We all have heard, at one point or the other, the word, ‘Voodoo.’ Say the word and most people picture a pin-stuck doll, a zombie, a curse muttered in the dark. For some the word instills fear. For many, it merely raises goosebumps. For others who actively practice it however, it is a way of life that evokes a mixture of reverence and dread.
Vodun or Voodoo, as it is called today, is a milieu of complex rituals, magic, and symbols that make up a religion that originates from West Africa, and has been around for thousands of years. The word itself comes from the Fon language, where Vodun refers to a spirit or deity.
Vodun's series of complex rituals and practices makes it a rather interesting religion for exploration. Its symbols, in particular, are extremely important, with the sun being central to their meaning. For example, the building dedicated to voodoo practice is usually filled with these symbols, right from the post/pole that supports the centre of the roof of the building, usually attributed to magic obtained from heavenly bodies. The post itself represents the chief Vodun god, ‘Legba,’ while its wood represents Mercury, the child born by the sun, which simultaneously connotes the staff of Legba. This same post is usually decorated with bands of varying colours, depicting the serpent gods, Danbhalah and Aida Wedo. Right beside this post, suspended midair, usually lies a model boat representing the moon goddess Erzulie.
In practice, the polepost is often substituted with a lighted candle while the ritual water substitutes the boat. The religion also has a pantheon of gods that originate from different parts of African tribes, including the Ibos, the Nago people, the Congos, Dahomeans, Senegalese, Haoussars, Mandinges, Angolese, Caplaou, Ethiopians, Libyans and the Malgaches. While all of these gods are usually ably represented in the religion, many of them however have distinct voodoo rites.
Then slavery came and the voodoo rituals evolved into an inseparable connection of various vodun rites. As different groups of people with distinct vodun practices were taken from different parts of Africa, they carried their religious beliefs and practices with them which began to influence one another. Ibos and Senegalese sold into slavery, for instance, in the same region, began to combine their cultures and religion and the result was often a meld of these value systems leading to the creation of new cultures and religious systems. In Haiti, these traditions encountered Catholicism and the religious beliefs of other African peoples, developing into what would later become known as Haiti Voodoo — a religion that retained a distinctly African spiritual worldview while incorporating elements of Catholic belief and practice . Across other parts of the world, other types also emerged, including Louisiana Voodoo, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé.
However, common similarities persist to date. Festivals, for instance, are commonplace in the practice of vodun. In the Glidgi village of Togo, for instance, tribe members come together for an annual festival known as Epe Ekpe festival. In this celebration, an assigned priest goes on a crucial search for a sacred stone whose colour determines the events — success and failure — of the coming year. If he finds a white stone, for instance, the people can be sure that the land will be prosperous.
In Benin, the International Festival of Porto-Novo is particularly used as a means of honouring different spirits, including ancestral spirits.‘Chosen’ individuals dress in elaborate hooded attires as mediums for these spirits. Once they are in these costumes, they are considered untouchable. As a matter of fact, practitioners take to instilling fear in viewers during celebrations telling them that touching the ‘spirit’ amounts to death for them.
The spirits, gods and world of vodun
What is the central belief system of the vodun religion?
Every vodun practitioner, irrespective of differing rites, believes the same thing: the visible world is not the only world that exists. This fundamental belief that behind every thing that can be seen and touched is a spiritual world inhabited by powerful beings who influence the lives of humans is indispensable to vodun. Nature itself is believed to be spiritual and the boundary between the living and spirit world is not as rigid as it appears. The
The forest is a very important symbol here. Supernatura; power is believed to reside in the forest while several materials found in nature , including leaves, meteorites, kaolin, soil taken from crossroads, the feathers of African grey parrots, turtle shells and even dried chameleons, are believed to contain supernatural powers. Leaves, somehow play a fascinating role in this scheme. Practitioners are usually made to learn about the different leaves found in the forest and the spiritual powers believed to reside within them. These leaves can then be immersed in water to produce vodùnsin, or vodun water, which is used in the preparation of new shrines and in the ritual washing of new initiates. In this sense, nature becomes the means through which the spiritual world makes itself present in the physical one.
Right at the centre of this spiritual world is the belief in a supreme creator, surrounded by a multitude of spirits with different powers and responsibilities. Yet, there is no single vodun system with a fixed list of gods worshiped in exactly the same way everywhere. While the religion originated in the Aja-Fon cultural region of present-day Benin and Togo, centuries of interaction with neighbouring peoples brought new deities and practices into different communities. This has become a unique feature of the religion as it constantly evolves, absorbing and reorganising religious traditions as people come into contact with one another.
Different people and regions have their own spirits, traditions and rituals, although some of these figures are widely recognized within the broader religious tradition. One of the most important traditions developed among the Fon people of Dahomey, a powerful West African kingdom that existed in what is now southern Benin, from the seventeenth century until its conquest by France in 1894. There, Mawu and Lisa (associated with the sun and moon) emerged as a divine pair.
The vodun gods, in their diversity can be likened to greek gods. While some of them are seductive, others are moody, prone to anger, or associated with lightning, sickness, death etc. Several of these deities are connected to different spheres of existence. Sakpata, for instance, is associated with the earth and disease, particularly smallpox, while Dan or Dangbé is associated with the serpent. Hêvioso, on the other hand, is associated with thunder and lightning. Legba, mentioned earlier, occupies another important position as a mediator and spirit of the crossroads. For the vodun sections that mixed with European catholicism, the Christian God is understood as the creator of the universe and the spirits, while the lwa — the spirits — act within the world of humans.
The central activity of Vodon is the worship and service of these spirits who have their individual likes and dislikes. Practitioners pray to them, make offerings and perform rituals in the hope of receiving protection, health, favour and assistance. During some of the ceremonies celebrated in honour of the religion, a practitioner may enter a trance-like state and become the vessel through which an lwa is believed to manifest. The possessed person may dance, speak, give advice, perform particular actions or even carry out healing. To summon these spirits, secret rites only known to its priests are often conducted. These rites often include praying which is usually accompanied by songs, drumming, dancing and gestures, all of which help establish communication between the visible and invisible worlds.
Interestingly, vodun has no single leader or central authority. The highest level of relationship that can be found is between priests and worshippers. The priests, who are held in high esteem and usually feared, act as intermediaries between worshippers and the spirits, performing rituals, interpreting spiritual messages, and seeking the favour and protection of the lwa. In Haiti, more formal religious societies developed around priests known as oungan and priestesses known as manbo. There are also initiates, known as ounsi, and ritual drummers who play an important role during ceremonies.
Haiti, in particular, has an incredibly rich and diversified vodun practice as a result of the different varied African origins of the people who introduced the religion. There, we have the Rada, Petwo, Nago, Ibo and Kongo vodun traditions. The Rada and Petwo traditions, in particular, became major divisions within Haitian Vodun, with Rada spirits generally regarded as calmer or “cooler,” while Petwo spirits are associated with a more forceful or “hot” character.
Catholicism also became woven into the intrinsic nature of vodun in Haiti. Certain spirits became associated with Catholic saints and their feast days. Danbala, the serpent spirit, for instance, is associated with Saint Patrick, while other spirits are connected with the likes of Saint James and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Meanwhile, the ancestors are honoured around All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day.
Major vodun spirits
Among the many spirits that make up the vodun spiritual world, some occupy particularly important positions because of the roles they play in their relationships with the human world. Legba of the Fons, for instance, is known for his ability to open up communications between humans and the spirit world. Nana-Buluku, on the other hand, is known as the creator-deity who birthed Mawu and Lisa, the androgynous two-part deity of the moon and sun. Mawu is believed to command the moon while Lisa, often represented by the colour white, is believed to command the sun. Due to Lisa’s colour representation, albinos are often believed to be his incarnation.
At this point, vodun’s central belief system almost seems scattered, particularly due to the number of deities in it. In some vodun traditions, Mawu is believed to have bore seven children: Sakpata, the god of the earth; Hevioso, the god of thunder; Agbe the god of the sea; Gu, the god of iron and war; Age, the god of agriculture and forests; Jo, the god of air; and Legba, the god of the unpredictable. In some traditions, Mawu and Lisa are understood as a single hermaphroditic deity with two faces, possessing the ability to impregnate itself, rather than being represented as twins. In other vodun traditions, the Creator and other voduwo (plural of vodu) are known by different names. For example, Mawu may be referred to as Sakpo-Disa, Sakpata as Aholu, and Dan as Anidoho. These traditions are collectively associated with Gorovodu.
The Dan vodun spirits, represented as serpents with control over riches and cool breezes. akpatá, on the other hand, is the vodún of the earth and smallpox. Over time, however, his association has extended to include newer diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Xɛbiosò, also known as Hɛvioso, is the spirit of thunder and lightning. He is usually represented by a fire-spitting ram and is particularly popular in southern Benin.
Then there is Gŭ, the vodún associated with metal, blacksmithing, technology and war. Known among the Mine and Ewe as Egu, his influence has evolved alongside technological development and, in more recent times, has come to include metal vehicles such as cars, trains and aircraft. Gbădu is regarded as the wife of Fá, while Tohosu is the Fon vodún associated with royalty, lakes, streams and human deformities.
Mami Wata is perhaps one of the most fascinating spirits in the Vodun tradition. She is often portrayed as a beautiful and seductive figure associated with wealth, drawing people toward the promise of prosperity. Yet even the identity of Mami Wata is not entirely fixed. Along parts of the coastal regions of Benin and Togo, she is mostly understood as a broader group of spirits. Images of her are particularly interesting. She is usually depicted as a woman accompanied by a snake, an image derived from a late nineteenth-century chromolithograph of a snake charmer who was probably Samoan and performed with a German circus. Over time, this foreign image has become firmly woven into the visual representation of Mami Wata. Her husband is sometimes identified as Ako Ado, a figure connected with parakeets, while Mami Dan, also known as Ekpon — the Mina word for panther — is believed to clear the path for Mami Wata to pass.
In more recent times, vodun spirits/deities such as Tron and Attingali have also been introduced through northern communities.
Spirits media, divinations and possessions
One of the most dramatic features of the vodun religion — and the one most distorted by outsiders — is spirit possession. During ceremonies, a spirit is believed to “mount” a devotee and speak through them. Such a person enters into a trance like state, losing function of their body, and taking on the identity of the spirit. However, before this can even happen, a person must have gone through initiation. Initiation can create long-term obligations to the spirit, including offering it praise, food and other forms of devotion, while the initiate in return seeks its protection, prosperity, good health and other blessings. This process can continue for a few days in some traditions while going on for weeks in others.
The relationship between humans and spirits is also expressed through shrines. These may be found inside homes, in communal spaces or in secluded parts of the forest, depending on the spirit and the community that worships it. To practitioners, these shrines are regarded as physical manifestations through which the spirits can be encountered. The objects placed within them also vary according to the particular vodún
Divination provides another means of communicating with this unseen world. Different vodun traditions employ different methods, including mirror gazing and kola-nut divination. One of the most respected systems is Fá, known as Afa among the Ewe and Mina, a form of divination that originated among the Yoruba and spread across present-day Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana. It involves the casting of sixteen palm nuts or a divining chain, producing one of 256 possible combinations, each linked to an odu — a body of verses that the diviner interprets to understand a person's circumstances and determine what should be done.
So where did the Hollywood notion of voodoo, caricatures and pins originate from?
Probably not from Vodun. Most scholars have stated that the horror concept of vodun came from slaveholders who feared the religion’s power to bind enslaved communities together — Haitian Vodou helped ignite the only successful slave revolution in history — by an occupying press eager to paint Haiti as savage, and later by Hollywood, which found in “voodoo” a cheap and racist source of horror.
Today, vodun is a recognised, official religion of Benin, practised by a large share of the population and honoured with a national holiday and the great annual festival at Ouidah, which draws pilgrims from around the world. Millions more practise its diaspora forms across the Americas, and Haiti formally recognised Vodou as an official religion in 2003.
