Africa

1139 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Voodoo medicine practices

When I was first assigned this research paper on Voodoo, the first thing I thought of was Voodoo dolls, zombies, and evil magic. I think Voodoo is an evil religion which sacrifices humans as well as animals to demonic gods. I think it has been around for thousands of years, but is little left today. I believe that Voodoo is nothing but evil and the work of the devil. Voodoo originated in Western Africa by the Yoruba tribe. The Yoruba religion has about four hundred lesser gods called Orisa. This is not the actual Voodoo religion as we know it today, but plays an important role in it. Voodoo believes that the Grand Master or God rules over all things, but pays no attention to human affairs. This is why they believe in lower spirits or Loa to whom they worship and make sacrifices to(Belgum 14-28). When the slave trade started, people of the Yoruba tribe were captured and brought over as slaves. when the slaves arrived, they were baptized into the Catholic religion. The slaves continued to practice their native religion in secret which over time was mixed with Catholicism to create the Voodoo that we know today (Introduction 1). Over sixty-million people still continue to practice Voodoo worldwide (Vodun 1). The main center of Voodoo in the United States is New Orleans (3). About fifteen percent of New Orleans practices (Voodoo 1). The Voodoo religion contacts the spiritual worked Quite frequently. They believe that spirits help people in all that they do (Belgum 30-1). The Voodoo religion believes that true communion comes only through possession of the body by a Loa or spirit. Possession is very common during rituals for it is how the Loa give instructions to or help the people. They believe they get possessed for certain reasons. Such things as protection, cures from illness, or even to give warning to an individual or to the whole community of worshipers (Possession 1). When a person gets possessed, they show struggle moving and jumping around like crazy people. Then all of a sudden they go blank and motionless. They then come out of that trance a totally different person. While a person is possessed all bodily functions and gestures take the form of the Loa which possesses the body. While the Loa possesses the body it will often smoke, drink alcohol, and eat.

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Elizabeth Warnock Fernea's Guests Of The Sheik

    2269 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is important to note that Elizabeth Warnock Fernea herself is a brilliant writer, and her piece of Guests of the Sheik offers a very in debt analysis of an Iraqi village that would not be seen from most outsiders. How while Fernea concedes the fact that she is not an anthropologist she was married to one and the first two years of their marriage they lived in an Iraqi village called El Nahra. Since she lived in a village that has hardly any social contact between men and women, Fernea is able to give us a beautiful account of what the women’s life style, roles, and other aspects of a women’s life in an Iraqi village. While women are not treated incredibly badly there lifestyle was a lot different than the one an American woman would live. One of the primary directions of Fernea’s study are to show how the author could be credible in ultimately idealizing her culture and peoples in this ethnography. She uses her Self authority to convince the reader of that and her interactions with other women. The

    Read More

  • Mama Lola

    1333 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is amazing how two religions, such as Voodoo and Christianity, can be filled with so many awesome differences with respect to time eras, status, publicity, and language, and yet still have an almost identical core ideal. This also demonstrates that this core ideal of the use of humans as a mouthpiece of the divine has been a long lived concept which people, such as Mama Lola and her family, still believe in and practice today. Perhaps this proves there is some truth in the idea, and most likely, we will never know for sure, whether this concept, in it’s many different forms continues to live on, or if it dies out.

    Read More

  • The Cajun and Creole Culture of Lousiana

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gervel, David. "Island Magazine Discover the Creole Culture around the World : Louisiana Creole Culture & Voodoo Tradition." Island Magazine Discover the Creole Culture around the World : Louisiana Creole Culture & Voodoo Tradition. N.p., 26 Aug. 2012. 30 Apr. 2014. Web.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Role Of Women In To Kill A Mockingbird

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    They had to be “in the back of the line” because of what they could do like what they could do in the everyday world like voting and work in high profile jobs and also how much they got payed. Women believed they were betting treated unfairly in many different ways from how much they get payed to what they can do in the “Real World”. If I interviewed women that lived in the 1930’s they would say it is unfair and they should be equal with the men. If went back in time to the 1930’s and you were a women how would you feel to be pushed to do everything like taking care of your children and cleaning your house and your job at the same time by yourself? The 1930’s was a very hard time for women and they just wanted it to end. In the 21st century women get to do what they want like voting and getting the better job. The Women in To Kill a Mockingbird felt the same way as the real people in the 1930’s. Nothing was fair to women at all in the 1930’s. The women wanted everything to change NOW!!! People are equal and we all live happy

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Voodoo In Haiti

    1271 Words  | 3 Pages

    One might find many religions, denominations, and supernatural belief systems in Haiti, while nearly 10% of the population follows no religion at all. Approximately 2% of the population reports Voodoo to be their primary religion, however, close to 50% of the population practices Voodoo along with Christianity (Religion in Haiti). Haiti is the oldest black republic in the world; it’s the only country ever established by a nationwide rebellion of slaves. The Voodoo practice and religion gave the slaves hope that they will survive the New World. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Voodoo was introduced to the natives of Haiti where it flourished and became the most favored religion of Haitians to date. Voodoo was brought to Haiti by slaves from areas of West Africa now known as Benin and Congo, where the religion is practiced by nearly 60% of the population (Voodoo). The religion quickly blossomed in areas of oppression on the island of Hispaniola. The natives were able to outstand wars, revolutions, and natural disasters for over five centuries because of their faith in the spirits. The voodoo belief system has also helped the Haitians through slavery issues and the progression towards becoming free men and women. Another form of magic was introduced in African American communities in the United States named “hoodoo” (Pettinger, Alasdair). It had different types of magic and witchcraft than the original Voodoo, but still the same principles. Souvenance is a small town located in a valley about 100 miles north of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, and is where they hold an annual Easter festival attracting thousands to the culture, spirit, and spiritual rituals of Vodou (commonly called Voodoo outside of Haiti). Souvenance, Haiti is where the most important Vodou sanctuary is located. The

    Read More

  • Voodoo Queen

    2416 Words  | 5 Pages

    The term “voodoo” is not only vague and confusing, but it has a reputation for being frightening. This is partly because voodoo is complex, with the practice and purposes ranging geographically and over time. “Louisiana voodoo” is the appointed name for voodoo practiced in the United States from the 18th century through the early 20th century. While it is no longer a dominant religion, practioners can still be found, but it has more of a mythical legacy that has blended into New Orleans culture today. Important aspects of Louisiana voodoo include rituals, ceremonies, and religious ties. Voodoo was an important part of African American culture in numerous ways, but most importantly voodoo was a significant form of resistance against both racial and gender oppression during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Within the context of slavery, Louisiana voodoo was used as a tool to resist racial oppression, primarily by practicing as a form of religious worship, which in turn provided a platform for black women to hold leadership positions as respected spiritualists, as evidenced by Marie Laveau’s life.

    Read More

  • Sub-Saharan Africa

    1817 Words  | 4 Pages

    Africa is the second largest of the earth's seven continents, covering about twenty-two percent of the world's total land area. From its northern most point, to its southern most tip is the distance of nearly five thousand miles. Africa is both north and south of the equator. The Atlantic Ocean is located west of the continent, and the Indian Ocean is on the east. Width of the continent is also nearly five thousand miles. Although Africa is so large, much of it is inhabitable. Desert soils, which have little organic content, cover large areas. The Sahara Desert, in the northern part, covers more than one fourth of Africa, and the Kalahari Desert is in the southern part of the continent. These two deserts are a natural detriment to the African continent because they make it difficult to reach the inland where most of the people live. Although Africa is relatively close to Europe, travel by land over the Sahara desert is very prohibitive. Another topographical feature that also isolates the central region of Africa is the coastline.

    Read More

  • Angola

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    In past centuries, Angola was among the areas most-devastated by the slave trade. In recent decades, it has been afflicted with wars. However, in both eras, much of the violence was driven by powerful external forces. This is because Angola, with an abundance of oil and other resources, could develop into a very prosperous country if led and controlled by the right power. In 1975 Angola was released from colonialism by Portugal. This pivotal event in history sparked the beginning of a massive conflict between many of the key players in world power. These key players included the United States, Cuba, China, and the Soviet Union.

    Read More

  • Raising The Driving Age Essay

    1726 Words  | 4 Pages

    Driving is something people do everyday. Although many people do it well, some do not, that being said the legal age to drive should be raised to twenty one years of age. The driving age should be raised because teens at the ages of fourteen through twenty should not be behind the wheel for the simple fact that they are just too young and too inexperienced to drive, also someone of that age can get more distracted than a person who is twenty-one or older and has had some time to mature and become responsible enough to operate a motor vehicle. “In the United States, 16–19-year-olds have the highest incidence of motor vehicle deaths among licensed drivers and motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among 15–20-year-olds.” (Haggerty

    Read More

  • Texting While Driving

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Madden, Mary, and Amanda Lenhart. "Teens and Distracted Driving." Pew Internet & American Life Project. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Driving Age Should Be Increased

    1265 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to federal driving license laws in the United States, the current legal minimum driving age to obtain a restricted driver’s license varies from state from fourteen years, three months in South Dakota to as high as seventeen in New Jersey. Many high school teens by this time are out and about in their vehicles, adjusting and learning the rituals of the road. But, it is also a time when many teens are at higher risk of danger due to many activities teens are bound to do at their age. From drinking under the influence, drug intakes that can affect mental and physical stability and result in mental performance, to the focus level when it comes to the cell phone usage while driving a two ton death machine. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens. The risk of motor vehicle crashes is higher among teens aged sixteen to nineteen than among any other age group. It is why insist that the legal driving should be increased at eighteen to twenty-one.

    Read More

  • Essay On Minimum Driving Age

    410 Words  | 1 Pages

    Although studies by Dr.Masten and his colleagues show, “75 percent of the fatal crashes we thought we were saving actually just occurred two years later,” (paragraph 4). This was stated when the minimum driving age was sixteen and this effected the number if fatal crashes in eighteen-year olds. Dr. Masten suspects that teenagers are waiting to get their license and skipping the restrictions, (paragraph 7).

    Read More

  • What Is Cyberbullying In Today's Society

    2440 Words  | 5 Pages

    Yes, it is easy to tell when someone is getting bullied in some sort of form but lawmakers at the state and federal levels are going around in circles about it. There have been many reported cases that involve bullying and that is when lawmakers finally realized how harmful these situations actually are. The federal government defined the requirements for off-campus behavior, such as cyber-bullying, to be regulated by the school. For a school to take action, there must be a clear disruption to the educational process or a representation of true threat. (Donegan R.). States governments also went around in circles over bullying laws and it took them a good amount of cases to finally decide something needed to be changed. There was a case in Missouri in 2006, that involved cyber-bullying. A fake social media account was created to harass someone that ended up taking their own life. The case United States vs. Lori Drew had a lot of debate. The court ruled that they could not hold Drew responsible for the harassment leading to the suicide because of the lack of legal realization. They applied the Computer Fraud and Abuse act. This act is not for bullying but it is to prosecute electronic stealing but in this circumstance it was used to apply the social media’s terms of service. The terms require users to abide by a host of regulations, which “required truthful and accurate registration, refraining from using information from the social

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Minimum Driving Age

    2806 Words  | 6 Pages

    It has been a very controversial topic over the past couple years, and people have varying opinions on it. Should the minimum driving age be raised or should it stay the same? Some people believe it should remain the same and let kids continue to get their permit at an early age and then being able to fully drive by age 18, but it should not. It is not safe for kids to be driving around by age 16, most can 't even handle simple responsibilities , so they should not be entrusted with driving on roads. This issue is constantly talked

    Read More

  • South Africa

    990 Words  | 2 Pages

    South Africa is a nation with a wonderful and varied culture. This country has been called “The Rainbow Nation”, a name that reflects the diversity of such amazing place. The different ethnic and cultural groups of the South Africa do, however, appreciate their own beliefs and customs. Many of these traditions, besides African culture, are influenced by European and Western heritage. The complex and diverse population of the country has made a strong impact to the various cultures. There are forty-five million people; about thirty million are black, five million white, three million coloured and one million Indians. The black population has a large number of rural people living in poverty. It is among these inhabitants that cultural customs are preserve the most.

    Read More

More about Africa

Open Document