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Chapter I - The origin of Voodoo

Voodoo—that one word is enough
to conjure up exotic, bewitching
images: zombies shuffling through a
graveyard at night; pins stuck in
crudely fashioned dolls as an
enemy many miles away
experiences agonizing pains; priests
cutting the throats of chickens and
drinking the blood; assembled
worshippers dressed in white
dancing around a roaring bonfire.
But, none of these images paints a
realistic picture of Voodoo. For many of us, our perceptions of Voodoo are shaped by movies we
have seen and popular books we have read. But in reality, Voodoo is not a secret practice of
mysterious, sinister, island magic. Rather, it is a legal religion, with roots as old as Africa and with
millions of followers today.

1.1. Voodoo from Africa to the West Indies

Voodoo originated in the West Indies country of Haiti during the French Colonial Period, and it is
still widely practiced in Haiti today. The foundations of Voodoo are the tribal religions of West
Africa, brought to Haiti by slaves in the seventeenth century. They were mainly captured from the
kingdom of Dahomey, which occupied parts of today's Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The word
'Voodoo' derives from the word 'vodu' in the Fon language of Dahomey, which means 'spirit',
'god'. Haiti was isolated during much of its history, therefore allowing Voodoo to develop with its
own unique traditions, beliefs and gods. The Haitian slaves were captured from many different
tribes throughout West Africa. These tribes shared several common core beliefs: worship of the
spirits of family ancestors; the use of singing, drumming and dancing in religious rituals; and the
belief the followers were possessed by immortal spirits. Once living in Haiti, the slaves created a
new religion based on their shared beliefs, at the same time absorbing each tribe's strongest
traditions and gods. Influences from the native Indian population in Haiti were also integrated
during this formative period. For many enslaved Africans such spiritual traditions and practices
provided a vital means of mental and emotional resistance to bitter hardship. Indeed, although
their beliefs and rituals may not have freed them, Africans seemed to be successfully frightening
their captors. The white plantation owners forbade their slaves to practice their native religions
threatening them with torture and death, and they baptized all slaves as Catholics. Catholicism

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became superimposed on African rites and beliefs, but the slaves still practiced in secret or
masked as harmless dances and parties. Practitioners of this new religion, Voodoo, considered
the addition of the Catholic saints as an enrichment of their faith, and included Catholic hymns,
prayers, statues, candles and holy relics with their rituals. Today, upper- and middle-class
Haitians have largely abandoned the Voodoo beliefs and practice Catholicism almost exclusively.
Voodoo is largely practiced by the peasant class, which encompasses the majority of Haitians. It
has also migrated with Haitians to many other parts of the world, with particularly strong
communities in New Orleans, Miami, Charleston and New York City. Each of these communities
has created new rituals and practices. Worldwide, Voodoo has over fifty million followers.
1.2. Voodoo from Haiti to New Orleans

Voodoo came to the Americas a little over 250 years ago. The raids on the 'African Slave
Coast' began about 1720 and
thousand of Africans were sold into
the West Indies, and also directly to
New Orleans. Life for slaves in
Louisiana under French and Spanish
rule was full of misery and pain. They
had to work from dawn till dusk and
then were locked up in heavily
guarded quarters for the night. It was
also against the law to assemble for
any purpose. Much of this brutal
treatment was based upon the
constant fear of an uprising. This first
generation of slaves were savage,
brooding and sullen, filled with hatred
for their captors. The whites hardly
considered them as human. For
example, soon after the founding of New Orleans (1718) a slave camp was established in
nearby swamps where the blacks were "broken".

There, they were worked and beaten until those who survived were considered tame enough
to be sold to plantation owners. Not only the slaves were punished if caught gathering for
dancing or for any other reason, but sometimes their owners would suffer, too. So meeting for
Voodoo or any rites was nearly impossible in those days. Except for superficial conversion to
Catholicism, some masters did not allow their slaves to practice any religion at all. In 1782 the
governor of Louisiana even prohibited the importation of blacks from the West Indies because

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he considered them to be steeped in Voodooism and threatening to his citizens' safety.

Moreover, he sought to outlaw the practice of Voodoo fearing that its evil forces would serve
as a rallying point for slave uprising, especially as white colonists were greatly outnumbered
by those they held in bondage. It was not until the successors of James Monroe had
concluded the purchase of Louisiana from France in 1803 that some of these restrictions were
lifted. In addition, by now, a new generation of Africans had grown up, a generation that spoke
the language of their owners and was more obedient, and who, for the most part, accepted
their status as slaves. Consequently, a new generation of less despotic owners had
developed. Most of the fear of uprisings had dwindled. Discipline and punishment were less
severe and it seemed that slave owners had finally realized that slaves were a valuable
property. It was at last recognized that the slaves required recreation, and they now were
allowed to gather on the plantations for dances, weddings and religious celebrations of various
sorts on Sundays. In 1803 the prohibition against blacks from West Indies was lifted.
Approximately at the same time, slaves in Haiti ultimately used their African-born rituals to fuel
their own rebellion. Between 1791 and 1804 a series of slave revolts, which were inspired by
spirit worship, finally culminated in the expulsion of the French from the island. Many of the
French who were able to escape fled to Louisiana, some accompanied by their French
speaking, occult-practicing slaves. This was the beginning of organized Voodoo in Louisiana.
For until then Voodoo had hardly been a living force in Louisiana. It had appeared again and
again, but only to be brutally suppressed. For some unknown reason, Voodoo had remained
much stronger in the West Indies than in Louisiana. The Santo Domingo blacks had preserved
their ancient worship almost completely. Their masters, however, liked New Orleans and many
of them settled down in or near the city, instead of in the plantation areas where it would have
been more difficult for the slaves to organize their voodoo ceremonies. Due to their
concentration in the city and the new and more liberal laws they were soon well organized and
had also converted many New Orleans blacks. It is said that the first meeting place of the
Voodoos in New Orleans was an abandoned brickyard in Dumaine Street, but soon the police
drove them from this place, and it was then that they began to gather along Bayou St. John
and along the shore of lake Pontchartrain. There are many more or less reliable versions of
these ceremonies, including blazing bonfires, drums, ecstatic dances, snakes, sacrifices and
the drinking of strong alcohol beverages and blood.

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Chapter II Home of Voodoo top

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