Voodoo

Voodoo Fon is spoken by over half of Benin and is the mother tongue of Voodoo. In Fon, the basic word of Voodoo is vodoun, which means spirit or god. Voodoo was born in West Africa more than 350 years ago. In fact, a small town in Benin, Allada is often referred to as a "cradle of Voodoo". In 1996, on January 10th I celebrated the 65% believer in Benin's population and became a national Voodoo Day. Religious Vodoun is a by-product of slave trade. This Yoruban religion was shipped to Haiti from Dahomey's slave trade now known as Bein.

Voodoo spread to other African countries, Caribbean, and the Americas as well. In Benin and Haiti, voodoo is now officially recognized as a religion. Nevertheless, Voodoo is still a fairly misunderstood religion due to inaccurate explanation of that media. We should not relate this religion to zombies and voodoo dolls, but we should better understand Voodoo and regard it as a series of guiding principles for living and believers.

Voodoo may be the most misunderstood religion in the world. For beginners, Voodoo is spelled as Vodun or Vodou in most cases by anthropologists, religious scholars and practitioners. Through racial twist and Hollywood sensation carefully, Vodou was associated with devil worship, evil curse, "voodoo doll" and zombies. These distortions have nothing to do with the lives and historical religious traditions of Diaspora in West Africa and Africa.

The truth is that voodoo is religion, philosophy, and the lifestyle of millions of people all over the world. There are as many varieties of voodoo as Christians, and those theories are not. Voodoo in New Orleans is her own tradition, Voodoo of Haiti, Voodoo of Dominican Republic: Las Vegas 21, Candomble, Paro, Trinidad Orissa, Santeria, Obeah, and of course Mother-African Voodoo. But Voodoo & Hoodoo is a vocabulary of fear, curiosity and confusion. Black magic, zombies, carnival vision dance in the head! Fear the black voodoo doll and sell your soul to the devil, the curse of evil is being condemned. But real Voodoo & Hoodoo is not. Too long is told what is good and what is wrong, people now want to find their own truth.

Most movies, TV programs, books do not accurately portray voodoo. Even documentaries and non-fiction books may be misleading. Voodoo is not cults, black magic, or devil worship. People who practice Voodoo are not magicians, wizards, or mystics. Voodoo is not an act designed to hurt or control others. Most voodoo never saw a "voodoo doll" (unless you look like you in a movie). In order to understand their beliefs, we must first understand how voodoo looks at the world. People who practice Voodoo believe in the visible and invisible world, and these worlds are intertwined. As death is a transition to an invisible world, our predecessors are still spiritual with us. They will monitor and stimulate us