The Voodoo Religion And Its Stereotypes

One of the most famous Louisianians of all time is Marie Laveau, a voodoo practitioner with an interesting background who was considered “The Queen of New Orleans” (“Marie Catherine Laveau: Voodoo Queen of New Orleans (September 10, 1801 - June 15, 1881)”). She was the most well known practitioner of Louisiana or New Orleans voodoo, which was developed by the slaves brought to the south to work on plantations (“Voodoo in New Orleans”). Additionally, it was based on the Creole language and a strong belief in Catholicism, which greatly influenced Laveau during her lifetime. Even after death, Laveau has left a lasting legacy in New Orleans, which has inspired others and even led to the creation of a museum dedicated in her honor.

Today whenever you look on the television, mainstream media showcases Haitians in a negative light, resulting to misleading stereotypes and accusations of Haiti and Haitians in general. They always appear to have skin dark as night or that Haitians are the great whisperers of voodoo and dark magic. Majority of their government is corrupt and unjust due to the unfairness of money distributed in the country and poverty rising every year. Most hurtful of them all, is Haitians are poor and live in shacks made out of aluminum sheets and tires held together by the AIDS virus. Even after the unfortunate earthquake that Haiti had encountered in 2010, people were still condemned Haitians and their country, but now with sympathy in their eyes. All

Voodoo is a religion also known as Vodou or Voudon. In modern day society, the word ‘Voodoo’ usually brings others to the thought of dolls with pins stuck in them to cause pain on one’s enemies and the resurrection of the dead as zombies. In addition, black magic, animal sacrifices, and circles of worshipers dancing to the beat of a drum are just a few of the many other misconceptions about the practice of Voodoo. According to anthropologist Wade Davis, however, “Voodoo is not some kind of dark mystical force, it is simply a legitimate religion” (Handwerk, 2002). Though Voodoo began in West Africa, it is practiced in various forms worldwide. As the religion of Voodoo spread, it encountered a difficult transition. In spite of this hardship,

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The Voodoo tradition that is alive and well in Louisiana today is brought to the United States care of the slave trade from the early 16th century. West African slaves in the south kept their traditions alive in the US, despite an overwhelming and coercive Roman Catholic influence. Late in the evening, and behind closed doors, slaves returned to their roots to practice the traditions that their owners disapproved of. Despite their desire to keep their African traditions alive, they were powerless to stop the forceful nature of the Roman Catholic traditions. After many years, a new ritual order arose that blended Roman Catholicism and ancestral West African traditions: Louisiana Voodoo.

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The origins of New Orleans Voodoo go all the way back to the 16th century. It began through slave settlements located in Africa. It’s core beliefs or practices focus on things such as spirits and communication with them. The practitioners of voodoo believe the practice is a life altering and life affirming experience. Though voodoo itself did not originate in New Orleans, it traveled a lot and underwent a lot of syncretism with other religions on its way to becoming what it’s known as today.

The word voodoo means spirit in the West African. It is a religion practiced by much Haitian living in Haiti as well as the Diaspora. For the majority of Haitians, it is a symbol of solidarity of how they stood up and fought for their rights and freedom. For others, it is a painful source of reminder of how their ancestors were cruelly and unjustly treated by the Europeans.Even though the slaves were forced to convert to the Roman Catholic Christianity by missionaries, they continue to practice their faith. As a result, the voodoo is born out of the intermingling of beliefs and practices of African culture and the Catholicism. Nowadays the voodoo plays important role in different integrals politically and socially.In 1676, when the French colonized this Island, they possessed vast land, fields, pastures and garden. They needed cheap labor for the grueling work, especially in those sugars plantations. The slave system has already existed in the 16th century.

The Haitians that practice Voodoo associate with the Jews because when the Haitians were African slaves, the Europeans expressly considered both Jews and Africans to be devil worshippers.

Wicca has always been a religion that I have always found interesting. I think when people think of Wicca, their minds automatically go to witches, magic, being against God, evil, satanic. I think there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to the religion. I think Paganism and Wicca caught my attention with movies like The Craft or Practical Magic. I had cousins who were not allowed to watch things like that because it was “Evil.” I have never felt this way and I thought this was a religion I wanted to learn something more about. I think the negative misconceptions outway the actual truth when it comes to this religion. I think people tend to be afraid of the unknown and tend to learn what they know about religions from movies and Social Media.

First and foremost, voodoo is not just black magic, spells, and voodoo dolls that everyone associates with what has been portrayed in the movies and television shows. For example, the movie Serpent and the Rainbow, directed by Wes Craven

Many of today’s religions share strict beliefs that are found only within their own religion, they restrict the possibility to believe anything other that what the religion tells its followers to believe, in Voodoo you are not a follower. Voodoo is a religion influenced by many other religions; it allows its followers to feel free. When Voodoo worshipers left Africa and reached the far away island of Haiti, the Voodoo religion changed. Catholicism of the slave owners, and various alternative religions from native islanders, influenced Voodoo. Voodoo easily incorporated these other religions because of its welcoming nature. Voodoo was appealing, especially to the slaves and poor members of a community. Because it was so inviting, it became a way for people with troubles and turmoil to unite. The slaves united through Voodoo to throw off white rule. It was the first successful slave

I was asked to review data on our visa portfolio to determine what the impact would be if we were to change members rates to match their most current credit score. I have done this by reviewing three separate snapshots of our Visa Portfolio. For each set I eliminated all cards and balances that would not see a rate change. I also eliminated all that had a current credit score of 0 or in the 9000’s. Due to the small amount of cards and balances this impacts I don’t think this will alter the results significantly. Further, it was requested that I change all who are now have a credit score of 730 and above to 9.9%. This is a significant change as probably our largest block of card holders are A+ borrowers with a rewards visa at a rate of 11.9%.

I'm sure everyone has their own perception of voodoo inside their head. Most people think includes black magic, evil spirits, and causing harm to others. However, voodoo is actually a complex tradition of faiths and beliefs that combine into an overall world full of religion and magic. It is believed to have started sometime around 1724 in Africa, Haiti specifically. Today, there are still people in parts of the United States that believe in voodoo and practice it. Voodoo embraces the

Witchcraft exists. Whether we choose to believe or not, its existence in worldwide cultures is undeniable. Its form takes many shapes that can be determined by the religion, economics, politics, and folk beliefs in each individual culture where it may take place. Its importance in our own, American, history should not go understated: Witches were a major dilemma for people who lived in 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, and as a result women (and men) were hanged due to undeniable belief in the power of Witchcraft. Today, belief in magic and witches has diminished with the increasingly secular nature of our culture, but we must accept there was a time when witches “existed”. While American culture has drifted away from ideas such as witchcraft, others have certainly not, with the primary example being Africa. Witchcraft in African culture accounts for many of the issues found within many of the continents communities. Correcting these issues, at least for a time, usually results in a community being “fixed” (examples are made in Adam Ashford’s account of witchery, Madumo, a Man Bewitched and the anthropological accounts being used for this essay). What is fascinating; however, are the parallels that can be made between witchcraft in different cultures. In a previous essay I touched on this topic by incorporating my definition of witchcraft as “a cultural means of being able to create particular moral boundaries by means of ‘magic’ thinking” (Brian Riddle, 2015). In this essay, I