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Voodoo, or vodou(n) as the Haitians spell it, is the Dahomey word for spirit. Any spirit that can be found throughout nature is vodou. Voodoo is a derivative of the world’s oldest known religions which have been around in Africa since the beginning of human civilization. Some estimate these civilizations and religions to be over 10,000 years old.

Vodou came from the peoples of the Kongo, as well as the Central African regions, including Bakongo and the Yoruba of Nigeria. However, Vodou originates mainly from the western nations of Africa, and primarily from the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, which is now present day Benin.

Vodou can be considered a religion shaped more by the evolution of its practicioners than as a static dogma. Therefore, it’s necessary to consider the evolvement of Vodou religion from within the framework of its history - politically and socially.

Freely borrowing from other traditions in order to keep its ancient African beliefs alive, Vodou is truly a religion of tolerance. Haitian vodou is a clear example of this.

Haitian Vodou

Haitian Vodou is an initiatory tradition that is practiced by 90% of the population of Haiti - the poor and poor working class. Today, the nation of Haiti’s population is made up of people whose ancestors were brought over as slaves from various African Tribes. The major elements of Haitian Vodou religion come from these old African religions that the slaves brought with them, combined with the Catholicism Haiti’s French occupation forced upon them.

Vodou offers a system of beliefs that provides Haitians both meaning and solace, qualities that are in short supply in a country with no public schools, few working sewers, no public transportation, little industry, and no good roads. Haitian vodou is also highly eclectic: in an effort to recreate their religious culture in Haiti, African slaves expropriated a huge repertory of influences, including bits and pieces from the indigenous Taino Indians, from Roman Catholicism, Freemasonry and European mysticism.

Vodou, being outlawed within Slavery, had to find a mask if it were to survive oppressive ideologies from Europe. In fact many of the Lwa are known to be of pale skin as opposed to African in their Descent.

These roots are quite evident in Haitian Vodou today. Because Vodou has had such influence on Haitian art and music, even Haitians who are NOT Vodou initiates and do not serve any particular lwa hold widespread respect for the tradition of Vodou.

Haitian art, for example, absorbs and interprets visual culture so masterfully because of its roots in Vodou - a religion and way of life that was born and survived due to its history of accommodation and inclusion.

New Orleans Vodou | Hoodoo Voodoo

Haitian vodou crossed over to the United States as early as the 1800s, but surfaced mainly in New Orleans. One practitioner that popularized it in the area was the famed Vodou Queen Marie Laveau, but other forms of vodou existed in the United States dating before the 1776 revolution.

Hoodoo and Voodoo are both practiced in Louisiana and have many things in common. However, there are differences between the two. Voodoo is a religion, and Hoodoo is an African American system of folk magickal practice that has typically been handed down from generation to generation. HOODOO, though not a religion, is the folk magic of the common people in West Africa, just as it is in the diaspora today. From so-called love potions, to taking vegenace upon an enemy, Hoodoo is largely what has survived the religious persecution of the Africans enslaved in the New World.

Voodoo is a serious religion with various rituals, spells, and practices that take believers into the spiritual and transcendental world. For reasons perhaps unknown, Vodou praticioners often DO experience the exact outcome or impact Vodou spells and ceremonies were meant to bring about. Spiritual cleansings, healings and insight, communicating with passed loved ones - For those who practice and believe in the power, Voodoo is dominant.