I have a good friend who is of Hatian decent. Born in the US of parents who left Haiti during the reign of Duvalier.
Long ago, I asked my friend, I’ll call him Jean, about the practice of voodoo in Haiti. This simple question set in motion an ongoing dialogue where Jean accused me of all sorts of things such as succumbing to the biased, even racist, writings of white authors who write about the practice of voodoo for a myriad number of insincere, false, concious and subconscious reasons. Voodoo, says Jean, is used as a device to portray Haitians as ignorant and primitive, deserving of their lot.
Jean has repeatedly told me not to believe what I read ( a good piece of advice in general) but when faced with articles in the NY Times and statistics gathered from various sources about the widespread practice of voodoo in Haiti, tells me that if I asked his family about voodoo they’d laugh at me and that I should just grow up and give it a rest because it smacks of me being a sap who can’t handle the fact that voodoo is something not practiced by Haitians except for the delight of stupid white tourists.
Here’s my take: I think Jean, trained as an attorney (meaning that he is a damn good debater and a person attuned to well reasoned arguments) doth protest too much. I can’t discount some of the things I’ve read in the respectable media and think Jean outright rejects these facts because of a view of Haiti which is defensive in nature.
Can anyone shed light on the practice of voodoo in Haiti? How widespread is it? Is it a joke among Haitians? How is it practiced if it is?
Vodoun, Obeah, Santeria, Candomble; it seems to me that African Diaspora religion in the New World is pretty well documented. And wasn’t Duvalier neck deep in voodoo: dressing as Baron Samedi, the Ton Ton Macoutes, etc. I understand someone trying to deny sensationalistic American portrayals of the religion, but to deny its’ very existence?
My understanding is that Voodoo (also spelt “Vodun”, “Vodou”, “Vudu”, “Voudou”, and probably many other ways) is widely practised in Haiti and other places. However, it is probably one of the most misunderstood religions in the world. The image of an evil witchdoctor animating zombies and sticking pins in dolls is largely myth.
Wikipedia also has some information on the subject. From what I gather, you are correct in saying that it’s a widespread religion in Haiti, but it’s likely that what you (and most other people in the world) have read about it is largely fictional.
Wade Davis, the author of “Serpent and the Rainbow” about voodoo in Haiti is a charismatic, but controversial guy among scientists. I read a lot of his stuff while helping Cecil with research for the Zombies column, and Ed Zotti spoke to him on the phone. There is some question about how much he, as an anthropologist, really witnessed and how much he set up or even paid people to do. I don’t know. I have worked with people from Haiti and they tell me that voodoo is still alive and well there.
I do know that superstitious/religious beliefs from Africa are still being practiced in the Caribbean in many forms. Most city folks in Jamaica deny that they believe in “Obeah” (witchcraft/voodoo/hexes/magic powders, etc), but you dig deep enough and it’s certainly alive on that island. You see evidence of it in the form of red flags in gardens to keep the “duppies” (ghosts) away and many other indicators. In Trinidad, there are ancient African religious rituals still being practiced and in Cuba you find Santaria.
In all these islands, some educated folks act embarrassed about the ignorance of such practices, but when it comes right down to it, many mainstream religions rely on rituals and faith that are not so different.
Oddly enough I just reread “The Serpent and the Rainbow” about 2 weeks ago.
Rachel Beauvoir, Wade’s travel assistant/guide during much of the book, is now a well respected anthropologist in her right. Do a google search and you’ll get lots
of listings. She’s married no,w so her current name is hyphenated; the full name escapes me at the moment.
“but it’s likely that what you (and most other people in the world) have read about it is largely fictional.”
Yeah, I’ve pretty much abandoned any views of voodoo as being a zombie/voodoo doll belief system practiced as in, say for instance, the Bond movie "“Live and Let Die.” Which makes my friends objection all the more curious.
Short of going to Haiti myself, (something I’d love to do), I appreciate everyone’s input since this topic vexes me.
I’ve known several Haitian immigrants myself, and my experience has been that all of them denied the existance of Voodoo except those who were, themselves, practioners of the religion. I’m not why this cultural divide exists, but it does.
One of my ex-girlfriends was Haitian, though she grew up mostly in the US. Since I was taking an anthropology class when I was dating her, I took the opportunity to interview her parents about religion in Haiti. They were both raised as Christians, which usually goes hand in hand with a middle- to upper-class upbringing in Haiti, apparently. According to them, Vodou is very real and widely practiced.
Vodou is basically an amalgamation of lots of different religious practices and beliefs. Christian saints, local heroes, old gods from Africa, everything gets thrown into the mix. Some people consider themselves to practice both Christianity and Vodou with little conflict between the two religions. Popular stories outside Haiti emphasize the sensational aspects of the religion to the point where most of what is portrayed bears almost no relation to reality.
However, both of them did report witnessing some…unusual things. Eyewitnesses are not always reliable but judging from body language, they were disturbed by their memories of these events, which is an indication that at least they believe they experienced what they say they did. Jaque said that he saw a woman, who had a loa speaking through her, scurry up a wall and across the ceiling like a lizard. He emphasized how fast and how unnaturally her body moved. Marie had a friend, who was dedicated to Damballa Wedo when she was about 12, and later saw this young woman speak in a man’s baritone when she spoke for Damballa Wedo at a ceremony.
These were characterized as unusually spectacular events by both Marie and Jaque. Most of the time, Vodou ceremonies are kind of like a prayer group where everybody gets together to socialize and reaffirm ties. Occasionally, religious ecstasies will take over a ceremony and something really weird will happen, like the events they related to me. It is still unclear how much of what is perceived at an event like this is objectively real and how much is due to the perceptions of an altered consciousness.
There was a researcher I heard about who found that certain rhythmic patterns in drumming or dancing had the ability to alter consciousness. Not only that, but the experiences of the participants were generally similar and were repeatable. (I wish I could remember the researcher’s name). Experiences like the ones Marie and Jaque related to me could well be due to the influence of ritual behavior, but as far as I know, no one has been able to record an unusual Vodou event for verification.
I’ve heard that most of the nonsense written about voodoo (voodoo dolls, zombies, etc.) dates from the American occupation of Haiti (1914-1935). Supposedly, a lot of US Army soldiers "went native’ and stayed in haiti after their enlistments were up. these guys wrote most of the fiction about it (voodoo), that made it into the popular culture.
As others have written, Voodoo is basically the west African religion. It is a religion that postulates thousands of gods, and communion with the gods takes place during an ecstatic trance. Of course, the African beliefs got blended in wth Christianity, and so what remains is a mix of the two. Is voodoo widespread? I would expect that these beliefs are mostly those of the lower class, poorly educated people. They don’t seem to have much appeal for young, college educated people.
I know from firsthand experience that Santeria is alive and well in Puerto Rico, and it’s not that much different from Voodoo. No one I met in PR denied it, so I wonder why the Haitians are so “touchy” about it.
But then again, Caribbean Catholicism is much more… “mystic”… “superstitious”??? (I’m not sure of the right word) than American or mainstream European Catholicism.
I have been to Haiti and studied Voodoo, or Vodun pretty extensively. First, it most certainly does exist and is widely practiced throughout Haiti. The reaction you got from your friend is likely caused by the embarassment felt by many of the the more priviliged or mulatto Haitians by Voodoo.
Haiti went through many decades of attempting to suppress Vodun in favor of Catholicism. This was supported throughout the American occupation early in the twentieth century and until Duvalier Pere took power. He used Vodun as a means to exert power and was happy to cast himself as the feared Baron Samedi. Vodun was reborn as a legitimate religion in the eyes of the state. Mulattos and much of the upper class, lost power and resented both the Duvaliers and Vodun and considered it an embarassment. This attitude persists to the present day.
I have seen the same reaction by Haitians in America to Vodun as many others have. They are well aware of the limits of most people’s knowledge about Voodoo and do not want to be associated with the image the rest of the world has about their religion. I they were raised in relative privilige, it is likely that they were raised in a more traditional Catholic environment.
As far as what Vodun is, the easy answer is that it is a syncretic religion combining Catholic practices with African religion. Of all of the Afro-Caribbean Catholic hybrids (Santeria, Candomble, Obeah) it is the most fully realized and least Catholic and most African. Practicioners believe in a pantheon of loas, or deitys. Some have Catholic counterparts, like Erzulie and the Virgin Mary. Others may have an association with a saint, but exist mainly outside of a Catholic context. Vodun involves prayer and sacrifice (this can be anything from grain or sugar cane to animals) to the loas for intercession or blessing. Like any religion there are holy days and specific rituals.
The only ritual that produces truly exotic consequences is posession. Practicioners who are posessed often exhibit bizarre behavior, including strange speech and contortions. Most of this could be replicated or explained by the effects of religious fervor. As a whole the religion is no more exotic than any other when viewed from a proper context. There is no human sacrifice, no voodoo dolls, and black magic ala Wade Davis, is likely rare and effective only through the power of suggestion.
For references Alfred Metraux’s Voodoo in Haiti, and even the dated but interesting *Voodoos and Obeahs * by Williams are a great read.