Creolization of Religion in Haiti

Traditional Haitian religion, a creolized or African and European influenced religion, Vodun, is stigmatized in many parts of the world as "devilish" because of its worship of spirits, its redefining of Catholic iconography, and its "catching of the spirit" dance rituals. Because Vodun is a combination of Europe and Africa, it's best to break apart the elements contained from both continents. I'll start with Africa, the most influential of the two.

Describing the African elements in Vodun is much easier when comparing the religions of countries of similarly displaced Africans. The French and British Caribbean were colonized with African slaves. Having a bit of knowledge of traditional Jamaican religion helps to explain Haitian religion.

Jamaican religion is heavily influenced by dance as Haitian religion is. They have traditional dances called ring shouts, and possession of dancers occurs-- usually the spirits are ancestors. Both Jamaica and Haiti's dance rituals include pocomania dancers: "the young paying homage to ancestors through dance" (Sign of the Loa). Do not be fooled by the word dance. Their religious dance rituals are very serious. An integral facet of African religion worth noting is the role of music. Drums in particular in African religion. Without the drums, one would be hard pressed to witness a possession as the rhythmic beat create an almost trance-like state in the dancers. Ancestor worship is present in both Haiti and Jamaica. In contrast to Jamaica, dancers can be possessed by ancestor spirits and by Loa, spirit gods in Haiti.

Loa symbols are where the European influence is. The Haitian spirit gods generally have a Catholic equivalent. For example, a Legba or spiritual guide is a powerful symbol in all of African religion. Haitians characterize their Legba spirit god as a St. Peter standing at the pearly gates. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others. The use of Catholic icons for their spirit gods was necessitated to safeguard their religion from slave masters, who would have attempted to destroy their foreign religion, regarding it as evil black magic. Each Loa has a sacred symbol designated to it made with ash, dust, or the like.

"The Sign of Loa" stated that the African slaves had to create their cultural religion with what they had. They were versed in their traditional African religions, and they also had a limited knowledge of other religions, particularly Catholicism from their slave masters. However, they had no scripture on which to found their religion. This means their main interest wasn't to be scripturally accurate. Their interest was in saving their African religious traditions and heritage. Three terms summarize the development of their creolized religion Loa.

Haitians had to resist Christianity in order to salvage their religion (Negation). They then had to incorporate Christian symbols to hide their spirit gods from slave masters (Appropriation). Then they had to reconcile both religions and bring them together in a cohesive form (Syncretization).

What we have is an African religion with Catholic iconography. Besides the Legba, Erzulie Dentor represents the Virgin Mary. There are many others.

The feared spirit of the dead, Baron Samedi, is featured as the possessor at a real Vodun ritual in this informational National Geographic video on Vodun (they're calling it voodoo). The video explores the role of the Haitian Shaman/Priest who has great spiritual, economic, political, and medical power in Haiti (The Sign of Lao). A Haitian Shaman's attributes are ironically highlighted by the fact that this Haitian Shaman is also a business man, a former mayor, and in this video, he attempts to heal a mentally insane or spirit plagued person.



By Chris Porteus