...Voodoo is the most understood of all African-inspired religions in the Americas and it is also one of its most complex religion (Murphy 117). Voodoo is revolving around a pantheon of spirits known as Lwa or loa who represent a fusion of African and Creole gods, the spirits of deified ancestors and syncretized manifestations of Catholic saints (Murphy 117). The Lwa’s are the African/Creole spirits. According to Bellegarde-Smith he explains that the Lwa represents the cosmic forces that are integral to the Haitian experience and yet transcend it (Michel 25). The Lwa offer help, protection, and counsel their devotees offer ritual service in return, which includes a variety of individual and communal rituals. However,the Lwa communicates with...
Words: 470 - Pages: 2
...,Le’Vitria Burnett ENG 1301 Crystal Guillory October 09, 2012 Behind the Mountains Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracey Kidder describes Dr. Farmer, an accomplished anthropologist, as hardworking, dedicated and ambitious. He tries to conquer an illness plaguing a village located in Haiti. After the success of curing the catchment area of Cange and the villages surrounding it, he spreads his treatment in other underprivileged places around the world. There is no book with the exception of perhaps Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson, the story of an American author who decides to build schools in Pakistan, that has as an influential an effect on the American contribution to cater to impoverished societies internationally. While Mortenson wrote about his intense need to reach out to the community of Korphe, Kidder gives an accurate account of Dr. Farmer’s relentless efforts to cure an entire village as well as those around it by following him through his struggles and annotating for the world to see. This book interprets and gives a great illustration on the determination and its processes of purpose and action, as well as incorporates information on things outside of Western ideology. Generally, determination is described as “to settle or decide (a dispute, question, etc.) by an authoritative or conclusive decision” (http://dictionary.reference.com). It is also consistent with the fortitude to be compelled...
Words: 565 - Pages: 3
...Gutierrez Voodoo which means “spirit” in Fon, was born in the West African country of Benin and is practiced by more than 4 million believers. The origins are not well known but it is thought to have evolved from ancestor worship and animism. ‘While practitioners believe in only one true God they communicate with him through thousands of different spirits and shrines.” It is practiced in many different countries and although they all have for the most part the same beliefs some of their practices are different. Spirit possession occurs in the “Birth of Voodoo” when the daughter of a Voodoo priest is chosen to be a spirit medium. She is claimed by the Earth spirit, Sakpata, and is thought to be dead; she lies for three days without food or water. The villagers prepare for her to be reborn; they spread of path of cornmeal to rid it of evil. “To signal the pass from the world of the dead to the world of the spirit, the body must come feet first into the village.” The villagers touch her with open palms which invoke the spirit inviting it to return and touch her with a chicken with purifies the body. When she awakens from the world of the dead she now has the spirit in her. She will now be able to communicate with the Spirits which will still take much practice. She will be able to heal those that are ill and help with other problems like money. In “Haitian Voodoo” spirit possession occurs to heal people and to guide believers. Haiti is a Catholic dominant country but Voodoo is practiced...
Words: 737 - Pages: 3
...educational aspect of the Voodoo religion it is important to know where Voodoo is popular. Voodoo is practiced in three main regions throughout the world, those including: Louisiana, Haiti and West Africa. Louisiana is located in the United States and the city where Voodoo is most popular is New Orleans. Though New Orleans’ poverty issue is diminishing, 39% of children still live in poverty (Catalanello). The poverty does not affect the number of New Orleans children from attending school. In Haiti, where Voodoo is very popular, Haitians who are 25 years old and older have reportedly received an average of 4.9 years of education (“Education”). This number clearly reflects the outstanding number of individuals...
Words: 1553 - Pages: 7
...zombie come from the Vodou religion and Afro-Haitian culture. The practice of the Vodou religion originates in Africa. The name comes from Vodun, the God of the Yoruba people, who occupied the African kingdom of Dahomey in the 18th and 19th centuries. Vodou spread west in the early 19th century, when African slaves were forcefully shipped to Haiti and other islands of the West Indies. When the slaves arrived, they were baptized into Roman Catholicism, but it was difficult to maintain their faith due to the lack of Christian infrastructure at the time. The slaves reverted to their roots and secretly practiced Vodou while still attending mass. The Roman Catholic influence still remains present today and it is not uncommon for a person who practices Vodou to worship the Christian God. The Vodou religion has managed to gain a bad reputation through inaccurate publications and various media sources. These sources portray it as an evil religion that engages in human sacrifice, cannibalism, and torture. However, these descriptions are actually false. Vodou is considered a cult religion, which simply refers to their system of ritual worship and possession. “Rituals of animal sacrifice as well as trance dances forge and maintain a bond with the gods” (Van Voorst, 2013, p. 55). These rituals are performed are performed by current members as well as initiates who are first being introduced. It is estimated that 80-90% of Haitians practice Vodou. Vodou also has a dark...
Words: 1566 - Pages: 7
...THE CAUSES AND EFFECT OF THE HAITIAN REVOLUTION The Haitian Revolution represents the most thorough case study of revolutionary change anywhere in the history of the modern world. In ten years of sustained internal and international warfare, a colony populated predominantly by plantation slaves overthrew both its colonial status and its economic system and established a new political state of entirely free individuals—with some ex-slaves constituting the new political authority. As only the second state to declare its independence in the Americas, Haiti had no viable administrative models to follow. The British North Americans who declared their independence in 1776 left slavery intact, and theirs was more a political revolution than a social and economic one. The success of Haiti against all odds made social revolutions a sensitive issue among the leaders of political revolt elsewhere in the Americas during the final years of the eighteenth century and the first decades of the nineteenth century. Yet the genesis of the Haitian Revolution cannot be separated from the wider concomitant events of the later eighteenth-century Atlantic world. Indeed, the period between 1750 and 1850 represented an age of spontaneous, interrelated revolutions, and events in Saint Domingue/Haiti constitute an integral—though often overlooked—part of the history of that larger sphere. These multi-faceted revolutions combined to alter the way individuals and groups saw themselves and their place in...
Words: 4578 - Pages: 19
...Teacher: Mrs. P. Meikle Year of Examination: 2015 Name: Mikhail Farquharson Subject: Caribbean History School: Glenmuir High School Candidate Number: Teacher: Mrs. P. Meikle Year of Examination: 2015 SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT SCHOOL BASED ASSESSMENT Theme 3: Resistance and revolt The economic effects of the Haitian Revolution on Haiti The Haitian Revolution was a great triumph in that it granted a large population of Africans freedom earlier than any other territory in the Caribbean, How true is it to say that early freedom was not worth the destruction of the entire Haitian Economy by the early 19th century? Rationale The condition of the Haitian economy today is far less than satisfactory, poverty and disease is rife and it seems there is no growth to be made in the near future. Battered by natural disasters, the Haitian economy is at an all-time low. One might wonder how this could be, Haiti or what it was, the great St.Domingue was among the richest and most successful places on the planet! This researcher decided to do research on this topic because as a historian I am curious to know why and when the Haitian economy started cascading to the point it is now. Historians who are curious to know more about the history of Haiti’s economy and those connected to Haiti by either residence or family may benefit from this research. Introduction The French colony St Domingue was formed when French settlers persistently...
Words: 1094 - Pages: 5
...Benin. It is also practiced by some Gun people of Lagos and Ogun in southwest Nigeria. It is distinct from the various African traditional religions in the interiors of these countries and is the main source of religions with similar names found among the African Diaspora in the New World such as Haitian Vodou; Puerto Rican Vodú; Cuban Vodú; Dominican Vudú; Brazilian Vodum; and Louisiana Voodoo. All of these closely related faiths are syncretized with Christianity to various degrees and with the traditional beliefs of the Kongo people and Indigenous American traditions. Theology and practice Vodun cosmology centers around the vodun spirits and other elements of divine essence that govern the Earth, a hierarchy that range in power from major deities governing the forces of nature and human society to the spirits of individual streams, trees, and rocks, as well as dozens of ethnic vodun, defenders of a certain clan, tribe, or nation. The vodun are the center of religious life, similar in many ways to doctrines such as the intercession of saints and angels that made Vodun appear compatible with Christianity, especially Catholicism, and produced syncretic religions such as Haitian Vodou. Adherents also emphasize ancestor worship and hold that the spirits of the dead live side by side with the world of the living, each family of spirits having its own female priesthood, sometimes hereditary when it's from mother to blood daughter. Patterns of worship follow various dialects,...
Words: 1215 - Pages: 5
...Voodoo is believed to be used for evil revenge, which is not correct. Some believe it is derived from Voudon. Voudon is an afro-Caribbean religion that started in Haiti. Voodoo and Voudon aren't based around voodoo dolls or zombies. The meaning of "Loa" in voodoo is a god that practitioner look up to; they are individually responsible for a certain part of our lives. The teachings of Voodoo is based around a higher being, like the Bondye, a creator god. The Bondye is said to be the good god, although there is no evil god in Voodoo. Bindye is far beyond human intelligence, it shows its existence through the loa, and ceremonies are based around the loa rather than the Bondye. The manifestation of loa occurs when they posses their worshipers bodies...
Words: 657 - Pages: 3
...Haitian Culture ORIGINS OF CULTURE The Republic of Haiti is a Caribbean country that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. It is approximately 500 miles from Key West, Florida. It was first settled by the Spanish in the late 1400s, during the era of Columbus. After the entrance of Europeans, Hispaniola's indigenous population endured near-extinction, in what is perhaps the worst case of depopulation in the Americas. A generally believed hypothesis indicates the high mortality of this colony in part to Old World diseases to which the native people had no immunity due to a lack of exposure to the European diseases. A small number of Taínos, the natives to the island, were able to stay alive and set up villages elsewhere. Spanish attentiveness in Hispaniola began to diminish in the 1520s, as more profitable gold and silver deposits were found in Mexico and South America. It was the decreasing interest in Hispaniola that allowed the French to create a colony in the early 1600s. French buccaneers created a settlement on the island of Tortuga in 1625, and were soon united with like-minded English and Dutch privateers and pirates, who formed a anarchistic international community that survived by marauding Spanish ships and hunting wild cattle. Before the Seven Years' War (1756–63), the economy of Hispaniola slowly expanded, with sugar and coffee becoming important export crops. After the war the colony underwent rapid expansion. In 1767, it exported 72 million...
Words: 3138 - Pages: 13
...Page 1 ! ! ! With over 400,000 haitians in New York, the Vodou religion plays a vital role in ! most of these haitians lives in New York and the United States as a whole. Just as “Cornesa” stated in Karen Kramer’s “Legacy of the spirits” film, “I got into this religion by family rights...I inherited the religion and taught the rights”, and Vodou helps him connect his material and spiritual life which makes it very important. In addition, just as mentioned in the film, Vodou is greatly misunderstood with magical practices in the western culture, with association to witchcraft and satanic magic like the “Vodou dolls”. A Haitian who was interviewed essentially never heard of such a thing, and he confirmed that its not part of the true religion. Regardless of all the negativity around it, the true Vodou religion is still practiced in order to cope with life in the United States; Basement Voodoo temples are set up and followers of this religion worship the spirits or the “Iwas” ten times a year, as if they were at home.! ! There is also a connection to Haiti through the famous Rara bands that are discussed in Elizabeth McAlister’s “Rara!”. These marching bands or dance troupes perform dances with the help of musical instruments like the drums, Kornet, and the Bambou. Specifically in New York, Rara bands focus on religion, family and Haitian pride, emphasizing on issues concerning being poor, infected with AIDS, and prejudice against Kreyol. In addition, the crucial emphasis...
Words: 291 - Pages: 2
...The Haitian Revolution was influenced initially by events in France, especially the French Revolution of 1789. According to Yvette Taylor Kanarick in Caribbean History Core Course, “The events unfolding in France were to profoundly affect the course of the St.Domingue revolution.”1 On August 26, 1789, the newly convened Estates General passed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. France was divided into a rigid oppressive social class system just as St.Domingue. The first and second classes were made up of the clergy and the nobility, the third class was made up of all others from lawyers down to peasants. This unequal class structure created the atmosphere for the oppressed persons to fight for liberty, equality and fraternity. Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, the people of St.Domingue, who were also French subjects, demanded their share of the slogan of liberty, equality and fraternity. This demand resulted in several conflicts between the different classes, which will later impact the revolt of the enslaved persons in the colony. The different classes were fighting for different reasons. The white plantocracy wanted equality with the whites in France and to rid themselves of the royalist bureaucracy to which they were subjected. The free coloureds on the other hand wanted equality with the whites politically and socially as well as an end to discriminations against them, while the enslaved people just simply grasped the opportunity to seek their freedom...
Words: 2228 - Pages: 9
...Voodoo ~vs.~ Santeria| | | When people think of chicken bones, dolls, love potion and spells they tend to think of “Black Magic”/Witches. At least that is how it has been depicted in many movies, and TV shows for many, many years. What people don’t realize is that “black magic” also known as Voodoo and the Santeria religion, which has been around way before television was even invited and way back into slavery days. In this paper I plan to show the differences and similarities between the two religions so one may get a better understanding of this so called “black magic. ORGINS: Both Voodoo and Santeria originated from the Yoruba people of West Africa. When abducted from their homes and made slaves in the Americas and the Caribbean, without regards to their beliefs and faith. They brought their beliefs with them, but were forbidden to be practice. Being forbidden, these people were forced to keep their beliefs hidden and behind closed doors. During the days of slavery the Roman Catholic faith were forced upon those that were made slaves. But some slaves were smart and resourceful; they decided to hide their native religion of either Voodoo or Santeria in the very same Catholic religion that was being forced upon them. BELIEFS: according to Wikipedia, “Voodoo combines the elements of European and African beliefs and Roman Catholicism.” Those who believe in Voodoo “believe that spiritual forces, which can be kind or mischievous, shape daily life through and...
Words: 1213 - Pages: 5
...Ryan Williams 10/27/15 Refugees of the Haitian Revolution and Their Impact on New Orleans Regions of Southwest Louisiana possess a very distinct culture that are commonly accredited to the French. Although this may be true it is also true that this area is strongly influenced by the refugees of Saint-Domingue during the Haitian Revolution. The Haitian Revolution occurred from 1791-1804, during this period thousands of refugees fled from this Island to other parts of the Caribbean. Eventually, New Orleans became the final stop for many of these refugees. The mayor’s report of January 18, 1810 published in the Moniteur de la Louisiane shows a chart shows the racial movement of 1809 compared to the population of Orleans Parish in 1806 and 1810 by racial caste. This is important because the influx of Haitian refugees further amplified the division of the already existing caste system in New Orleans among slaves, whites, and free persons of color. This account of the refugee’s racial classification was very important during this time because the three main groups had different ranking in the caste systems, yet played pivotal roles in the development of New Orleans. According to Fiehrer “Saint Domingue took the form of an uneven triangle of power distribution, with the rich and officialdom at the top, the affranchise (free men) at one corner and the modest whites at the other. Excluded, from political participation at least, were the over half-million slaves” [Fiehrer.11]. As...
Words: 977 - Pages: 4
...catches on you. Today Haiti is being considered one of the poorest countries in the world. This once country used to be one of the richest place on earth with resources and minerals. But due to the many factors that contributed to the state of not letting the country move on. The country progress towards a better sustainable position simply has been neglected. The glorious moments all started (1791) when Haitian slaves rose and rebel against their French slave masters. The country became the first Black republic nation in the world. Since then Haitians have been paying for it ever, since then their powerful and uncompromising rebuke of human genocide, denomination and slavery. Now for over a century and half, the western hemisphere only Black nation was isolated from the rest of the world. Mainly because of the white supremacist mentality of colonial power, the under mind thinking of rebellious set by the slaves was determined to let Haiti be punished. This was done by simply refusing to trade with them, impose an economic embargo that last nearly two hundred years. The Haitians didn’t have reliable access to medical aid, sufficient food, clean water, technology and contraceptives. That’s why there is a high rate of birth. By understanding all this, now we know why Haiti became most impoverished in the west and with others in the world. The French and their allies successfully extracted more than a half a billion...
Words: 872 - Pages: 4
