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Originally Posted by jojobean
you are so right about the movies making everything so evil and scary.. that one experience with my friend was scary enough when the target actually got sick. she was angry with him when she did it so her intent may have been inadvertent but it seemed like it worked..
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Voodoo's bad press comes from its origins back in the slaver days.
As you probably know the treatment slaves received was a best nasty, at worst doesn't bear thinking about.
The system was stacked against slaves. If a plantation owner bought 10 slaves the broker would ensure as far as possible
that the 10 came from different regions; spoke different languages, so they couldn't communicate.
The slaves however recognised common signs across their faiths - allowing them to develop communication which didn't go down well with the bosses.
Observing what they thought were "religious" practices, the Christians among the slavers condemned them as evil.
These "animals" had to be taught how to be civilised.
They meted out horrible punishments when the slaves were caught at their own ceremony.
But that didn't stop the slaves studying the Christian lithurgy and realise they could disguise their practices as Christian worship.
The Christian cross was central to this. It's shape came from Africa via Egypt millennia ago and was adopted by the Roman church.
It's actual symbolism is the "crossroads". The cross-piece represents the barrier between the road of earthly life (the bottom upright)
and the life herinafter (the upright above the cross piece).
That's why every revered person (were they a Pharaoh or Jesus), was set on a cross
with their head resting in the top section.
So most slaves already understood the cross!
Anyway, slaves learned to communicate, developed Voodoo as a process of communication and contact with their spirits and Loa
(there's no translation for Loa - they aren't Gods, they aren't angels. maybe you could call them demigods.
They look after different aspects of the living: farming, trades like smithing, love and family,
water and sailing; and looking after the spirits of the dead (the Ghede family.
The Ghede/Gede have been portrayed as the most sinister - Baron Samedhi, Baron Cimitière (the one who looks after the cemetery,) but
their main jobs are looking after the spirits of the deceased, guarding their knowledge; and the guardians of children.
(They do have a god, the Grand Legba, and a god mother, the senior Ezile (there are other Eziles (sometimes Erzule) further down the hierarchy. )
Ok, so the slaves, outnumbering their masters by many-to-one eventually rebelled and defended themselves against their oppressors
(which gave rise to some horrid press at the time - these savages dare attack their masters, utter evil manifested, you'd think. :(
Their leader was one of the maroons, Boukman Dutton, They called him Boukman because he had learned to read.
Hence, Voodoo/Vodou has persisted in the Hollywood and Christian mind as evil. Its religious aspects have been the most misunderstood of
all religions.
My own feelings are that it's rather beautiful, caring and intensely spiritual. Reverence for the dead and ancestors is central.
Anyway, I hope that explains a little of "why?".
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