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Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. Vodou teaches the existence of a transcendent creator divinity, Bondye, under whom are spirits known as lwa. Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African deities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints. The lwa divide into different groups, the nanchon ("nations"), most notably the Rada and the Petwo, about whom various myths and stories are told. This theology has been labelled both monotheistic and polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists commonly venerate the lwa at an ounfò (temple), run by an oungan (priest) or manbo (priestess). Alternatively, Vodou is also practised within family groups or in secret societies like the Bizango. A central ritual involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage a lwa to possess one of their members and thus communicate with them. Offerings to the lwa, and to spirits of the dead, include fruit, liquor, and sacrificed animals. Several forms of divination are utilized to decipher messages from the lwa. Healing rituals and the preparation of herbal remedies and talismans also play a prominent role. Vodou developed among Afro-Haitian communities amid the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries. Its structure arose from the blending of the traditional religions of those enslaved West and Central Africans brought to the island of Hispaniola, among them Kongo, Fon, and Yoruba. There, it absorbed influences from the culture of the French colonialists who controlled the colony of Saint-Domingue, most notably Roman Catholicism but also Freemasonry. Many Vodouists were involved in the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1801 which overthrew the French colonial government, abolished slavery, and transformed Saint-Domingue into the republic of Haiti. The Roman Catholic Church left for several decades following the Revolution, allowing Vodou to become Haiti's dominant religion. In the 20th century, growing emigration spread Vodou abroad. The late 20th century saw growing links between Vodou and related traditions in West Africa and the Americas, such as Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé, while some practitioners influenced by the Négritude movement have sought to remove Roman Catholic influences. Most Haitians practice both Vodou and Roman Catholicism, seeing no contradiction in pursuing the two different systems simultaneously. Smaller Vodouist communities exist elsewhere, especially among Haitian diasporas in Cuba and the United States. Both in Haiti and abroad Vodou has spread beyond its Afro-Haitian origins and is practiced by individuals of various ethnicities. Having faced much criticism through its history, Vodou has been described as one of the world's most misunderstood religions. Definitions and terminology Vodou is a religion. More specifically, scholars have characterised it as an Afro-Haitian religion, and as Haiti's "national religion". Its main structure derives from the African traditional religions of West and Central Africa which were brought to Haiti by enslaved Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries. Of these, the greatest influences came from the Fon and Bakongo peoples. On the island, these African religions mixed with the iconography of European-derived traditions such as Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry, taking the form of Vodou around the mid-18th century. In combining varied influences, Vodou has often been described as syncretic, or a "symbiosis", a religion exhibiting diverse cultural influences. As formed in Haiti, Vodou represented "a new religion", "a creolized New World system", one that differs in many ways from African traditional religions. The scholar Leslie Desmangles therefore called it an "African-derived tradition", Ina J. Fandrich termed it a "neo-African religion", and Markel Thylefors called it an "Afro-Latin American religion". Several other African diasporic religions found in the Americas formed in a similar way, and owing to their shared origins in West African traditional religion, Vodou has been characterized as a "sister religion" of Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. Vodou has no central institutional authority, no single leader, and no developed body of doctrine. It thus has no orthodoxy, no central liturgy, and no formal creed. Developing over the course of several centuries, it has changed over time. It displays variation at both the regional and local level—including variation between Haiti and the Haitian diaspora—as well as among different congregations. It is practiced domestically, by families on their land, but also by congregations meeting communally, with the latter termed "temple Vodou". In Haitian culture, religions are not generally deemed totally autonomous. Many Haitians thus practice both Vodou and Roman Catholicism, with Vodouists usually regarding themselves as Roman Catholics. In Haiti, Vodouists have also practiced Protestantism, Mormonism, or Freemasonry; in Cuba they have involved themselves in Santería, and in the United States with modern Paganism. Vodou has also absorbed elements from other contexts; in Cuba, some Vodouists have adopted elements from Spiritism. Influenced by the Négritude movement, other Vodouists have sought to remove Roman Catholic and other European influences from their practice of Vodou. Terminology In English, Vodou's practitioners are termed Vodouists; in French and Haitian Creole, they are called Vodouisants or Vodouyizan. Another term for adherents is sèvitè (serviteurs, "devotees"), reflecting their self-description as people who sèvi lwa ("serve the lwa"), the supernatural beings that play a central role in Vodou. Many words used in the religion derive from the Fon language of West Africa; this includes the word Vodou itself. First recorded in the 1658 Doctrina Christiana, the Fon word Vôdoun was used in the West African kingdom of Dahomey to signify a spirit or deity. In Haitian Creole, Vodou came to designate a specific style of dance and drumming, before outsiders to the religion adopted it as a generic term for much Afro-Haitian religion. The word Vodou now encompasses "a variety of Haiti's African-derived religious traditions and practices", incorporating "a bundle of practices that practitioners themselves do not aggregate". Vodou is thus a term primarily used by scholars and outsiders to the religion; many practitioners describe their belief system with the term Ginen, which especially denotes a moral philosophy and ethical code regarding how to live and to serve the spirits. Vodou is the common spelling for the religion among scholars, in o.... Discover the Marc P Cosentino popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Marc P Cosentino books.