Calling upon spirits to heal people reflects a time when people did not have modern medicine so the causes and cures for illnesses were often a mystery, especially in this West African based religion that was brought over to the new world by slaves to places like Haiti. Instead of looking for cures through medicine, they sought divine help. Group performed rituals worked to unite slaves who did not necessarily all come from the same place but nevertheless had a similar religion. Being a member of a group that holds common beliefs serves to bolster camaraderie and strengthen people who share the hardships of slavery.


Animal sacrifice during a voodoo ritual

 Animal sacrifices are common in voodoo rituals and serve to rejuvenate the Iwa because the Iwa spend a lot of energy in possessing a person. Voodoo followers believe that the release of life created by killing an animal in turn gives the Iwa more life. When the iwa or loa has possessed an individual, that individual may have to drink the blood of the animal in order to satisfy the iwa possessing them. More intense voodoo rituals may require larger animal sacrifices such as oxen or other cattle. Essentially, voodoo followers are feeding the spirits and keeping them content so that the spirits will be more likely to help them. Voodoo followers are very concerned with pleasing the Iwas because the spirits are very picky and require things to be done just right in order for them to agree to help people who ask. Much of voodoo seems highly superstitious but in reality, it is not that different from beliefs in other religions. Sacrifices have played a role in many religions in the past including Christianity and many pagan religions including the Aztec and Mayan religions.

A voodoo priestess (mambo) creates a veve in cornmeal

Veves were not shown in the video but they are drawings usually made in cornmeal on the ground before the start of a ceremony or ritual. Different veves signify different spirits that the group is trying to get in contact with through the ceremony. The drawings invite the spirits to the ceremony.The drawings are then destroyed during the ritual. This art along with rum and fruit and candies are often seen as part of the ceremony or on voodoo altars to make the space more inviting for spirits. Rum and other spirits has long been a part of West and Central African religions as part of a way to create a bridge between our world and the spiritual world, to get into contact with spirits. In the video, the priest poors rum over his own head when he is searching for a spirit to guide the community in the next year. Rum has connections to Africa and the Carribean is well known for its rum as well.  A lot of work goes into attracting spirits because people want spirits to help them and show them favor.


Priest pours rum over his head as part of an attempt to contact the spirits



Drumming is another essential part of the ceremony and provides music and rhythm to dance to while attempting to contact the spirits. It also connects voodoo followers with African roots of the tradition and also roots to the slaves in the Americas, especially the West Indies, who carried on the tradition of drumming, one of the few ways in which slaves were allowed to preserve their culture in the new world. So beyond being a part of the ceremony, drumming is deeply connected to the culture that voodoo sprung from (similar to the roots of drumming seen in the Rastafarian religion). This could be a source of ethnic pride for those who practice voodoo.

Dancing goes hand-in-hand with the drumming and is a necessary part of the ritual. In most rituals all the participants dance, sing and chant to attract spirits to mount one of the participant, but as seen in the video in some smaller rituals, only a few people dance. The dancing may also stem from the west African roots of this religion.

Voodoo religion also borrows from the Catholic faith that was forced upon slaves by missionaries but never really stuck because of lack of Christian infrastructure to maintain the faith. During the time when the practice of voodoo was banned under French rule in Haiti, underground practicing still went on and carried voodoo to where it is now, when it can be openly practiced. However, the Haitians did not leave Catholicism empty-handed. Because of its interaction with Catholicism some iwas are also alternatively called by names of saints found in Catholicism. For example the Iwa called Dumballah is strongly associated with St. Patrick and the Iwa Erzulie (an earth mother spirit) is synonymous with the Virgin Mary according to voodoo. Because of the relationship between voodoo and Catholicism, pictures of Catholic saints are also found on voodoo altars during various rituals.  Many followers of voodoo even nomially call themselves Catholics and some attend masses regularly in addition to practicing voodoo. While Catholicism and Voodoo look incompatible on the surface, people who practice voodoo found a way to fit elements of Catholicism into their own religion. It is surprising that practicers of voodoo did not rebel against Catholicism or completely reject it but rather incorporated it into their existing belief system. Catholic saints afterall, serve a function somewhat similar to the iwas or loas of voodoo, so adding or renaming some spirits must have been a seamless transition. The few similarities in belief systems may also be why some followers of voodoo have no problem following Catholicism in addition to voodoo.

Finally, followers of voodoo are strong believers in fate. They believe that Iwa or Loa determine their lives. Everything that happens, happens because the Iwa have decided it and caused it to happen. This belief results in an unwillingness to struggle for liberation and causes people to be happy with their plot in life. Fatalism may have resulted from the history of the people who practice voodoo in the Caribbean or it may have come out of their belief system, it is hard to tell. It is logical, however to assume that this belief came from slavery, that rather than trying to fight slavery, abuse and discrimination, they just accepted it and perhaps fought it in more underground ways, through the continued practice of voodoo even when it was banned or by calling on spirits to help improve their lives or perhaps even use of the dark magic of voodoo.

Voodoo religion participates in many of the patterns already seen in this class including the use of various art forms in religion, borrowing from other religions, reflections on the culture from which the religion originated, and explanations for the unknown. Haitian Voodoo seems to be the amalgamation of West African pagan traditions translated into the environment of Haiti with incorporation of symbols from the very prevalent Catholic church. Like the Rastafari, voodoo followers show pride in their ethnic origins, however, their pride is manifested in different ways, voodoo followers do not have as many flagrantly counter-culture tendencies as the Rastas do. Where as much of the original purpose of Rastafari was to rebel against white culture and Babylon, Voodoo is more focused on itself, on healing illness and surviving hardship than on rebelling.


For more information on voodoo, visit: http://www.eaec.org/cults/voodoo.htm,
http://webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/overview.htm, http://www.allabouttheoccult.org/voodoo-religion.htm,