vodou. i. history voodoo vodun: spiritual force (fon)
TRANSCRIPT
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