Creole

Coin des etudiants:

Voodoo is a derivative of some of the world's oldest religions which have existed in Africa for thousands of years. During the slave trade, the transplanted Africans found in their voodoo faith a common thread. This mixture of African cultures in the New World mongled and modified the rituals of their various ethnic groups, thereby creating a new religion: Voodoo. The word itself originates from the West African word "vodun" meaning spirit.

In this society, Voodoo believes that nothing and no event is circumstantial. The universe is all one and each thing affects something else. We are not separate, we all serve as parts of One. Voodoo-vous deux-you two, youtoo. What you do unto another, you do unto you. We are mirrors of each other's souls. In voodoo beliefs, there is a sacred cycle between the living and the dead. The supreme diety is "BonDieu" Their principal spirits are the "Loa" who control nature, health, wealth, and happiness. Voodoo is an animist faith, meaning that objects possess a soul. Music and dance are key elemets to Voodoo ceremonies. The dance is an expression of spirituality, of connection with the spirit world.

Voodoo plays an important role in the family and community. It also teaches a respect for the natural world. Participants come before the priest or preistess to seek guidance, who in turn off healing through the use of herbs and medicines or healing through faith itself.

Unfortunately, the public's perception of voodoo rites and rituals seems often to be characterized as barbaric, primitive, superstitious, and sexually licentious. Much of this image, however, is due to the effort of European slave traders who, in a fear of anything African, tried to suppress and distort a legitimate and unique religion that flourished amon their enslaved Africans.

Voodoo is most prominent in the Caribbean nation of Haiti. When the French who were the colonizers of Haiti, relized that the religion of the Africans was a threat to the colonial system, they prohibited all African religion practices and severly punished Voodoo believers with imprisonment, lashings and hangings. Yet Voodoo survived the centuries in regions such as Martinique, Brazil, Togo, Ghana, Dominica, Louisiana, as well as other areas of the Americas and English Caribbean. Now, after centuries of persecution, Voodoo can be practiceed in Haiti in peace. Haiti's government officially sanctioned Voodoo as a religion in April, 2003, allowing practitioners to begin performing ceremonies from baptisms to marriages with legal authority. many who practice voodoo praised the move, but say much remains to be done to make up for centuries of ridicule and persecution in the Caribbean and abroad, not to mention to dispel the myths and stereotypes held by much of the world.

4-Felix Jean (Haiti), "Voodoo Scene"