Voodoo in the New World

Voodoo in the New World

Religion is described as a sociocultural system with designated practices and behaviors, worldviews, morals prophecies, sanctified places, organizations, and ethics. All aspects of religion relate human beings to transcendental, supernatural, and spiritual aspects. Distinct religions are found to involve or not include multiple aspects that range from sacred things, divine faith, or a supernatural being. The practices of religion may involve sermons, rituals, veneration, festivals, trances, ceremonies, prayer, dance, among other practices. Generally, religions possess sacred narratives and histories that are found in symbols, scriptures, and holy places. Religion was highly used during the quest for freedom and independence from multiple colonialists, especially in the Americas. This paper explores Voodoo religion in Haiti by looking at how Africans kept practicing their religion regardless of the massive resistance from the French administration.

Voodoo is also referred to as Haiti Vodou and also written as Vaudou. It is a religion that is based in the West African region, but it is primarily practiced in Haiti as well as the Haitian diaspora. The people following and practicing voodoo religion are referred to as voodooists or are also known as servants of the spirit. These people usually believe in unknowable and distant supreme being and creator known as Bondye, which is translated as “good God.” The Voodooists believe that Bondye does not often intercede in the affairs of human beings. Therefore, these followers direct their worship toward the spirit that is subservient to their god and which are referred to as loa. Every loa is mandated with the responsibility of a given life aspect,  where they have changing and dynamic personalities of each loa being a reflection of the numerous possibilities that are inherent to the life aspects which they usually preside. While navigating their day to day life, voodooists cultivate individual relationships with the loa via offering a presentation, development of individuals devotional and alters, as well as taking part in the elaborate dance, music ceremonies, and spirit possession.

The origin of Voodoo is current Benin, and it developed in the French colonial empire during the 18^th century involving the  West African individuals who were subjected to slavery. This was during when the religious practice among Africans was strongly suppressed, and the Africans under enslavement were compelled to abandon their faith and religious practices to convert to Christianity religion. The practices of religion among the modern Voodoo are descended and also closely associated with the West African Voodoo as it is still practiced by Ewe and Fon. Besides, Voodoo integrates symbolism and elements from the other African individuals such as Kongo and Yoruba and also the Taino religious beliefs, European spirituality such as mysticism, and Roman Catholicism. Some Catholics in Haiti combine Catholicism aspects with voodoo elements, which form a practice that the Church forbids, and it is denounced as being diabolical among the Haitian protestants.

The history of Voodoo religion is traced before the year 1685 that traces its transfer from Africa to the Caribbean. The cultural region of Ewe,  Fon, and the Yoruba individuals are established to possess common metaphysical conception that includes a dual cosmological divine principle made up of  Nana Buluku, who is considered the God Creator as well as Lisa, the sun god. Among these people, God Creator is recognized as the cosmological principle and is described as not trifling, especially with the mundane. The Vodun is recognized as the God who plays the role of controlling all the issues on Earth.

The Vodun among the West African people has its chief emphasis on their ancestors, where every household of spirits possesses their individual specialized priest and priestess and are, in most cases, hereditary. Throughout the majority of African clans, deities may involve Mami Wata, who is regarded as the gods and goddesses of the waters. A considerable section of the  Haitian Voodoo, in most cases, overlooked by the majority of schoolers up to the recent input, especially from the Kongo. The entire Haitian northern region is significantly influenced by the practices of Kongo, where it is, in most cases, referred to as the Lemba or Kongo Rite, which is as a result of the Lemba rituals of the loango region as well as Mayombe. In the Southern area of Haiti, the influence of Kongo is known as Petwo. The majority of loa emanate from Kongo, including Basimba that belongs to the people of Basimba and the people of Lemba. Further, the vodun religion, which is distinct from the Haiti voodoo, was established to have been existing previously in the United States before the Haitians migrated to the region. The worship was brought by the West African people subject to slavery, particularly from Fon, Ewe, Kabaye, Mina, and Nago people. It is established that some of the forms that endured the time survive in the Gullah Islands.

The Vodun practices and other forms of worship were suppressed by European colonialism and the totalitarian regimes found in the West Africa region. Nevertheless, since the deities of Vodun are born to all African clan group, and that their clergy is core to keeping the social, moral as well as a political order and the foundation of ancestry among its villagers, it was impossible to completely curb the religion.

Voodoo in colonial Saint-Domingue

Most of the slaves from Africa who were brought I Haiti were mainly from Central and Western Africa. The belief system’s survival in the New World is significantly notable, even though the traditions have been found to have transformed over time. They have even incorporated some of the worship forms of Catholicism. However, two key aspects characterize Haitian Voodoo uniqueness when compared to the African Vodun. The Haitian transplanted Africans, similar to the ones in Brazil and Cuba, were forced to disguise their spirits as saints belonging to Roman catholic. This constituted a process element known as syncretism.

In 1685, King Louis XIV of France made two crucial provisions of the Code Noir that seriously restricted the enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue’s ability to perform the African religions. First, the Code Noir was found to explicitly forbid Africans from practicing .open African religions. Second, the Codes Noir compelled all holders of slaves to ensure that they converted their salves to the Catholicism religion upon arrival to the Saint-Domingue. Despite the efforts of French colonialists, Africans under enslavement in Saint-Domingue managed to cultivate their practices of religion. They typically spend holiday nights and Sunday expressing their religions. Whereas the bodily autonomy was under stern control, especially during the day, at night, the enslaved Africans wielded some extent of the agency. Enslaved Africans started to carry on with their practices of religion, although they also utilized such time in cultivating community as well as reconnecting the fragmented pieces representing their multiple heritages. The particular late-night reprieves were considered a form of resisting against the domination of white men as well as the development of a cohesive community between individuals’ massively distinct ethnic groups. Catholicism religion was often applied as a suppression tool. The Haitians, under enslavement and partly out of necessity, would constantly integrate Christian elements sin their Voodoo. The votive candles and catholic style that were applied by the Haitian Africans were focused on concealing the religion’s African trait, although the relation is found to go past this view. Voodooists superimposed the saints of Catholicism religion as well as the figures onto loa or Iwa, which are the primary spirits working as Grand Met agents. Some of the primary catholic idols that were reimagined as loa included the Virgin Mary, perceived as Ezili. Saint Patrick was perceived as Dambala, while saint Jacques was seen as Ogou. The rituals and ceremonies among the Voodoo also integrated some elements of Catholicism religion, including the adoption of a calendar followed by the catholic, singing hymns, the application of the holy water during the purification rituals, and also introducing Latin loanwords into Voodoo.

The Haitian Revolution

Voodoo was recognized as a robust cultural and political force in Haiti. The considerably historic voodoo ceremony in the history of Haiti included the Bois Caiman ceremony held during the august of 1791. The ceremony happened during the eve of a  rebellion against slavery that is considered as predating the Haitian revolution. At the time of the ceremony, the Ezili Dantor spirit possessed a priestess, where a black pig was given as an offering. All those in attendance pledged themselves to take part in fighting for their freedom. Besides, Bois Caiman was convened and used as a covert meeting purposely to iron the details concerning the revolt. The ceremonies of Voodoo were, in most cases found to involve a political secondary function serving as means to strengthen the bonds between the individuals under enslavement, while at the same time giving space to ensure that they organized within the community. Therefore, Voodoo allowed the slaves away both physical and symbolic space of subversion, particularly against the French colonialists.

Political leaders, including Boukman Dutty, who was a slave and helped in planning the revolt of 1971, they are served as a religious leader. In this way, they connected voodoo spirituality alongside political activities. Bois Caiman has since, in most cases, been associated with the beginning of the Haitian Revolution, although the slave uprising was already underway being arranged several weeks before. This suggested the existing great thirst to attain freedom amongst the slaves. In the year 1804, the Haitian revolution saw the freeing of Haitian individuals from a colonial rule under the French. As a result, Haitians established its first republic in history involving black people. This was the second independent country in the Americas, and it marked a historic event across the world. The nationalists of Haiti have frequently drawn inspiration through the imagination of the gathering of their ancestors that symbolized courage and unity. Starting from the 1990s, some of the neo-evangelicals has ultimately interpreted the ceremony involving both political and religious aspects at Bois Caiman as being pact of demons.

The Bois Caïman ceremony, as well as the subsequent insurrections, were associated with the months of strategizing and planning. There were several slaves taking part in the planning and strategizing of the revolt from the North. These slaves held privileged roles in their plantations as they possessed authority and influence over the other slaves. These focused on strategic maneuvering, where they successfully managed to unite a massive network of Africans, maroons, mulatoes, field slaves, house slaves as well as free blacks. The ceremony happened in a thickly wooden region where all the slaves attending the ceremony solemnize their pact in the ritual of the voodoo religion. The ceremony was headed by a voodoo priest from Jamaica and a maroon leader alongside other high priests of the voodoo religion. Multiple accounts during that night ceremony explain the animal sacrifices, tempestuous storm, and the deities of Voodoo. Nevertheless, the ceremony as been recognized as legendary. Voodoo, which included bot religion and sacred, was entirely forbidden in all French colonies, although the French attempted from the very beginning to destroy in vain. Voodoo religion was found to prevail regardless of the efforts of the whites to crush it. It was secretly nurtured by the slaves in the French colony. At the time of the European colonial rule had the revolt in Haiti, Voodoo was at the center of a singular rile for the slaves.

Despite the robust restrictions from the French administration, voodoo religion formed one among the few aspects that experienced total autonomy activity for the slaves from Africa. Voodoo was recognized as a religion and a key spiritual force, which was observed as a source of psychological liberation. This was attained by enabling slaves to reaffirm and express the self-existence they strongly recognize via individual labor. Besides, voodoo religion allowed the slaves to break away psychologically, especially from the concrete and real slavery chains, as well as enabling the slaves to perceive themselves as independent humans. In this way, religion gave the slaves a sense of human dignity and also guaranteed them survival tactics.  At the time of the Haitian revolution, voodoo religion played a role in bringing disparate forms in the French colony and united multiple rebel groups that fought side by side. During the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the world misunderstood Voodoo religion, with the Hollywood portraying it as savage and primitive. The world despised the complexity and rich history voodoo religion. Nevertheless, voodoo religion is today form a considerable part of the majority of Haitians and their daily lives.

The slave forces that focused on rebelling against the French colonialism increased as the majority of the participants had left their plantations, which was either by will or through forceful means. They were changed from fugitive slaves to armed and hardened rebels to ensure that they fought for their freedom. The rebellion was witnessed to spread across all areas and become more organized and militant. The slaves met the white troops entirely unprepared for the guerrilla tactics employed that included surprise attacks, ambushes, thefts of livestock and supplies, as well as the use of poisoned arrows.

Vodou in 19th-century Haiti

Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a former slave during the year 1804, declared that St. Domingue had attained independence as the first back empire. It was aft two years following his assassination that the empire was renamed the Republic of Haiti. It represented the second country that gained its independence from the European colonial rule, after the US. Further, the Republic of Haiti was the only country that arose from slaves’ liberation. Nevertheless, no country recognized the new state and was rather met with boycotts as well as isolation. As a result of the exclusion from the International market, the Republic of Haiti experienced severe economic challenges. The majority of the revolution leaders ultimately disassociated themselves from Voodoo religion as they focused on being accepted as good Catholics and Frenchmen instead of recognizing themselves as free Haitians. However, there are numerous Voodoo practitioners who, at the time, saw and also still see no differences existing between Catholicism and Voodoo religions, as they also partake in Catholic masses.

The voodoo practice was not perceived and recognized by the new state as an official religion, and the government made voodoo practice punishable. This did curb the practice as they still held secret Voodoo societies that were notably very essential. Their responsibilities also included the provision of protection to the poor and solidarity against the elite’s power exercise. The secret Voodoo had their own codes and symbols that they observed.

The voodoo religion still exists in the 20^th century by the Haitians, Americans as well as individuals from other countries who previously were exposed to the culture of Haitians. There are other related forms of Voodoo that exist in different nations in the form of Cuban Voodoo, Dominican Voodoo, and Brazilian Voodoo. Vodun traditions have been established to reemerge in the US, keeping the same cosmological and ritual aspects as it still happens in West Africa.

François Duvalier, former president of Haiti, played a significant role as he elevated the status of Voodoo to become a countrywide doctrine. The president took part in the noirisme movement, where he hoped to reassess the cultural practices whose origins were in West Africa. He later manipulated Voodoo religion to ensure that it suited his aims in the entire period of his reign. He achieved this by organizing the Voodoo priests, especially in the countryside, to provide that his agenda survived. He instilled fear to them by fostering the belief that he possessed supernatural powers playing into the mysticism of the religion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Voodoo religion has been discussed as originating from West Africa and the current Benin country. The religion spread to the new world through the slave trade by the French colonialism. Slaves carried the religion with them and still practiced it despite the strong prohibition from the French administration in the colonies. Slaves used the religion to plan and strategize the revolution movement. This was usually carried out during the nights secretly. Further, secret societies were used to organize ceremonies whose key agenda was to organize for a revolution. The religion gave slaves an opportunity of expressing their quest for freedom and independence of Haiti. Through the help of religious activities, the slaves in Haiti managed to outshine the French forces and forced them to hand over the country to black people. The new nation was the second country after the United States to gain independence. The leaders of the Republic of Haiti have used voodoo religion to advance their policies in politics. Voodoo still forms a key aspect among the Haitians.

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