Don't Mess With This Vodou Priestess' Altar
Channel: Books Amplify Knowledge
Date: 03/01/2024

Vodou, also spelled as Vaudou, Vodun, Voodoo, or Voudou, is a traditional Afro-Haitian religion. The term "Vodou" translates to "spirit" or "deity" in the Fon language of the African kingdom of Dahomey (now Benin). It's a syncretic religion that blends the West African Vodun religion and Roman Catholicism, brought together by the descendants of various ethnic groups who were enslaved and transported to colonial Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) and partly Christianized by Roman Catholic missionaries in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Vodou is more than just a religion; it's a comprehensive worldview that includes philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Its fundamental principle is that everything is spirit, including humans who are spirits inhabiting the visible world. The unseen world is populated by lwa (spirits), mystè (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. All these spirits are believed to inhabit a mythic land called Ginen, a cosmic "Africa".

The primary goal and activity of Vodou is to sevi lwa ("serve the spirits")—to offer prayers and perform various devotional rites directed at God and particular spirits in return for health, protection, and favor. Spirit possession also plays a significant role in Afro-Haitian religion, as it does in many other world religions.