history of Voo Doo practices

Here is Religious Tolerance-dot-org's page on Vodun and related religions. Other than noting that all people have been more or less surperstitious at one time or another (and organized religion is nothing more than sophisticated, hierarchical superstition)--no, the specifics of Vodun were not practiced in Europe. There have been, of course, many superstitious similarities. The Romans practiced divination by slaughtering birds, commonly chickens, and examining the entrails. They were a little more staid in their ceremonies, however.

Thank you for the link, that was a very interesting article. Its disturbing how close all the religions really are. I didn't know there was so much of that going on in the US.

If you "google" the words "voo doo," you'll get a lot of crap links. If you use the term "vodun" in various search engines and at encyclopedia sites, you'll get more serious material--separate the wheat from the chaff sort of thing.

You might also find of interest the results of searches for Animism and for Santaria.

I'll look into that. Thank you so much for your help. I didn't even know of the word Vodun, so I never would have found any usefull information.

I second that, especially as to Santaria. Both are essentially Caribbean cults, blended from a mix of native African animistic rites and some Christian symbolism. Vodun originated in Haiti but was soon brought to New Orleans by slaves purchased in the West Indies. Santaria is mainly Cuban in origin.

i didnt know this vodun word either, all i knew was vodou. thanks for the info


i know most of you will call me stupid, some will just call me naive, but i dont know what to think about this religion.

my best friend's mother is from Haiti, and she told me that when she was there, she witnessed ppl floating in the air while performing a vodun ceremony


i know what you're thinking, at first i thaught the same thing. i thaught she must be lying, or she was delirious, or she claims to have witnessed it but in reality its just something she heard from someone ...


but the woman never lies, and i mean never. i really cannot accuse her of lying to me, shes just too honest for that.

so now that leaves me to think she must have been delirious, or drunk, or high .. whatever.
but she never drank one drop of alcohol, nor smoked anything in her life.


im a rational kind of person, i just cannot believe some ppl can float in the air. but that's been a thorn in my foot for quite some time now.

"I don't practice Santeria
I ain't got no crystal ball
Well I had a million dollars but I, I'd spend it all"

By the way, as an historical side note--the slaves to whom MA refers in New Orleans (and Louisiana in general) were not purchased in the West Indies and brought to the United States. The slave trade was formally ended in 1808 by a provision in the United States Constitution. Slaves from the West Indies, but largely from Cuba, were smuggled into Louisiana. This was a major operation of the Lafitte brothers, Jean and Pierre, and they got especially busy with that slave smuggling after the War of 1812. They had operated out of the old Spanish fort at Barataria, south of New Orleans. But after the war, the United States government began to exercise its authority in the state, and the brothers Lafitte had to get out of Dodge. They settled on an island near Galvez Town in Texas, then still a part of Mexico. Galvez was the last Spanish governor of Louisiana (comprising what we would get in the Louisiana purchase), and Galvez Town became today's Galveston, Texas. Jean and Pierre Lafitte would illegally purchase slaves in Cuba and Haiti (slavery was technically illegal in both countries) and land them in Texas; then they would be smuggled overland and by water in the bayous to Louisiana. One of their erstwhile partners in the operation was James Bowie, who became famous for his knife, which was actually made for him by his elder brother. Eventually, the Lafittes' continued resort to occasional piracy lead to their being hunted out of the coastal waters of North America by the United States Navy, because Mexico could not or would not intervene. Jean Lafitte died in 1826 (it is thought, there is a dispute based on a journal attributed to him, which many historians consider a fraud) in the great hurricane which struck the Yucatan penninsula.

James Bowie had long before gotten out of the slave smuggling business, and began forging land grants reputed to have been issued by Galvez. He had to get out of the United States when a Federal judge in Arkansas rejected his land claims, and all the sales based on them. He went to Texas, married the daughter of the Alcalde of San Antonio, and then went to the city of Mexico, attempting to get land grants--he was incorrigible. The Mexican authorities decided to arrest him, but he got out of town just ahead of them. His wife died of typhus or typhoid fever in San Antonio de Bejar, and he was dying of the same disease, nursed by his sister-in-law, when Santa Anna took the Alamo. His sister-in-law was one of the few survivors of that debacle.

The slaves from Cuba and Haiti did indeed introduce and make prevalent in the United States the observance of Santaria and Vodun. Santaria actually was more widespread here, and this doubtlessly arises from the fact that most of the slaves smuggled by the Lafittes and Bowie were brought from Cuba.

Setanta, I greatly appreciate the information you've posted. The history behind it all is always interesting to me.

I was glad to see the thread, Boss--these topics are rarely seriously discussed, and thanks to the prejudices and the overweening dominance of well-established organized religions, animism and all of its offshoots are the subject of ignorant condemnation and belittling snickers.

There was a woman from Nigeria that I worked with for a while. She was VERY Christian, and really sweet. She noticed my African nick-nack key chain thing, and told me to "Get rid of that! You don't know what or who made it or what or who it represents. Its not a thing to take casually. Throw it away right now."

I threw it away. Why take a chance?

Whereas i don't subscribe to the notion that such a thing could be dangerous, i understand her meaning. Animists by definition believe in spirits. The entire world is inhabited by spirits. All things animate and inanimate have spirits, and the death or destruction of the "host" of spirit does not destroy the spirit. What she meant was that an Animist might have made that item a totem in which a spirit was to be encouraged to take up residence. She betrays some belief in the power of animist spirits with her reaction, though--her reaction suggests that whoever made it considered it an item of power, or an item to be used to gain power through a spirit.