The word
voodoo
, which has many different names and spellings (like
vodun, vodou, voudou, vudu, vodoun, vowdown, vooodooo, vundun
) is the name of a
West African
animist, spiritual folkway. Some class it as a
religion
. However, voodoo is more a way of life. It is a
supernatural
ancestral
connection, passed from generation to generation by word of mouth (
oral tradition
),
rituals
and
spiritual
practices. Voodoo has variations from tribe to tribe. Religion, on the other hand, is based on formal organization,
myths
and
dogma
in texts, buildings constructed for worship, and a
hierarchy
of ordained leaders.
Voodoo is
animism
or
spiritism
. That is, all aspects of the natural world are seen as having spiritual identity immune to physical death. Animism includes belief in a person's spirit surviving the death of the body.
Ancestors
' 'spirits' are called upon for inspiration, protection or other influences over the material world. The roots of voodoo in the
Americas
come from the
Fon
,
Ewe
, and
Yoruba
people of
Africa
.. The word vodun is the Fon-Ewe word for spirit.
[1]
In voodoo many
gods
and
spirits
are prayed to or called on. Both spirits of nature and of dead people are important. The spirits of family members who have died are especially important. Voodoo often has rituals with music and dancing. Drums are used to make most of this music. In voodoo people often believe that a spirit is in their body and controlling the body. Having a spirit come into is wanted, and important. This spirit can speak for the gods or dead people you love, and can also help to
heal
or do
magic
.
Another word for voodoo is
vodu
, used in
Haiti
where the
creole language
is based on the
French language
. African voodoo often has animal sacrifice (the animal is killed for the spirits), but this is not common in Haiti. Voodoo in Haiti and America has also added some
Catholic
ideas that were not known in African voodoo. The use of Catholic saints/iconography may have developed as a means of adaptation, and survival, but also as a safety precaution.
[2]
Voodoo is an important religion in
Haiti
. When Haiti beat
the French
in a war and became its own country, the people of Haiti believed that voodoo had helped them win. Also, in Haiti there are both good priests and "dark"
sorcerers
(called bokor). The bokor acts like a kind of religious policeman, and may curse bad people.
Voodoo originally entered the
United States
via immigrants from Africa and Haiti such as
Marie LaVeau
, "the voodoo queen of
New Orleans
". Marie was a
pacifist
and known for healing people. Though unprecedented, the local Catholic priest let Marie practice Voodoo in the Catholic Church, and as a result, she became famous, leading (along with others) many in
Louisiana
to believe in Voodoo.
Like many other religions and practices, people learn about voodoo and hoodoo through movies and TV shows, where it has gained the popularity it has today as a form of entertainment. Hoodoo was showcased in the 2005 horror-suspense movie,
The Skeleton Key
, starring
Kate Hudson
(correctly emphasizing that it was hoodoo that was being used), and in the 2009 Disney movie
The Princess and the Frog
.
Zombies
are a large part of popular horror culture, and they originated in voodoo folklore from the original word, “nbzambi”, which refers to the primary sprit and/or to one’s soul.
[3]
The 2009 release of
Zombieland
and the 2004 movie
Shaun of the Dead
are both horror-comedies.
Just as there is Christian music, there is music that came from voodoo rituals, which influenced jazz, and many of the original jazz players are rumored to have had a connection to voodoo in some way, including
Jelly Roll Morton
and
Louis Armstrong
. Storyville, a district in New Orleans, was a place where, at night, Jazz was played and hoodoo was sold. There, jazz thrived and pulsed with the voices and instruments of Jelly Roll, Sweet Emma Barrett, and many others.
[4]
There are many songs and albums that reference voodoo and/or hoodoo, either in the title ("Hoodoo" by
Muse
)
or in the actual song, such as in
David Bowie
's song "Magic Dance", with the lyric, "
You remind me of the babe./ What babe?/ The babe with the power. /What power?/ The power of the hoodoo. /Hoodoo? /You do. /Do what? /Remind me of the babe!
". Another example is
Rob Zombie
who started the band
White Zombie
.
Loa
(spirits of Voodoo) are depicted in
Zadie Smith
's 2005 novel
On Beauty
.
[5]
Loa also appear in Terry Pratchett's book
Witches Abroad
(1991).
[6]
A powerful voodoo woman in novel
Witches Abroad
is named Erzulie Gogol.
Baron Samedi
(as the head of the
Ghede
family of Loa) is mentioned in the second novel in
Ian Fleming
's
James Bond
series of stories
Live and Let Die.
In the short story
Kum Ogun
by Jorge Amado, or the 2nd part of the novel
Shepherds of the night
(1964), is one of the title characters ? Loa
Ogun
. The character Galeb from
Tales of Monkey Island
was based on Loa
Papa Legba
.
[7]
Papa Legba,
Erzulie
, Ogun, Ghede and other popular Loa together with the adepts of Voodoo are depicted in
Andrei Gusev
's 2020 novel
Our Wild Sex in Malindi
.
[8]
[9]