Peace be with you my friends! We are once again fast approaching Saint John's Eve, the night of June 23rd-24th. This is the single most powerful night to perform Voodoo magic, or any other form of spiritual work for that matter. All Voodoo doctors and queens in Louisiana participate in large scale gatherings in which spirits are summoned, spells cast and offerings made to take advantage of the powerful spiritual energy that abounds on this night.
Saint John's Night Story - Repost
It is my pleasure to repost an article that I wrote last year that outlines the history, traditions and practices of this most magical of nights – Saint John’s Night story. I am now taking orders for work to be done on the Feast of St. John, so if you are interested in having an offering made of a spell cast please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for taking the time to check out my blog!
Voodoo in New Orleans is much a solitary practice as compared to the religion in Haiti, but there is an exception: The Feast of Saint John the Baptist, which falls on the 24th of June. The feast day is celebrated in Haiti, and indeed throughout the Catholic world, but nowhere as intensely as in New Orleans. This feast is particularly popular in Francophone countries. In rural France, people light bonfires on Saint John’s Night and in Quebec, on the morning of the feast, an old superstition dictates that one collect drops of dew from leaves and grass to sprinkle around the house for good luck. Also, some believe that when applied to the face, this water will bless a person with a youthful appearance. In New Orleans, the Feast of Saint John is observed most intensely by Voodooists, perhaps as a remnant of a time when it was fêted more fervently by the general population. It is believed that on this night, the veil between the spirit world and the physical world is virtually nonexistent and communion with the ancestors, saints and lwa can be easily achieved. Curiously, a similar belief in the Galicia region of Spain holds that that the souls in Purgatory can return to Earth on that same night, since the mystical dividing veil is lifted. On the eve of Saint John’s Day, every Voodooist is expected to attend a communal drumming session in which members of the local community make food offerings to the ancestors and saints, and this is one of the rare occasions when animal sacrifices, usually chickens, are made by the presiding Voodoo Queen.. All Voodoo queens and doctors, if they are to remain in good standing with the spirits and the local community, are expected to attend a service on this night. The following is a description of the events that occur on this sacred night. The character names are fictitious and represent no persons living of dead, but the details of the ceremony are accurate.
Immediately following Easter, Evangeline carefully plans the sequence of events for the Fête de Saint Jean Baptiste. This year she will serve as presiding priestess over the ceremony, a role to which she was nominated by last year’s mistress of ceremonies, Muriel, her friend and fellow Voodoo Queen. Evangeline contacts all of her friends, family and acquaintances and inquires as to whether she can expect their presence on Saint John’s Eve. In the following weeks, she visits those planning to attend and collects donations to defray the cost of the ceremony. Then she secures a location for the gathering on the Bayou Saint John, where Marie Laveau conducted her infamous ceremonies, and obtains the necessary permits from the city. Then the drummers are hired and Evangeline buys the food and live animals necessary to make offerings to the spirits and to be consumed by the assembly.
The day before the ceremony, Evangeline and two close friends, Renee and Stacey, meet to prepare the food for the following evening. Renee and Stacey prepare such Southern and Creole classics as collard greens and fatback, spoon bread, hopping john, shrimp Creole, dirty rice and pulled pork, all to be consumed by the congregation. Only Evangeline, however, is permitted to prepare the ritual offerings for the spirits. She takes great care to make sure that no a single grain of salt comes into contact with the food offerings. She makes white rice, roasted pork spiced with black and cayenne pepper, grits, and a dish called “amala”, which is a slimly concoctions of chopped okra stewed with corn meal resulting a slippery mess, a taste and texture unappetizing to the human palate, but absolutely decadent to the spirit world. Evangeline thanks her friends and they leave with all the food that has been prepared, and it will be their responsibility to bring the offerings to the gathering the following night. All those expected to attend the service take special herbal baths at home the night before to rid themselves of negativity and neutralize their spiritual vibrations as to be able to fully receive the blessings of the saints and spirits.
On the afternoon of Saint John’s Eve, Evangeline’s friends arrive at the predetermined site and set up the wood pile that will become a massive bonfire. They arrange tables with the previously prepared food as the sacrificial chickens await their imminent death in cages resting on the ground. The drummers arrive shortly after and set up their musical equipment and in the late afternoon the guests start to arrive and socialize while they anticipate the presence of the mistress of ceremonies who is due to arrive at sundown.
When the last amber rays of summer sunlight retreat behind the tree tops, Evangeline arrives. She parks her car a short distance down the street, preferring to make her entrance on foot. Seeing Evangeline in the distance coming toward them, the guests for a semicircle and she takes her place in the center. She stands there for a moment in silence, dressed in white from head to foot resting her weight on the ribbon and bell bedecked baguette des morts. Then, she bangs the stick three times of the ground and makes the opening prayer, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The congregation makes the sign of the cross and responds “Amen.” Raising her outstretched palms toward Heaven, she cries, “faith, hope and charity,” the three virtues by which Voodooists are compelled to live. The congregation once again responds with a resounding “Amen” and with that, the ceremony has begun.
Renee and Stacey, Evangeline’s designated helpers from the previous day, come to meet her in the center of the circle. They are to hand her all supplies that she will need throughout the evening. Renee hands her a small vial of holy water that she herself had taken from the baptismal fount at her parish church earlier that day. While Evangeline sprinkles the ground around the soon-to-be ceremonial pyre the congregation softly recites the opening prayers in unison: The Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed, in that exact order. Stacey takes Evangeline’s baguette des morts and respectfully holds it while Evangeline tends to the preparation of the fire. The wood having been previously dowsed with kerosene will light without trouble, but Evangeline must first sprinkled the mound with a variety of dried herbs, some graveyard dirt and a few drops of holy water before it is torched. Meanwhile, Renee and Stacey trace a cross in the dirt next to the fire pit using a mixture of cornmeal, ground white eggshells, dust from a church and dirt from a graveyard and a crossroads. When Evangeline finishes consecrating the fire pit, she turns her attention to the cross that Stacey and Renee have prepared. She touches the ground three times and makes the sign of the cross. Then, from a pitcher, she spills water three times on the ground and says “pou mo-ye,” for the dead. Then Renee and Stacey bring her the dishes of food she personally prepared the previous day. With the dishes neatly placed at the four points of the cross, Evangeline declares “mange sec pou mo-ye,” dry eating for the dead. Voodoo practitioners refer to food offerings as “mange sec” to distinguish them from animal sacrifices in which case the spilt blood is the offering, not the animal itself. The spirits and saints take the offerings of food and spilled blood and convert them into pure energy that is then used to grant their petitions and bring good luck and prosperity into their lives.
With the offerings all laid out, Evangeline takes a sip of rum and then spits in out onto the dirt floor altar in front of her. Then she places a small white taper in each dish of food. When the last taper is lighted, before placing at the center of the cross, Evangeline uses it to set the ceremonial pyre ablaze. The congregation claps and cheers and the drummers begin to play. The rest of the night is a pleasant combination of religious rituals and a friendly party atmosphere. The guests dance and eat traditional Creole specialties as well as drink beer and rum drinks. Throughout the course of the evening, they sing songs in Creole, French and English to call down the saints and ancestors. The spirits make take possession of whomever they choose, not just Evangeline. When a spirit or lwa touches a person and takes control of his body, the drumming stops and the congregation waits in silence for this person to speak. He or she comes forward and speaks to those assembled and gives instructions for spiritual workings to be carried out. The spirit, through the medium, will let the people know if the evil eye or any hexes have been placed on them. If this is found to be true, Evangeline immediately cleanses them of the evil eye or unclean spirits by passing a live chicken over their head and touching it to the palms and backs of their hands. Then, she snaps the chicken’s necks and slits its throat with a sharp knife, squeezing the animal until the last drop of blood is spilled on the ground. The chicken is then disposed of, since it cannot be eaten because the negative influence once on the person has been passed to the chicken.
As the night progresses, more spirits mount the guests and people ask favors of them and lay flowers and dollar bills at their feet to thank them for favors granted in the previous year. This night is one of the few occasions in New Orleans Voodoo where spirit possession takes place, and it is considered an honor to be touched by a spirit. As dawn approaches, Evangeline calls all the guests to the form a circle once again. She calls down her personal spirit guide who indicates the person who is to serve as next years presiding Vooodoo Queen at the fête de Saint Jean Baptiste. It is Stacey. Stacey readily agrees and they seal the new appointment with a kiss on each cheek. Renee retrieves Evangeline’s baguette des morts, which Evangeline once again bangs three times of the ground exclaiming, “faith, hope and charity.” “Amen,” responds the congregation. She strikes three more blows to the earth and prayers, “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Another magnificent “Amen” rises up from the crowd. They all make the sign of the cross and head for home. The ceremony is over. Only Evangeline remains. She gathers the offerings of food and places them in the center of a cotton cloth, which she then ties up into a neat bundle. She collects the dollar bills strewn about the grounds, which she will donate later that day to a church or charitable organization. As she drives off, she is sure to take a different route than the one she used to get there, as not to let any bad spirits follow her home and ruin her luck. Quickly stopping at a crossroads, she leaves the cloth bundle with the food offerings for the spirits. She drives to her church where Renee and Stacey are waiting for her, and they attend an early morning mass together to celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist.
While Evangeline, Stacey and Renee are fictitious characters, the rituals described in the above story are true and accurate. Other traditions may exist in various communities, since there is no set liturgy as in established churches, but in the Voodoo tradition, the feast of Saint John remains of the most important feasts of the year and is universally observed wherever Voodoo is practiced, be it in Haiti, New Orleans, Martinique or in Afro-Francophone communities in New York and Quebec. Nowhere, however is the tradition more intensely adhered to than in New Orleans. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in Louisiana, as opposed to the other locations mentioned, Francophone Creoles and Voodooists are an ever increasing minority, and the fact that enough people choose to practice this beautiful faith and gather each year to give thanks to God, the ancestors and the saints and be together as a community of believers is cause for celebration. In short, the fact that a people who have been told for centuries by the white Anglo establishment that their culture, language and faith are inferior have been able to hang onto the language spoken by their ancestors who toiled in the cane fields and practice a faith both brought over on slave ships and enriched by the prayers once sung in Latin from high church altars is in and of itself a miracle! The Voodoo faith, like those who profess it, is a Creole religion, and the concept of Creole is simple: A syllogism of drastically different elements melded to form a new and living reality. It is a religion of power and survival.
Thank you again for taking the time to check out my blog! I am now taking orders to spiritual work to be performed on St. John’s Eve. I look forward to hearing from you! May the Ancestors and Saints bless you abundantly!
The History, Beliefs and Practices of Voodoo-Part III-Voodoo Politics Haiti
Peace be with you my friends! Thank you once again for stopping by my blog. I would like to bring my series of articles of Haitian Vodou to a close with a brief discussion of the prominence of Vodou in every facet of life in Haiti even to the level of national politics.
Vodou justice has always existed in Haiti.
In Haiti, it is not unheard of for an unscrupulous Hougan or Bokor to intimidate individuals with threats of bewitchment or zombification in an attempt to extort money or gain power, and zombification is often a form of capital punishment in rural Haiti. Several secret societies operate in rural Haiti where the complete absence of any law enforcement often gives carte blanche to criminals to act as they please and the presence of such organizations serves as somewhat of a deterrent. Both Rada and Makaya priests, both male and female, are members of these groups, and if they hear of a person who has committed a serious crime, such as rape, murder or even desecrating a Vodou temple, that person will be put on trial in absentia and if found guilty, will face an acceptable punishment. This can range from a “coup de l’air”, which is a weak curse meant to bring bad luck or mild illness, to the ultimate penalty of zombification. The exact process of zombification is a well guarded secret, but it is know to involve the abduction of the condemned individual and the administering of a special paste made from ground roots and various ingredients extracted from leaves and animal parts. The condemned in then buried underground for one whole day, and miraculously does not die from lack of oxygen but remains in a completely paralyzed state. The following evening, he is then revived and set to work for determined amount of time, after which he is somehow restored to normal thinking capacity and returned to his family. This is the official statement from the hougans regarding zombification, although it is doubtful that zombies are truly deprived of oxygen for so long, and it is logical to assume that the zombies are given regular doses of poison to keep them in that mindless state. There have been few official studies conducted by western scientists on the process of zombification and there is much that we don’t know, except that it is a very real phenomenon.
Vodou justice has always existed in Haiti even in the early days of the Saint Domingue colony when it served as the only refuge for slaves discontent with their masters. A particularly abusive master might one day find a dead chicken and a string of beads on his front porch and then the whole family would fall mysteriously ill. Vodou was also no doubt a driving force behind the uprising that made Haiti the first Caribbean colony to gain its independence from European powers and indeed the first independent black nation in the world. This brings us to the concept of Vodou as unifying force in Haitian culture. Nowhere was this better demonstrated than during the reign of the dictators François “Papa Doc” Duvalier and his son Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier who both exploited the general population’s fear of Vodou to solidify their draconian rule over the island, but in the end Baby Doc underestimated the quality of Vodou to rouse and empower the people and it was one the leading factors that lead to the downfall of the Duvalier dynasty in a popular revolution that started in the churches and Vodou temples of Haiti.
A native of Port-au-Prince, François Duvalier first rose to fame during the 1940’s as a physician when, through an extensive inoculation program, he nearly eradicated typhus and yaws (a bacterial infection much like leprosy) from the general population. He was a national hero and was appointed minister of health in 1949. During the 1950’s he continued to secure his power by gaining the loyalty of the Haitian army. Duvalier won the 1957 presidential election; some say by means of fraud and intimidation, but most likely because he was the first black politician of any importance since the American occupation of Haiti had left the government in the hands of the white and mulatto elite and people saw him as a figure of black pride and power. After winning the presidency, to consolidate his power, he ordered the deaths all the members of the army that had opposed him during his rise to power. He formed a personal militia called the “Tonton Macoutes”, named after a boogey-man type figure from Haitian folklore, which would terrorize the general population and weed out anybody disloyal to the Duvalier regime. In 1964, he declared himself “President for Life.” One of the most effective methods employed to strengthen his grasp of the Haitian people was to play into their deep seeded beliefs and superstitions. He began to exploit their fear of the dark side of Vodou.
Duvalier bore a striking resemblance to the lwa Baron Samedi, and he claimed to be a hougan and often imitated the mannerisms of Baron and talked with the nasality typical of the ghédé lwa. People feared Duvalier as he claimed to rule with the blessings of the lwa and that all those who opposed him would incur the wrath of the spirit world. Duvalier succeeded in perverting the most profound beliefs of the people and turning their strong faith into a cause for fear and oppression. Before his death in 1971, Duvalier succeed in infiltrating almost every Vodou house in Haiti and the demacoutization of Vodou would not occur until the early 1980’s when Haitians once again drew strength from spirituality and planned and overthrow Jean Claude “Baby Doc” who succeeded to Haitian presidency at age nineteen after the death of his father.
Baby Doc did not possess the same charisma as his father and was infamous for financial corruption. By the early 1980’s, it was clear that he was losing his hold on power, partly due to the fact that he failed to master his father’s brutal techniques of intimidation and subjugation. In 1983, Pope John Paul II made a visit to the island and was disgusted by the state of affairs and his departing words spoken from the airplane door were, “things must change here!” Following the papal visit, the Roman Catholic clergy began an underground literacy program which had as its focus the education of the lower classes of the city slums and countryside in matters such as voter registration and the importance of free speech. The Vodou community, which includes many devout Catholics, also took part in this popular revolution and began the demacoutization of Vodou and many prominent hougans and mambos publicly denounced members of the Tonton Macoutes operating in their houses. In late 1985, the protesters took to the streets of Port-au-Prince and demanded the abdication of Jean Claude Duvalier, often invoking the name of Papa Legba, Damballah and all the lwa and saints in the name of freedom and democracy, much like their ancestors had done in colonial times. In early 1986, Duvalier left office and took refuge with his mother Simone “Mama Doc” Duvalier in France, where he lived for many years until recently returning to Haiti after which he was promptly arrested and put of trial for his crimes against the Haitian people.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about the practices and importance of Vodou in Haitian history, culture and politics. It is important to explore the roots of Voodoo in Haiti and Africa to better understand how the practice evolved in New Orleans. I thank you for taking the time to read my blog as always I wish you peace and the sweetest of blessings.
The History, Beliefs and Traditions of Voodoo-Part II-The Lwa
Peace be with you my friends! Today I would like to continue my series of articles on the history and practices of Voodoo is both Haiti and New Orleans. Today's installment focuses on the Lwa. Again, I will say that I am not an Hougan and that my expertise is in New Orleans Voodoo and not Haitian Vodou, so I do apologize for any errors regarding the practice of Vodou in Haiti. Please share any of your knowledge in the comments section.
The lwa, a term that comes from the French word loi meaning law, as each spirit represents a law of nature or of the human condition.
The Voodooist serves a pantheon of spirits called the “lwa,” a term that comes from the French word “loi” meaning “law” as each spirit represents a law of nature or of the human condition. The lwa are divided into three major nations. The first is the Rada nation. These are the original lwa and came from African during the early days of colonization. The second is the “petro” nation which is comprised of fiery, volatile spirits born during the Haitian Revolution in which Vodou played a fundamental role in overthrowing French colonial rule. Most Rada lwa have a petro counterpart. The third is the “ghede” nation which represents the spirits of the dead and death itself, which every Voodooist knows is simply a passage from one state to being to another and nothing to be feared. It is my pleasure to share with you some information about a few of the lwa with you today.
Papa Legba-Legba is a lwa of the Rada family. He is the lwa to which one must appeal before invoking any other lwa or performing any act of Voodoo magic, since he holds the keys to the spirit world and stands at the gateway between the physical world and the realm of the lwa and nobody may pass without his permission. Legba’s offerings include tobacco, rum, black eyed peas, spiced chicken and his sacrificial animals are roosters and goats. He is syncretized with Saint Peter, who in Catholic iconography holds the keys to Heaven.
![Mater Dolorosa [Our Lady of Sorrows] is the catholic counterpart to the Lwa Ezili Freda](https://jamesduvalier.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/eili-freda-mater-dolorosa-150x150.jpg "Mater Dolorosa [Our Lady of Sorrows] is the catholic counterpart to the Lwa Ezili Freda")
Erzulie Freda Dahomey-Erzulie belongs to the Rada family of lwa. She is the mistress who rules in the domain of love and wealth. One might petition Erzulie to bring about a change in one’s financial situation or to attract a lover. Be warned though, that love brought by Erzulie rarely lasts, as she tends to confer upon her devotees brief, albeit passionate and erotic, affairs. She is flirtatious, volatile, passionate and capricious. She also speaks French, which is seen as both a sign of refinement and arrogance in Haiti. There is a saying in Haitian Creole, “parle franse pa fe lespri pou sa,” speaking French doesn’t make you smart. Her colors are pink and light blue and her favorite offerings include champagne, sweet cakes, flowers, perfume and white doves. Typically, when Erzulie possesses one of her devotees during a Voodoo ceremony, she often departs crying, since there are never enough luxurious items to satisfy her desires. She is syncretized with the Mater Dolorosa of the Catholic faith.
Madame La Sirène-La sirène is of the Rada family and she is the mistress of the sea. While Erzulie embodies the sensual aspects of femininity, la Sirène represents the maternal and nurturing side of womanhood. She is also a fierce protector of those who fall under her patronage. A legend told around Port-au-Prince speaks of a Protestant pastor and politician during the 1940’s who spoke out against Vodou and personally targeted a well known mambo who was a child of La Sirène. In front of a crowed on the beach, he publicly harangued the priestess and her practices and out of nowhere, a massive wave rolled onto shore on top of which stood a regal woman in an elegant blue dress, which everyone knew was La Sirène. She wrapped her arms around the man and dragged him back to into the ocean with well over a hundred witnesses. He resurfaced in Port-au-Prince seven years later and when people exclaimed that they thought surely he was dead, he responded “il aurait vallu mieux que je le fusse,” it would have been better if I had been, as he clamed to have been a prisoner of the La Sirène, his soul held captive in her under sea realm. Whether anything remotely resembling this story occurred or not cannot be known for sure, but the moral is that those who defame the lwa and their children will not go unpunished, which again lends credence to the idea that Vodou is a religion of survival and empowerment. La Sirène’s offerings include honey, wine and sweet cakes. She is often depicted as a mermaid, since this is meaning of Sirène in French, but she is also syncretized with the Stella Maris, or Star of the Ocean, which is one of the many titles of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Erzulie Dantor-Erzulie Dantor is the Petro aspect of Erzulie Freda and is one of the fiery, vengeful spirits born during the struggle for independence. She is invoked to punish an abusive lover or somebody who deeply hurt one of her children. In Haiti, which is still an excessively machista society, men can often beat and violate women without any consequences and there have been many instances where men have been mysteriously driven to suicide after mistreating a child of Erzulie Dantor, and she has therefore gained the reputation of defender of women and children. Her offerings include “kleren”, a fiery drink made by infusing hot peppers with rum, rice and peas and her sacrificial animal is the wild Creole pig, which is difficult to find in Haiti due to an American sponsored eradication program during the 1930’s, so a common black pig is often substituted. Erzulie Dantor is syncretized with Our Lady of Czestochowa, a black Madonna of Polish origin. The story behind this association is that in an attempt to suppress the Haitian slave rebellions, the French government hired Polish mercenaries who upon seeing the harsh conditions to which the slaves were subjected, sided with the rebelling slaves and helped overthrow French colonial rule. Our Lady of Czestochowa is depicted as a protective mother with a scared face clutching her child in her arms. When the slaves saw the Polish soldiers carrying this icon into battle, they immediately recognized in her battered features and warrior spirit their own Erzulie Dantor and they knew that they could trust the Polish mercenaries since Dantor herself had sent them. To this day, Voodooists use the image of the Polish Madonna in services to Erzulie Dantor, which is proof again of the syncretic and ever evolving nature of Vodou.
Baron Samedi-Baron Samedi is the king of the Ghede lwa and functions much in the same way with the dead as Legba does among the lwa, since anyone who wishes to invoke the help of the dead must first appeal to Baron to open the gate between the world of the living and of the dead. In Haiti, the grave of the first man buried in a cemetery is consecrated to Baron Samedi and a large cross is erected at which Voodooists may place offerings to Baron. Baron has many manifestations, the most popular being Baron LaCroix, Baron Cimitiere and Carrefour. They are however all aspects of the same lwa who is invoked under different titles for different purposes. This lwa of death is often depicted as a tall, smiling skeleton that is dressed like an undertaker complete with a stovepipe hat. His mocking appearance is meant to poke fun at death, an inevitability for us all. When Baron, or any Ghede lwa, possesses on of his followers, the mounted Voodooist will often be compelled to perform a suggestive dance called the “banda” which is characterized by spasmodic pelvic thrusts. Perhaps because of his aggressive, carnal nature, Baron is know as the lwa of fertility and is often invoked by women who wish to conceive a child, especially a son. His offerings include kleren, spiced pork, cigars, candies and “pois djon djon”, a heavily seasoned rice and mushroom dish. His sacrificial animal is a rooster or a black goat and his Catholic counterpart is Saint Gerard Mejilla, although in New Orleans he is closely associated with Saint Expedite.
Maman Brigitte-Maman Brigitte is a particularly important lwa for many reasons, not the least of which being that she demonstrates the absorbing of other cultures’ beliefs into Voodoo and also the strong feminine ideal of the religion. The most peculiar aspect of this lwa is her physical appearance, as she is portrayed and a fierce, bold white woman in charge of her own destiny. Her Caucasian appearance is due to the fact that she has her origins not in Africa or Haiti, but in Scotland! Brigitte is in fact the Caribbean manifestation of the Celtic goddess Brigid and this fact is recalled in a popular Haitian song celebrating this lwa in which the priest sings “Maman Brigitte li te sorti de Anglete,” Maman Brigitte, she came from England. The appearance of a white, Celtic deity in Haitian Vodou can be explained by the fact the during the English Civil War of 1642-1645, many loyal subjects of the crown were expelled from Great Britain when the opposing parliament came to power and took refuge in various Caribbean islands, including Haiti. Many women from rural areas of Scotland no doubt brought with them their devotion to this Celtic goddess, and she being recognized by the Haitians as a powerful matriarchal spirit, was adopted into the pantheon of Vodou spirits. In Vodou, Maman Brigitte is the wife of Baron Samedi and the grave of the first woman buried in a cemetery is consecrated to her and she is also believed to protect all the graves in the cemetery that are properly marked with a cross. Brigitte is a strong, aggressive and protective female spirit who often punishes those who disrespect the dead and fail to give them a proper burial; she is invoked for luck in gambling. Her offerings are the same as Baron Samedi’s and her sacrificial animal is a black hen.
I hope you have enjoyed learning about some of the lwa in Voodoo. This is by no means an exhaustive list as there are many lwa some of which are specific to very limited geographic area or even to a particular family! If you have any questions regarding the lwa, please do not hesitate to contact me. My series on Voodoo history and traditions will continue in the weeks to come. Until then I wish you peace, happiness and the sweetest of blessings!
The History, Beliefs and Traditions of Voodoo: Part I-Haitian Vodou
I have decided to share a bit about the history and development of Voodoo both in Haiti and in Louisiana in this first installment of a series of articles of Voodoo culture and history.
Vodou is a monotheistic religion.
As I have stated many times in my writings, I am not an expert or practitioner of Haitian Vodou and my knowledge is limited to my interactions with Haitian people and from academic sources. So, I do apologize if any information given is erroneous or incomplete and I welcome comments from those more familiar with the religion in Haiti. I am however an experienced priest of New Orleans Voodoo and I possess a vast knowledge of the rites, traditions and practices of Louisiana Voodoo and there is no denying that the influences from Haitian Vodou run deep in New Orleans and for that reason I feel it is necessary to begin our journey on the island of Hispaniola during colonial times when a variety of West African spiritual practices fused with Catholicism to create the religion of Vodou.
Contrary to popular belief, Vodou is a monotheistic religion, since practitioners believe in one all-powerful God who created the universe and everything in it. In Haiti, where Vodou together with Catholicism is the majority religion, God is referred to simply as “Bon Dieu”, which translates as “Good God” or “Holy God.” The same name is often used in reference to God by Christians all over the Francophone world. It is a common misconception that Voodoo is a polytheistic religion. Most Voodooists are of the Catholic faith, so we choose to see God in three divine persons-the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Why then do so many assume Voodoo to be a polytheistic religion? Aside from Hollywood and popular fiction’s portrayal of the religion as a savage cult of black magic, there is a popular misconception that Voodooists, especially in Haiti, are polytheists since they serve a pantheon of spirits called the “lwa”. Vodou is essentially an African spirit religion that has found a home in the Caribbean. The name “Vodou” comes from the Dahomey language of Western Africa and means simply “Divine Spirit” which is a reference to God, whom Voodooists revere and worship as all powerful and all merciful.
Voodoo has it origins in what is today Benin, Togo and parts of Nigeria, and is not to be confused with the Yoruba religion, also from Nigeria, that would become Santería, Macumba and Candomblé in the New World. Today, Vodou is still practiced by an estimated 10-20% of the population of Benin and Togo and the African practice bears little resemblance to the religion in Haiti and New Orleans, where because of Catholic influence many new spirits and saints are venerated and new forms of worship have evolved. The religion in Benin and Togo was suppressed first by Christian missionaries and later by the socialist regimes that ruled from 1971 until 1992. Today, Christianity and Islam are the dominant faiths in West Africa, yet in many rural areas as well as throughout the Caribbean the rich legacy of traditional African spirit religions remain prevalent to this day.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans, the island of Hispaniola was inhabited by the Taíno people, who were closely related to the Arawaks of the South American continent, albeit a more peaceful tribe. The name in Taíno for the island was “Ayiti,” which means “mountainous land”, a name that would be later adopted by the new Haitian government after the revolution of 1804. Columbus set foot on the western side of Hispaniola on December 5th, 1492 in what is today the Republic on Haiti. Shortly after the arrival of these first Europeans, the native population died out due to diseases such as small pox and diphtheria to which they had no immunity, and left the island essentially deserted. The Spanish explorers quickly lost interest in the island following the discovery of vast deposits of gold and silver in the Mexico and South America, and what few settlements they had there were concentrated on the eastern side of the island that is today the Dominican Republic. It was not until the end of the 17th century when the western third of the island was ceded to France and the massive production of sugar began under French colonial rule. The colony of Saint Domingue prospered. By the early 18th century, it was known as the “Paris of the New World” and was the richest of all the Caribbean islands, a far cry from the corrupt and poverty stricken nation that it is today. In order to supply a labor force for the massive scale plantation economy, the French began importing boatloads of slaves from West Africa. These slaves, along with their music, languages and food preparation techniques, also brought to Saint Domingue their religion: Vodou.
Upon their arrival in Saint Domingue, the French colonizers splashed some water in the slaves’ faces, declared them Christians and set them to work in the sugar cane fields. Rarely did the African population receive any formal religious instruction, and therefore they did not learn or fully understand the faith which they were told they must practice, and often times they maintained their traditional African beliefs and practiced them along side the Catholicism of their white captors. The most widely accepted theory regarding the crystallization of the Vodou religion in Haiti is that the slaves continued to venerate the spirits of their native land, but prayed to them in secret, hiding them behind Catholic iconography as not to be discovered by the French clergy. This was most likely true in the early days of colonization, but I personally feel that Caribbean slaves overtime accepted many aspects of the Catholic faith and began to pray to European saints alongside their traditional African spirits. Hence the syncretism between Vodou spirits and Catholic saints, which does not exist in Africa. This syncretism is especially prevalent in Cuba where Santería is widely practiced, the name itself meaning “the way of the saints.” A friend of mine named Suzie Rivera from the Dominican Republic, where a religion closely related to Vodou called Las 21 Divisiones is practiced once told me, “más poderosa que todos los santos es la Divina Hostia,” more powerful than all the saints is the Devine Host. This is an example of the acceptance of the Catholic faith on the part of practitioners of Vodou. Such an assumption is logical if one takes into account the fact that by their very nature African religions borrow and incorporate elements of other faiths such as can be seen in the veneration of Yoruba and Congolese sprits in Vodou despite its obvious origins in West Africa. Any claim that Vodou survived without Catholic influence in the Caribbean is most likely an attempt to decatholocize the religion by New Age practitioners in the United States.
Vodou pratitioners venerate a pantheon of spirits which are called “lwas.” The term “lwa” comes from the French word “loi,” meaning “law.” Each lwa represents a law of nature or of the human condition. Practitioners can call upon the lwa for favors and blessings to improve their state of life and one may communicate with the lwa by means of possession through an initiated priest of priestess. The roles of Vodou initiates will be detailed below. In Haitian Vodou, as is New Olreans Voodoo, there are three families of lwas-The Rada, the Petro and the Ghede. The Rada lwa are the original spirits that came from Africa and which are still venerated there today. The Petro lwa are the angry, fiery aspects of the Rada lwa. According to Vodou teaching, the Petro lwa were born at the beginning of the Haitian Revolution in 1791 when the revolutionary leaders and several run-away slaves gathered in the woods at Bois Caïman and sacrificed a black pig to the lwa and begged for the strength to overthrow their French captors. A great storm arose and the Petro lwa were born and empowered the slaves to bring their captors to their knees. A Voodooist would invoke a Rada lwa and a Petro lwa for help in the same dominion, but for a different reason. One might call upon the Rada lwa Erzulie Freda for help in finding a lover, and one might invoke the Petro aspect of the same lwa, Erzulie Dantor, to punish a abusive husband or get revenge on a unfaithful lover. So, both aspects of Erzulie deal with love, but under different circumstances. The third group is the Ghede lwa who are the lwa of death. The idea of death is important in Vodou since death is the gateway through which we must all pass in order to enter into the spirit world to be with our ancestors and God. In Vodou, the spirit world, much like the Christian heaven, is called Guinea, which is no doubt a reference to the ancestral homeland. The Ghede lwa are important because they assist people on their final journey into the spirit world and retrieve them from the lake of death and welcome them into the eternal paradise of Guinea. The Ghede lwa can also be called about to assist in the preparation of magical charms and spells by Voodoo priests. The most important holiday of the Vodou liturgical year is the Fête Ghede, which is the three day festival coinciding with the Catholic Feasts of the All Saints and All Souls, November 1st and 2nd, respectively.
Voodoosits serve, but do not worship, the lwa. They believe that the lwa will grant them material blessings in this world, but only faith in Almighty God can bring them a happy afterlife. Each person, according to Vodou, is born under the patronage of a specific lwa and will often exhibit that lwa’s characteristics as their own personality traits. For example, a child of Erzulie Freda may be physically beautiful, flirtatious and enjoy owning exotic and expensive items. There are several hundred lwa, and more are invented all the time as the need or desire arises. A Vodou practitioner may even serve a lwa known only to him and his family. In the next installment I will share some of the names and attributes as well as a variety of other information about some of the more widely known lwa. Thank you again for checking out my blog and may your life be filled with abundant blessings!
A Word on the Dark Side of Spiritism
I feel that we should always focus of that which is light and positive, but we cannot ignore that there is a dark side to the spirit world and there are those who would manipulate these forces to do us harm. Often times people come to me with evil spirit, sometimes demonic and more frequently psychic vampire attachments. Usually these people are innocent victims of evil magic or wandering angry spirits, but other times they have open a door to tremendous negativity and darkness by dabbling with ouija boards or occult practices for which they are not sufficiently prepared. These conditions can be cured via exorcism or spiritual cleansing and if you feel there is a dark or debilitating spirit around you or that you are the victim or a curse, please do not hesitate to contact me and together we can find the proper spiritual remedy. Also, if you have dealt with such a situation in the past I would love to hear your story.
Please share your stories in the comments section.
I originally heard this story in the early 2000’s from a woman named Vera who know lives in Massachusetts, but who originally is from Metairie, Louisiana. In the mid 1970’s, one of the most renowned Voodoo Doctors and supposed drug dealers in New Orleans was a man by the name of Reggie. He dealt with the dark side of the occult and worked with spirits that in life had been criminals and psychologically disturbed individuals. According to local legend, Reggie had made what was called a “prenda,” an altar for evil magic housed entirely in a black cast iron cauldron, this is not a tradition in Voodoo, but comes from the Palo-Mayombe religion of eastern Cuba that originally has its roots in the Congo. In Reggie’s prenda were found the usual items-graveyard dirt, various herbs and animals bones. Also, he had a pet snake that would rest inside the prenda and come slithering to him on command, despite the fact that snakes are supposed to be deaf. He would often brag that he had in his command the spirit of a sociopath murderer who had died in the electric chair and that he could send this evil spirit out to kill or terrorize whomever he chose.
Vera was his neighbor and she often witnessed him performing dark, devious ceremonies between midnight and 3:00 am, the hours between which evil is at its most powerful. Reggie was forever offering animal sacrifices to the prenda, so much so that Vera called his house a slaughtering plant from the amount of goat and chicken carcasses that exited via the side door. Vera told him that if he kept feeding the spirit so much blood it was going to develop an addiction and become a “nadoki,” a malevolent blood-drinking spirit of African origin closely resembling the European vampire. One day, while chatting casually with Reggie over the fence the separated their two yards, she caught a glimpse of a tall shadowy figure with piercing red eyes standing in his kitchen. She knew immediately that the dark spirit had gained enough power to leave the prenda and amble about on its own. She warned him that his demise was imminent unless he disposed of the prenda by leaving it in a cemetery or at a crossroads and aspersing it with holy water. Reggie ignored her advice and two days later he was dead. Vera saw his lifeless body laying on the kitchen floor his head having been crushed by the overturned refrigerator with a stream of blood flowing toward the prenda. When the ambulance came to retrieve his body, Vera entered the house and retrieved the prenda unnoticed and personally destroyed its contents. She raised Reggie’s pet snake, who she claims was quite happy to get out of that crazy environment. Whether the story of Reggie transpired exactly as told or whether some exaggeration has occurred overtime does not matter, since the moral of the story is clear: People who live their lives doing evil eventually succumb to it and sooner or later meet an unhappy demise.
So I strongly urge to you avoid the dark side at all costs. Keep your hearts and mind always on God and His saints and such evil will not be able to touch you. Thank you for taking the time to ready my blog and if you feel you are in need of any of my services, please do not hesitate to contact me.
