by Bob Curran
The roots of the voodoo “religion” are believed to lie in the beliefs of the Ewe peoples, who inhabited an area that was known as Old Ghana many centuries ago (the areas of Mali and Mauritania and parts of Ghana today), although today their descendants inhabit areas of Ghana, Togo, and Benin. The origins of these people are extremely obscure, but they are thought to have migrated from Egypt somewhere around the 13th century. They settled around the Volta River and developed a culture that gave rise to the Fon, Ewe, and several other related tribes, all of whom share a common language-form. The word voodoo is thought to have derived from the Fon dialect and simply means “spirit,” although several other French derivations and meanings have also been suggested.
The area was indeed occupied by several European colonial powers—England, France, and Portugal—and this influenced both the character and nature of culture that emerged there. The belief that has grown out of the word voodoo is a syncretic one, in that it attempts to make sense of the world around individuals by unifying the disparate elements of physical existence into a cohesive whole through the work of spirits. The spirits are everywhere, according to the voodoo tradition, and they intervene in the affairs of the mortal world on a regular basis. They are often capricious and prefer small children, and they are easily flattered or raised to anger. Some are benevolent toward humans, others can be placated and flattered by humans, and some are implacably hostile towards humans. All of them, however, can shape human destiny, for good or bad, and all are susceptible to supplication by recognized practitioners and spirit summoners. In some cases they possess the physical bodies of those who had contact with them in order to achieve their purpose. It is the actions of these spirits (the “voodoo”) that holds the universe together.
Lemba
Closely related to the basic voodoo beliefs of Western Africa are the central tenets of lemba, a belief-system that was mainly based on the Congo River in the central-west part of the continent. The river takes its name from the Kongo people who once inhabited the area (the name Kongo means “hunter”) and who founded an ancient kingdom there. This formed what is today the Central African Republic of Congo and part of Angola, from which a distinctive culture emerged. Although Kongo beliefs also centred on the spirit world, it was subtly different to those of Old Ghana and western Africa. In the lemba perception, the central spirits are not wholly the forces of nature as they are in voodoo, but rather the spirits of dead ancestors. In strict lemba teaching only Nzambi Mpungu—the supreme high being—has always existed outside of time and space. All other spirits and supernatural forces have formerly existed in the world at some stage or other. In fact, some of the most powerful spirits (bakulu) are ancestors who died many centuries before. Similar to the spirits of voodoo, these ghosts or souls can be appealed to and can perform supernatural feats if the mood takes them. Throughout the years, this belief in the spirit ancestors became entwined with other ideas, such as a spirit of place or wandering air spirits.
When Nzinga Nkuwu, one of the kings of the Kongo, converted to Christianity in 1491, the belief-system underwent a major change. King Nzinga insisted that all his people practice the Christian faith, and so they did, adapting it so that they might continue with their old faiths and beliefs. The dead, in this syncretic faith, became akin to saints who could be called upon for favors and could actually, from time to time, take on a physical presence to enable them to intervene. It was thought that it could possess the living or take over objects in order to fulfil their wishes and will.
This, to some extent, was also a feature of voodoo belief, with which lemba was intermingled, and gradually the notions of the returning dead and the spirits who came and went through the world became fused together. Ideas of spirit possession were common in both traditions and the idea that the dead might be summoned, perhaps in a physical form, gradually became more widespread.
African Diaspora
As has already been noted, the voodoo belief system does not pertain to formal clergy such as ordained ministers or priests. Nevertheless, an informal clerical structure exists, consisting of those who have direct contact with the spirits and who know their moods and will. These are the successors of the local shamans in the homeland villages of Africa—those who had been able to converse directly with the spirits or who had been possessed by them. They are known as houngans, bokors (male), and mambos (female), and their powers are believed to be almost as potent as those of the spirits themselves.
Voodoo spread to America and through the Caribbean through what came to be known as the African Diaspora. From the late 17th century, through the 18th, and into the early 19th, there was a steady demand in these areas for slave laborers to work in the cotton, rice, and sugar cane plantations that were fuelling both the American and European economies. African slaves in particular fetched high prices, and so the coasts of the continent were systematically raided by slave-hunters who carried men and women away to work on the great estates of the New World. The slaves brought their own belief-systems with them, which flourished on the plantations, developing into unified voodoo cults that reflected the areas in which their plantations were situated—whether it was in the Caribbean islands, America, or Brazil. For example, many of the slaves in the American cotton plantations of Mississippi were of Ewe origin, whereas many of those working on the rice estates of South Carolina were of Kongo or Gola descendancy. Some of those who worked in the South American coffee plantations were of Yoruba origin, but, though the names of the spirits were different, their powers and influences were essentially the same.
Haitian Beliefs
One of the best-known forms of voodoo (or voudoun) is the Haitian strand that has its roots in the belief systems of Dahomey (Benin). This belief system has been made famous in the West through countless films and novels, and is supposedly the form that is closest to the ideal of curses, deadly charms, and zombies.
The Haitian Republic makes up part of the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean, and, although now extremely poor, it was once the site of numerous wealthy sugar cane plantations. It was initially known as Ayiti (Land of Mountains), which is a name that was used by the indigenous Tiano peoples to describe their homeland. The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus on December 5, 1492, and was originally a Spanish protectorate. Indeed, one of the earliest colonists there was Columbus’s brother Bartholomew, who founded a settlement based around a church dedicated to St. Dominic. However, large numbers of French buccaneers used Hispaniola as a base, establishing a large colony there and allowing France entitlement to part of the island.
In fact, at the same time they were condemning piracy the French government secretly dealt with a pirate chieftain named Guillaume Barre to establish large buccaneer enclaves on the western part of the island in defiance of Spanish rule. Frequent raids on Spanish shipping by French-backed pirates and the expansion of their enclaves meant that some sort of accommodation had to be reached, and this was done in 1697 in the Dutch town of Ryswick, as a treaty was signed granting a greater part of the island to the Spanish (the Dominican Republic) and the western third portion to the French (Haiti), which they called Saint-Dominogue.
Many of the pirate colonies now took to growing both tobacco and sugar cane, and the rise in the prices of these commodities, coupled with the easy availability of land in the west of Hispaniola, drew many French colonists. Between 1713 and 1787, more than 30,000 French colonists arrived, establishing themselves and turning Santo Domingo into one of the richest areas in the Caribbean. The island’s tobacco and sugar industries boomed and great plantations grew, which produced crops for export.
Plantations
Concomitant with this rising trade was a growth in slavery. Slaves were needed to work in the plantation field and gather in the crops, and soon Haiti was full of slave ships carrying human cargo, mostly taken from West Africa, which provided an almost infinite resource for the slaves. Thousands of black slaves arrived at the Haitian plantations, usually owned by Fre
nch masters, and the black population steadily grew. In fact, in the eyes of the French colonists, it was growing to dangerous proportions, for the number of slaves on the island was now becoming higher than the number of French; fears of a slave rebellion mounted.
Haiti was not the only slave-holding region of the Caribbean. The British also maintained a number of island and American mainland plantations that depended heavily on slaves, and, similar to the French, they too feared revolt. In 1667, the British government passed a series of codes that were designed to regulate the behavior of slaves on their plantations. Shortly afterward, many other countries, including the French, adopted similar legislation. This meant that, if slaves attempted to run away, they could be brought back and severely disciplined. Although the result of this was certainly to keep the slave population in subjection on many plantations, it also drove the African culture underground, and made them dependant upon their own “religion” and spiritual (in the literal sense) leaders. This belief system borrowed from the Catholic faith of their French masters and it is possible to find elements of European culture within the main voodoo belief—sometimes in the language, and sometimes how the “religion” is structured. What emerges then is a heady mix of ancient Pagan gods from western Africa and French Catholicism.
Loa
The spirits in Haitian voodoo are known as loa, and they are a mixture of entities that have existed since the dawn of time (similar to gods) and the souls of dead ancestors. These loa come and go at will between the spirit world and our own; for the most part, they are invisible, but sometimes they take over the physical bodies of their followers for their own purposes. If there was a supreme being in this form of voodoo then it was Bondye (many have argued that this is a localized corruption of the French god Bon Dieu), who existed outside of time and space but who oversaw the loa in a kind of patriarchal sense. This entity was looked on in the same way that formal religions might look on God, Jehovah, or Allah. Some Haitian practitioners argue that Bondye does not really exist; this is simply part of the affect of the Christian French colonial culture on the native African traditions—and that the real supreme power is Damballa (or Damballah Weddo), who is the supreme loa. Damballa is also the spirit of fertility, of serpents and rainbows, and was probably originally a god or entity that was worshipped by the slaves who were brought from Dahomey. Damballa is sometimes portrayed as a great serpent, and is known in folklore as “Le Gran Zombi” or “Li Zombi.” This may be the origin of the word zombie, which may not actually initially refer to the walking dead, but rather to an eternal spirit of resurrection and renewal that had the power over life and death.
Damballa’s partner in the voodoo pantheon is Erzulie Freda, who is the patron of flowers, dancing, and music. She is also the spirit who is responsible for returning growth and, although Damballa is only one of her consorts (she has three) she exerts great influence over him. The beliefs of her followers are not far removed from those of some of the ancient fertility and resurrection beliefs that flourished in early Middle Eastern times. Indeed, she may preside over the resurrection of the dead who reemerge from their graves, just as a plant dies and reemerges from the earth. There is, however, yet another element of Haitian voodoo that is tangentially concerned with resurrection from the dead.
Papa Legba
This is Papa Legba, the Lord of the Crossroads. In many respects, Legba is viewed as the intermediary between the world of the living and the world of the loa, particularly the spirits of the dead. He is the “Opener of the Way” between the two worlds and acts as a kind of gatekeeper for loa or spirits wishing to cross from one plane of existence into the other. Often portrayed as an old man leaning on a crutch or (in Benin and Nigeria) as a young and virile man with goats horns, he is one of the most potent symbols in Haitian voodoo. He connects the world of the living to Guinee, the Haitian Underworld from which the spirits or loa of the dead often rise up, seeking entry into the mortal world. Guinee (not to be confused with Guinen, the voodoo Paradise that lies underwater just off the Haitian coast) is the home of both the loa and the dead; it lies on the other side of the mirror, centered around the invisible city of life—Lavilokan—which conversely is the abode of the dead. Spirits of the dead return through mirrors or reflective surfaces to possess the bodies of the houngan, the bokor, or the mambo, and make their wishes known. Such interventions are usually accompanied by heavy drinking and loud drumming, which were also features of the African culture.
Lavilokan
Rada and Petra
And just to confuse things even further, two types of voodoo exist in Haiti. The first is based around the belief systems previously outlined and is known as Rada. The name is probably a corruption of Arada, a region in Dahomey from which many of the slaves were brought, and contained many of the beliefs of the Ewe, Fon, and related peoples. It concerns itself mainly with healing and exorcism and is, in many ways, considered to be a very positive aspect of the voodoo ideal. This strand of the belief relies heavily on the French traditions of the island, using many French words and concepts in order to explain its essential truths. The second branch is known as Petro or Petra voodoo, sometimes known as “Spanish voodoo.” This is a darker and much more aggressive type of tradition, and there is an interesting folktale regarding its origins.
Although Haiti is essentially French, the island was originally Spanish, and many of the Spanish influences were retained. There were, for instance, a number of Spanish plantations that imported slaves to work in the cane fields. The legend states that, on one occasion, a slave known as Don Pedro drank large quantities of rum mixed with gunpowder (this was not an unusual mix for the famous pirate Captain Edward Teach—Blackbeard—who enjoyed a similar tipple) and began to dance wildly, summoning rather dark loa to him. Don Pedro later became a great bokor, dabbling in black magic, and his famous Danse de Don Pedro (which became the foundation for the Petro voodoo strand) was used to summon unwholesome spirits and the dead to do the bidding of the magician. Petro voodoo is sometimes known as Kongo voodoo, and this may suggest some aspects of the beliefs of different slaves from the Congo River. It is this Petro voodoo with which many Westerners are perhaps more familiar through grisly and lurid books and films. And although the Petro belief system in many ways parallels the Rada tradition, there are subtle variations and additional gods and loa. One figure (or figures) of note is (are) the guide, Ghede, or Papa Ghede. This is a confusing entity or series of entities (depending on what strand of the belief is followed), which has transferred to New Orleans voodoo and which forms a central tenet of the Petro tradition. In some accounts of the belief, the guede are a collection of loa who are strongly connected with the dead and who are charged (by either Damballa or Bondye) to escort the dead to Guinee. Although vague and unnamed in pure Haitian voodoo, they can nevertheless make their presence felt by possessing the bodies of the living or occupying the corpses of the dead—the essence of the zombie story.
In other traditions, Ghede or Papa Ghede is a single entity who functions very much in the same style as Papa Legba, and in fact the two are sometimes interchanged in the voodoo mind. Papa Ghede has the power over life and death, and is closely connected with the concept of resurrection and bringing the dead back from the grave. He is a dark and malevolent entity who can only be placated with copious amounts of rum and money. Ghede has a virulent hostility to all things European, and often is said to wait at the crossroads for passing white folk to whom he can do some mischief. He is also said to be the spirit of the first black man who ever died, and is usually portrayed as a short, stocky man in a tall hat, smoking a large cigar, and holding an apple in his left hand.
Petro voodoo is perhaps the most political of the two strands. In August 1791, Haiti erupted in a major slave revolt following the sacrifice of a black pig to the loa of Ezili Dantor—a goddess who was worshipped on some of the larger plantations. She is the Petro goddess of motherhood and is sometimes referred to as the “Creole Madonna.” The sacrifi
ce was carried out by the influential houngan, Dutty Boukman, who was later beheaded by the French authorities, but became one of the loa himself. Most of the violence that defined the risings was partly fueled by raw alcohol, which forms a central part of the Petro belief and was distilled from the sugar cane that was grown on the plantations themselves. This was one of the times when both strands of the island voodoo tradition had come together in a spontaneous act of violence and rebellion. The targets of their revolution, which would continue sporadically until 1803, were the plantation owners and the “petits blancs,” or white men of lesser influence—shop owners, shipping agencies, and so on. There were many stories from this time, which were extremely spurious.
There were stories, for example, that local houngans had used the walking dead in order to overthrow troops sent against them, and that some of their followers had practiced cannibalism. All these tales were, of course, designed to create antipathy toward the Creoles and to generate a sense of alarm, so that more troops could be brought in to put down the rebellion. It did, however, link the practice of voodoo in the Caribbean with the idea of witchcraft and sorcery. The risings would continue until January 1, 1804, when the slave leader and commander Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti an independent republic. The loss of the colony, together with the reparations paid by the French and the new Haitian governments to plantation owners who had lost their property, was a severe blow to French interests in the Caribbean. Faced with such a catastrophe, the colonial authorities searched around for some sort of excuse for their failings. The slaves had, they suggested, appealed to ancient and barbarous gods.
