These past few weeks, I have learned more about Voodoo both from the book “A History of Magic Witchcraft and the Occult,” and from the movie, “The Witches of Eastwick.” I wanted to touch on what I had learned from this book and movie but also dive into what more research on this subject taught me. Before taking this class, I did not know much about Voodoo except for what Voodoo dolls were used for and that it is seen in New Orleans. My prior experiences with Voodoo comes from experiencing this magic tradition firsthand in New Orleans and seeing many television shows and movies referencing it.
The book, “A History of Magic Witchcraft and the Occult,” explained Voodoo history, stating that Voodoo (which is also referred to as Voudon), began as a religion in West Africa and was brought by African slaves to various French colonies. Due to the French banning all other religions besides Catholicism, enslaved individuals practicing Voodoo had no choice but to become Catholic, and merged Voodoo with Catholicism. This fused religion still has one god like in Catholicism, but is worshiped through various spirits. It is still practiced as a religion in Haiti today, which was where one of the old French colonies was. When Haitians revolted, and were freed from slavery, many of them left to settle in New Orleans. The Voodoo practiced in New Orleans became more magical than religious and is similar to the Voodoo seen today across America.
It was interesting to learn about the fusion of Catholicism and Voodoo because I did not know prior to this class that Voodoo was considered a religion. Furthermore, the fact that in French colonies, slavery was a key feature of Voodoo was shocking. Learning that oppression was entangled with Voodoo, and that Voodoo was a large factor in what enabled Haitians to succeed in their revolt was shocking. This showed me that there is more to Voodoo than just the silly dolls or people pretending to practice Voodoo in order to scam individuals.
The final aspect of Voodoo I wanted to touch on was Voodoo dolls. Voodoo dolls are used to inflict pain on a person the user wishes to bring harm to by sticking needles into a doll. I knew that needles were used on the doll to inflict pain on individuals, but did not know that other methods of inflicting pain with the doll existed. In the movie, “The Witches of Eastwick,” the three witches used not only needles but also cherries and feathers to inflict damage on their victim. However, upon researching more, I learned that Voodoo dolls are not actually relevant to the Voodoo religion anymore. I also learned that the color of the pin a person inserts into the doll affects what the victim feels. This knowledge about Voodoo and Voodoo dolls was all very fascinating and I am interested to learn more about this religion and how it continues to be used today.
Thanks for this thoughtful reflection on voodoo and the use of voodoo dolls. As you correctly note, there's a great divide between the practice of Voudon/voodoo and the popular market for voodoo dolls. The latter have little to do with religious belief. What's fascinating to me is that Europeans during the witch centuries also believed witches used dolls in their magic, only they called "poppets." Strangely enough, poppets were found in the cellar of one of the accused Salem witches. Like horseshoes, poppets were popular in folk belief. I look forward to more of your reflections.
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