The practice of Voodoo: Preserving a world heritage

1. The practice of Voodoo: Preserving a world heritage

2. VOODOO Voodoo is a religious tradition originating in West Africa, which became prominent in the New World due to the importation of African slaves. West African Vodun is the original form of the religion; Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo are its descendants in the New World.

3. Ouidah, Benin Mamy Wata, the goddess of the Sea.

4. TransculturationorCreolization Colonization had initiated a creative process of appropriation, revision, and survival leading to the mutual transformation of two or more pre-existing cultures into a new one  Contemporary Caribbean cultures. Preservation of the heritage

5. African diaspora Haitian Vodou, the similar Vudu of the Dominican republic, Candomblé in Brazil (which uses the term Vodum), Louisiana Voodoo, (or New Orleans Voodoo), Santería in Cuba, which are syncretized with Christianity, the traditional religions of the Kongo people of Congo and Angola.

6. Candomble Candomblé is practiced chiefly in Brazil. It originated in the city of Salvador, the capital of Bahia. It is also practiced in neighboring countries and is becoming more popular worldwide. The rituals involve the possession of participants by Orishas, animal sacrifices, healing, dancing and drumming. It features aspects of the Yoruba Orisha religion. Orishas are religious deities that are said to represent human characteristics such as bravery, love and honor.

7. La Santeria, Regla de Paolo It is comprised of a hierarchical structure according to priesthood level and authority. Orisha "ile" or temples are usually governed by: Orisha Priests known as Babalorishas, "father of orisha", or Iyalorishas, "mothers of orisha", and serve as the junior Ile or second in the hierarchical religious structure.

8. Shared characteristics of Creole Religions Monotheism and polytheism (orisha, loas..)‏ A cult of dead ancestors Belief in supernatural power upon objects Animism: Belief in other spirits (like trees)‏ Contacts between humans and spirits through: divination, initiation, sacrifice, spiritual possession, and healings.

9. Shared characteristics of Creole Religions (cont.)‏ Consecrated objects are receptacles of divine power. Practice of magic (spells, conjurations, medicine-healing)‏ “Magical accumulation” (with European magic)‏ Music and dance Conscious sense of community Religious leaders Possession live altars

10. Syncretism It is often believed that it is these aspects of the religion, similar in many ways to the Trinity and the intervention of saints and angels, which made Vodun so compatible with Christianity, especially Catholicism, in the New World, and produced such strongly syncretistic religions as Haitian Vodou.

11. Burkina Faso

13. Benin The Republic of Benin is a small, culturally rich nation in West Africa with an ethnically diverse population and a varied landscape stretching from the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in the south, to the Niger River in the north. Danhomé (in the entrails of the Snake) is at the origin of all Voodoo cults, known not only as the cradle of the traditional Voodoo but also to have played a great part in the fight against colonial establishment

14. Vodun cosmology Vodun cosmology centers around the vodun, spirits and other elements of divine essence which govern the Earth. Vodun is essentially monotheistic: Mawu (or Nana Buluku) ---> a dual cosmogenic principle: Mawu, the moon, female Lisa, the sun, male aspects. Henotheism: “monotheism in principle; polytheism in fact”

15. There is a hierarchy of lesser creations, the vodun, which range in power from major deities governing the forces of nature and human society to the spirits of individual streams, trees, and rocks, the more impressive of which may be considered sacred. God does not trifle with the mundane, so the vodun are the center of religious life.

17. Religion in Benin 30% are Muslims: women are head covered 20% are Christians 50% voodoos Most people still practice Vodun which is not just a religion but a culture and a way of life. Old secrets though are dying with an aging population of wise men. Women are mostly left out, though they do consult the féticheur.

18. Vodun ceremony

19. Yoruba Orisha religion The Yoruba Orisha religion is said to be animistic, or mysterious. The highest deity, Olodumare, the Creator, is considered to be an unknowable, distant God. It is only his children that deal in the lives of humans. The Orishas, Orixas in Portuguese, are said to "mount", or possess the participant during the rituals.

20. Vodun and the Divinities of Mythology Greco Romaine The divinity Hèbiosso (Shango in Yoruba) is the god of Lightning, corresponding to Thor, god of War, Scandinavian divinity. The divinity Sakpata is the goddess of the ground; corresponding to Greek Demeter divinity personifying the ground. The divinity Dan is the goddess of fortune, corresponding to Lakshmi, a Hindu divinity. The divinity Gou is the god of the war, corresponding to Vulcan, divinity Greco Romaine of fire and metals. The divinity Nayétè (Mami, water) goddess of richness and love, corresponds to Venus or Aphrodite divinity Greco Romaine, goddess of the beauty and the love.

21. Voodoo cults in America derive from the animism imported by former slaves of African extraction. This animism crystallized around the polytheist religion probably the most evolved , at the time, in Africa. When one says “voodoo” one often thinks of black magic or with secret ceremonies.  But the voodoo is before all a great African traditional worship. The voodoo comprises nearly 400 divinities, each one honored according to a particular worship. 

22. Spelling: Vodun (capitalized) denotes the religion. vodun denotes the spirits that are central to the religion. Note that “Voodoo", the most common spelling in American popular culture, is often viewed as offensive by practicing communities of the African Diaspora, due to the farcical and often racist depictions of Hollywood.

23. Yoruba Orisha religion The religion was brought over during the Atlantic slave trade by African priests and adherents who were dedicated to the worship of the Yoruba Orishas. Those people were brought as slaves between 1549 and 1850. The slaves united themselves under the Nago name when they arrived. After the arrival of the Yoruba Orishas in Brazil, there was some association with the Catholic Saints and many of the Orixás are now referenced with their Catholic Saints. This religion, like many African religions, is an oral tradition and therefore has not been put into text throughout the years.

24. Worship in the New World Nanã in Candomblé Worship of the deity spread to the rest of the world, especially through centuries of captured slaves who were purchased and sold all over the Americas. She is celebrated as Nanã in Brazilian Candomblé Ketu, where she is pictured as a very old woman, older than creation itself; as Nana Buruku, primordial swamp spirit in Orisha tradition.