Essay On Voodoo

As referred to in many parts of West Africa, the Dahomean religion of voodoo means “spirit” or “deity” in the Fon language and it is described as a highly structured religious and magical system. Many people during those times also referred to voodoo as hoodoo which is the negative term used for voodoo. With duties, symbols, rituals, and faithful adherents, this system of voodoo is both complex and functional. Most people have a response of fear which is based on exaggerated negative views of the supernatural world of voodoo. On the lighter side a laughter response is often motivated by an ignorance that associates voodoo with mere superstition. Then there is respect, this comes from one’s knowledge that voodoo is a functional religious

The number of voodoo worshipers increased as more Africans arrived from Africa and through the West Indies. It is at that time when voodoo became entrenched in the North American colonies and later throughout the United States. There is no written record of the introduction of voodoo worship in Louisiana, but it is known that New Orleans is the birthplace of voodoo in North America. The Louisiana colony received ships full of slaves that came over directly from Africa as well as the French colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Santo Domingo. All three of these colonies were known to be the breeding grounds of voodooist. Hundreds of Haitian refugees settled in New Orleans after the Haitian Revolution of 1791, this reinforced voodoo in and around the New Orleans area many of them were voodoo cult leaders and

In the early days of slavery, magic was often the strongest element because of the suppression of voodoo as a religion by the authorities and slave owners. The people known as antivoodooist managed to limit the number of voodoo meetings among the slaves, but they still found it impossible to stop the making of voodoo objects in the slave’s cabins. The slaves used magic to cope with their everyday situations. For example the slaves would try to win the affection of the ones they desired, to cause harm to their enemies, and to feel protected from harm brought on by others to themselves. Voodoo’s main value was and is at the present day psychological. Magic is related to voodoo in many ways, as it is to most religions, but it is not its fundamental nature. Some elements of magic have to do with voodoo and the magic it receives is a great deal of its strength from voodoo