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Journal of Black Studies
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YORUBA INFLUENCES ON
HAITIAN VODOU AND
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO
INA J. FANDRICH
Northwestern University
The enormous impact of the Yoruba religion on the New World African
diaspora has been well established by scholars, especially when referring to
the heavily Yorubanized popular Creole belief systems of Cuba (Santeriaf
Lucumi, Palo) and Brazil (Umbanda, Candomble). Far less known are the
connections between the Yoruba faith and the African-based religions of
Haiti (Vodou) and New Orleans (Voodoo/Voudou). This article seeks to fill
these lacunae and explores the Yoruba influences on these two neo-African
religious traditions both from a contemporary and historical perspective,
sorting through many misconceptions attached to the confusing and, for the
most part, derogatory English term Voodoo. Interestingly, it is the powerful
warrior spirits Eshu/Elegba and Ogun who proved to be the most resilient
survivors of Yoruba cosmology in the Haitian and New Orleanian diaspora.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This article was originally presented at the Oricha World
2003 Congress in Havana, Cuba.
JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES, Vol. 37 No. 5, May 2007 775-791
DOI: 10.1177/0021934705280410
775
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776 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
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Fandrich / YORUB A INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 777
and the traditional Yoruba religion were the same. Orisha Voodoo
is also the name of a significant religious movement of African
Americans who became initiated in the '70s and '80s. They fol-
lowed the example of Oba Osejiman Adefunmi I, one of the first
initiated African Americans from New York, whom they respect as
their king, and founded under his leadership Oyotunji Village in
North Carolina, a Utopian African American community that lives
strictly according to traditional Yoruba standards. This group is the
most visible example of a larger trend of African Americans seek-
ing to return to their African religious roots. Following the foot-
steps of Marcus Garvey and the Nation of Islam, they perceived the
"White man's religion," Christianity, as highly oppressive and
sought to free their souls from the burdens it had imposed on them.
They were not satisfied with the changes the Civil Rights move-
ment had aimed for. Getting equal rights in a White man's world
was not enough. They keenly understood that they had not achieved
true equality and freedom as long as their African cultural and reli-
gious heritage was still vilified, misunderstood, suppressed, and
misrepresented. Going back to the motherland and converting to
the religions of their African ancestors appealed to them as an
attractive solution for becoming "whole" again after 500 years of
oppression and displacement. In the spirit of Sankofa (an Akan/
Ashanti term for "Go back to your roots" or "Return to the way of
your ancestors"), many of them chose to become initiated into
Cuban Santeria and Haitian Vodou lines and soon formed their own
African American communities. If their finances permitted, they
crossed the Atlantic Ocean and received initiation in Nigerian
Yoruba lineages, Ghanaian Akan traditions, or Vodun temples in
Benin.5 The boundaries between these neo- African traditions are
often blurred, as many individual practitioners have received multi-
ple initiations into several different traditions or practice combina-
tions of various African-based spiritual paths.
The fusion between various African-based religious traditions is
especially prominent in Louisiana, where "Voodoo" has become a
generic term for any form of spiritual beliefs and practices remotely
associated with the Black continent. For instance, the Historic New
Orleans Voodoo Museum, an odd, small affair that sells Voodoo
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778 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
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Fandrich / YORUB A INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 779
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780 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
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Fandrich / YORUB A INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 78 1
The Bight of Benin was the name the slave traders gave to t
region of today's Benin and western Nigeria, the homeland of t
Yoruba people. The Yoruba have been city dwellers for a very lo
time. They lived in ancient powerful cities for hundreds of yea
Most of these cities had their own king, the oba, and their o
sacred shrines for the local divinities that, according to their belie
watched over them as divine patron saints. For instance, If a, t
divine principle of destiny and fate, was at home in the city of He
Ife, the mythological birthplace of the Yoruba people, where
according to the Yoruba, all earthly life began. Obatala, the ser
Yoruba divinity of whiteness, wisdom, and creativity, had his o
est and most sacred temple also in this town. Oyo was the home cit
of Ogun, the divine blacksmith, the spiritual force that rules iron
war, soldiers, policemen, and all technology. Oyo was also the s
of Shango's main shrine, the former legendary king of this city. H
is the divinity of lightning, fire and magic and represents the princ
ple of divine rulership. Oshogbo, the Yoruba center for art and cre
ativity, beautifully located near the mysterious Oshun River, w
the home of Oshun, the divinity of love, beauty, fertility, and ma
rial wealth.
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782 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
VODOU IN HAITI
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Fandrich / YORUBA INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 783
were taken directly from Nigeria in the 18th century also had a
traceable impact on the Haitian religion, despite their minority sta-
tus. Nago was the term that the slave traders used to designate the
people from the Yoruba kingdoms and, indeed, we find an entire
Nago "nashion" or spirit nation, a cluster of related divinities in
Haitian Vodou. It is no surprise that in a situation of utter helpless-
ness and defeat, the enslaved Yoruba and Dahomeyan people con-
centrated on invoking their mightiest warrior spirits, Elegba, or
Legba as he was known in Dahomey, and Ogun, or Gu as the
Dahomey ans called him, the divinities of the crossroads and of war.
The Legba-Elegba-Eshu cluster of divinities both continued and
transformed in Haiti. Derivatives and continuities of this divinity
appear on either one of the two main religious rites of Haitian
Vodou, among the Ra da spirits stemming primarily from Dahomey
and among the fierce, mainly Kongo-based Petwo divinities. On the
Rada side, we find, for instance, an old mighty Iwa named Papa
Legba. He is the gatekeeper of all spiritual forces and needs to be
invoked at the beginning of every ceremony. Papa Legba usually
appears as an old man who moves slowly in a very distinct manner.
He is thus a very different character from the Cuban Elegua, who is
often depicted as a mischievous playful trickster that acts like a
small child asking for hard candy and toys (see Table 1). These
childlike aspects of Elegua merged in Haiti with an Iwa called T
Marassa, the sacred twins. Elegba aspects also appear in the spirit
family of Guede, the Haitian divinity that rules death, sexuality,
small children, and humor.
We also encounter some formidable Elegba-like characters on
the Petwo side, the Congo-derived spiritual tradition. For instance,
Bawon Calfou (Baron Carrefour, meaning "the Baron of the Cross
road") is believed to be a brother of Bawon Samdi ("Baron Satur-
day"), the ultimate ruler over the spirits of the dead, who is also the
most powerful magician of all Haitian Iwa spirit entities. Guede,
Legba, and the Bawon (the Baron), like their Cuban cousin Elegua
all appear in black, red, black and red, or black and purple outfits,
wear dark glasses and a tall black hat, and walk with a cane when
they manifest during a ceremony.
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Fandrich / YORUBA INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 785
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786 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
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Fandrich / YORUBA INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 787
CONCLUSION
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788 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
NOTES
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Fandrich / YORUBA INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 789
4. For a good introduction to the Yoruba and Kongo cultural heritage and their New
World diaspora, see Thompson (1984).
5. In the huge urban centers of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and
Houston, with a large Latin American population, la Regla de Ocha, a Hispanic- Yoruba New
World adaptation, was especially successful in this neo- African spiritual revival movement
of the late 20th century.
6. Fernandez Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert (2003) offer a well-researched overview of
the differences and similarities between the Creole religions of the Caribbean. See Teish
(1985) for a very readable, personal introduction to the magical practices associated with
New Orleans Voodoo as compared to Haitian and Neo- Yoruba traditions. See also Long
(2001).
7. "Nine out of ten laypersons, asked for their first association with witchcraft, reply
'voodoo,'" according to Lucy Mair's (1969) prominent cross-cultural study of witchcraft.
"They suppose it to be a particularly sinister form of witchcraft, as if one were any more sinis-
ter, in imagination, than another" (p. 234). Today, most Americans still associate black magic
and witchcraft (especially sticking needles in so-called Voodoo dolls) with Voodoo.
8. Impressive and powerful maroon communities existed, for instance, in Brazil, the
quilombos or mocambos, in Jamaica, and also in colonial Louisiana. See R. Bastide (1978),
Barrett (1988), Hall (1992).
9. For an excellent history of Afro-Cuban religious history, see Brandon (1993).
10. See Courlander (1960), Deren (1953), and Metreau (1972).
1 1 . For a fascinating discussion of the Yoruba deity Ogun and his various transforma-
tions in New World African diaspora, see Barnes (1997).
1 2. Senegambians were brought to Louisiana because of their highly valued agricultural
expertise to create Louisiana's rice and indigo plantations. They had an enormous impact on
Louisiana's culture because of their strong presence during the forming years of the territory
under French colonial rule. They influenced greatly the foodways (to this day, southern Loui-
siana's cuisine is rice based), folklore, and popular religion. For instance, the notorious gris-
gris, the Louisiana term for a dangerous Voodoo charm, derived etymologically from a
Mende expression stemming from the Senegambian region (Hall, 1992).
13. This strong Kongolese immigration pattern during the late 18th and early 19th cen-
tury is well documented in Hall's (2000) data bank, which includes all boat indexes and all
court and notary records about Africans in Louisiana from the French colonial period until
1820, well into the American antebellum period. This data bank covers most records about
Africans in Louisiana and traces well their ethnic heritage. It is accessible to the public elec-
tronically on the Internet.
14. An excellent study of the Kongolese Antonian movement is found in Thornton ( 1 998).
15. For more information on Laveaux and 19th-century New Orleans Voodoo, see Fandrich
(2005).
REFERENCES
Abimbola, W. ( 1 997). If a will mend our broken world: Thoughts on Yoruba religion and
ture in Africa and the diaspora. Roxbury, MA: Aim Books.
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790 JOURNAL OF BLACK STUDIES / MAY 2007
Deren, M. (1953). Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. London: Thames and
Hudson.
Fandrich, I. (2005). The mysterious Voodoo queen Marie Laveaux: A study of powerful
female leadership in nineteenth- century New Orleans. Routledge.
Fernandez Olmos, M. and Paravisini-Gebert, L. (2003). Creole Religions of the Caribbean:
An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo. New York: New
York University Press.
Hall, G. M. (1992). Africans in colonial Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University
Press.
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Fandrich / YORUB A INFLUENCES ON HAITIAN VODOU 79 1
African Diaspora religious traditions throughout the Atlantic world and is special-
ized in Louisiana 's Voodoo (Voudou) and Hoodoo tradition. Her publications include
The Mysterious Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveaux: A Study of Powerful Female Lead-
ership in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans (Routledge, 2005). Her research has been
featured in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Chicago Tribune, and The New
York Times as well as in several radio and television documentaries.
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