Outside reading (1)

Voudou (or “Voodoo”)
September 11, 2017
SArah Clark
I’ve been doing some reading about Voudou in one of my classes.  One of the books is the Divine Horsemen by Maya Deren.  This book explains the roots of Voudou, an African based religion in Haiti.  The transatlantic slave trade movement had a huge effect on the development and mindset of this religion.  Haiti was the first black republic in the world and the first to abolish slavery in the West.  A lot of the religion is built off of freedom from slavery and oppression.  The religion is based off of "African tradition" and roots (Deren, 56).  Since Haiti is still on the Western hemisphere, it is also influenced by some western religious rituals and symbols.  They took the cross, a western religious symbol and translated it to crossroads to represent the economy and knowledge that could come to Africa.  Baptism is still practiced because it was "already a Negro tradition" (Deren, 57).  Since three is a magical number according to African belief, the concept of the Trinity was applied to "the triple liberation for 'les Mystères, les Morts et les Marassa'" (Deren, 57).  They also desired a connection to God.  Rather than worshipping and praying to the "Christian deity," they developed a "High God of Africa" that was "beyond the pale of human reference" (Deren, 55).  They resorted to demons, or spirits of loa to create the connection for them to the “High God of Africa” (Deren, 55).  It is hard hearing that these bonds from slavery still shape a lot of Haitian religion, and that they resort to demons for magic, since they are afraid to have a relationship with the God that also allows the “pale human” to petition and intercede. (Deren, 55).

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