Vodou Religion :: essays research papers

Vodou, a traditional Afro-Haitian religion, is a worldview encompassing philosophy, medicine, justice, and religion. Its constitutional principle is that everything is spirit. Humans are hard drink who inhabit the visible world. The spireligious rite world world is populated by lwa (spirits), myst (mysteries), anvizib (the invisibles), zanj (angels), and the spirits of ancestors and the recently deceased. All these spirits are believed to live in a mythic land called Ginen, a cosmic Africa. The matinee idol of the Christian Bible is understood to be the originator of both the universe and the spirits the spirits were made by God to help him govern humanity and the natural world.The primary goal and employment of Vodou is to sevi lwa (serve the spirits)to offer prayers and perform various devotional rites tell at God and particular spirits in return for health, protection, and favour. life-time possession plays an important role in Afro-Haitian religion, as it does in umpteen other world religions. During religious rites, believers sometimes enter a trancelike state in which the devotee may eat and drink, perform interpret dances, give supernaturally inspired advice to people, or perform medical cures or special physical feats these acts exhibit the incarnate presence of the lwa within the charm devotee. Vodou religious rite activity (e.g., prayer, song, dance, and gesture) is aimed at refining and restoring balance and energy in relationships between people and between people and the spirits of the unseen world.Vodou is an literal tradition practiced by extended families that inherit familial spirits, on with the necessary devotional practices, from their elders. In the cities, local hierarchies of priestesses or priests (manbo and oungan), children of the spirits (ounsi), and religious rite drummers (ountgi) comprise more formal societies or congregations (sosyete). In these congregations, knowledge is passed on through a ritual of initiation (kan zo) in which the body becomes the invest of spiritual transformation. There is some regional difference in ritual practice across Haiti, and branches of the religion include Rada, Daome, Ibo, Nago, Dereal, Manding, Petwo, and Kongo. There is no modify hierarchy, no single leader, and no official spokesperson, but various groups sometimes attempt to create such official structures. There are similarly secret societies, called Bizango or Sanpwl, that perform a religio-juridical function.A calendar of ritual feasts, syncretized with the Roman Catholic calendar, provides the yearly rhythm of religious practice.