Vodou

I. History

Voodoo

Vodun: Spiritual force (Fon)

1730-1790: The emergence of Vodou.

1790-1800: Revolutionary period. Vodou, too, experienced growth and cohesion.

1800-1815: Vodou suppressed by three of Haiti's most famous rulers, Toussaint L’Ouverture, Jean-Jacques

Dessalines and Henry Christophe.

1815-1850: Quiet diffusion.

1860-1945: Various periods of Roman Catholic suppression, culminating in an all out war against Vodou in the

1940s.

1945 - present: Co-optation of Vodou by the Duvalier movement and growth of Fundamentalist

Protestant challenge to Vodou.

1975 - present: Public re-emergence of Vodou.

II. Stereotypes

Vodou regognized as a religion in Haiti

Port-au-Prince, April 5, 2003

“Vodou is henceforth to be fully recognized as a religion, empowered to fulfill its mission throughout the country consistent with the constitution and the laws of the Republic, pending the adoption of a law relating to its legal status.”

III. Structure

BASIC CONCEPTS

1. One God: Bondye (Bon Dieu)

2. Spiritual beings: a. Lwa (Loa) “Les Mysteres”These are the spirits of major forces of the universe

b. The dead These are the souls of one’s own family members

Loa / Lwa

Manbo: Female PriestessHoungan: Male Priest

Transformative Action

Acts which, when performed properly by humans, mobilize supernatural forces in order to affect human life.

Healing

• Central and key aspect of vodou is healing people from illness

• Manbo and Houngan work with herbs, rituals, and the help of the lwa

Coercion: the forcible imposition of new beliefs, habits or images;

Resistance: the appearance of adopting new beliefs, habits or images but turning

them to new uses or giving them new meanings; Acculturation: the willing absorption of new

materials, deemed worthless by others, but again, transforming them with new meanings and using them in new contexts.

Accumulation: the "ritualization" of re-use, transformation, and appropriation, for the purpose of reclaiming and re-establishing a lost community.

FIN