Now, everything has its similarities and differences. The similarities between the U.S. and Haiti are, first, religions. The top religions in these countries are Protestant and Roman Catholic. Those are also two of the most popular religions in the world. Another similarity is having a similar ethnic group. Those ethnic groups are black and white, which is probably because of the area they are in. They both have a form of a republic. Even though America’s is a constitution federal republic with a strong democratic tradition, and Haiti is just a…
Born to my father and mother who are natives of Haiti, I have developed a strong sense of the Haitian culture. I was born and raised in the United States, but I would have to tell you that because there is no way to decipher that due to the manner in which my parents raised me and my 3 siblings. My parents are proud Haitians that believe in their principles, religious beliefs, and the upbringing of their children. My parents kept us in church 24 hours and 7 days a week. If there was a service happening, we were going to be there. After a while, growing up in that type of household you would either love church or hate it. The Haitian community had church services anywhere that was available store front, basements, gymnasiums, and even…
I found Karen McCarthy Brown’s Mama Lola to be an innovative and intimate “ethnographic spiritual biography” exploring the lived realities, material and immaterial, of a Haitian Voudou priestess and her family in New York City from the late 1970’s through the 1980’s. (xiv) Brown’s approach is innovative because she treats her subjects’ as multivocal and fluid. Brown heeds her own advice and contrary to most ethnographic scholars before her, appropriately represents her own, albeit limited, voice, and positionality as similarly multiplicitous and in flux, reciprocally performing “meaningmaking” with Alourdes and family. Brown’s many voices aptly declare numerous interrelated aims, including “to describe as fully and accurately ... Alourdes’ daytoday practice of Haitian Vodou”, to “plant images of quotidian Vodou practice in the minds of thinking people, images that would linger and soften the formulaic association of Vodou with the superstitious and the satanic”, and to portray “Vodou embedded in the vicissitudes of particular lives.” (xv, xiv, 15)…
Haiti is a very religious place. The primary western religion practiced is Catholicism and the minority (15-20%) are Protestant (Colin, 2006). Their first choice when ill is trying home remedies and prayer. They have a strong belief that their prayers have the power to heal what inflicts them. Voodoo is still very revered in Haitian culture and since Catholicism is so closely related to the Voodoo religion, a majority of Haitians still…
On the other hand, Professor Markley holds a quite neutral attitude to the Voudou. When she defined the “Traditional Cultures”, she judged on these cultures unbiasedly. In the reading material, she wrote that traditional cultures “have limited technology but extensive knowledge of environment.” She considered both the limit and advantage of an exotic culture. What’s more, Professor Markley use Alfred Metraux’s “Voodoo in Haiti” to introduce what is Vodou, the history of Voudou, central believes, healing and code of ethics. The article is much more like a scientific document and tells us some background knowledge of the Voudou. Besides, Markley quoted the interviews with Haitian practitioners of Voudou when introducing the one creator God-Le Bon Dieu. For example, “He conjures up no precise image, he’s too far away for there to be much point even in addressing…
The tradition of Voodoo goes back 100’s of years. Voodoo means spirit during a voodoo ceremony the believers gather outdoors to make contact with the Loa, any of a pantheon of spirits who have various functions running the universe, much like Greek gods. There is also a responsibility to care for beloved and deified family spirits and to honor a chief god, Bondieu. At the ceremony, the houngan or mambo which are also priests sacrifices a sanctified chicken or other animal to the Loa. Participants then ask the spirits for advice or help with problems. More than half the requests are for health. The Loa talks to prophecies, to give advice, or warnings, while the believer is possessed. Other messages are sent through the priest and sometimes come later in dreams. Voodoo spirits are believed to become tired and worn down and humans have to feed these spirits during the ritual. Every spirits has a distinct identity. Some spirits are loving and good,…
In the old time the African people use some spells to take the sympathy of the bad spirits, so that they did not harm them. Now these spells are using to control the bad spirit. The practitioners of the voodoo magic can control the bad spirits and the souls to achieve their goal. The folk magic spells are the words which were used by the people…
An occult is a supernatural, mystical, or a magical belief; for example black magic and witchcraft. A person that’s in a occult usually believes in death and black magic. Something during the occult props are used like Ouija boards, voodoo dolls, and sacrificing living creatures. All these contact the devil or with the dead. Contacting the dead or the devil can reveal secrets and dangers of the future. The occult is a very dangerous thing to join and can cause possession and death. As the occult is man made, not like the paranormal its spiritual.…
In the Voodoo religion, a priestess hosts a number of different ceremonies each year. During these ceremonies, one of the people present (usually the priestess herself) is supposedly possessed by one or more spirit(s) who then communicates with the rest of the people present. A typical example of a Voodoo ceremony is that described in the book Mama Lola by Karin McCarthy Brown. Here, Mama Lola, as this voodoo priestess is known, lives in Brooklyn and does all she can to stay faithful to her Haitian religion. After inviting her voodoo family' for what will be the birthday celebration of the spirit Azaka, all members, important and close gather to help set up the intricate and festive alter in the basement of Mama Lola's small apartment in Brooklyn, New York. While setting up the alter, they are sure to include only the things Azaka…
Haiti is the second largest Caribbean Island. It occupies a third of the western part of the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is also made up of several islands that surround the main territory. The capital is Port-au-Prince. It rains between November and March in the North of the island and between May and October in the South. “Once covered by forest, the country has been heavily logged for wood and fuel and to clear land for farming, and is now largely deforested.” Haiti is divided into “nine administrative departments.” Besides the capital, other important cities are Cap-Haitien and Gonaives. “Haiti is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the lowest per capital income, with about half the people unemployed and three quarters living in the severest poverty.” Agriculture is the main economic activity in Haiti. The main crops grown are cassava, rice, sugarcane, sorghum, yams, corn, and plantains. The main exports are coffee, cotton, sugar, sisal, bauxite, and essences. The most predominant religion is Roman Catholicism. “Catholicism is enshrined in the Haitian constitution as the official state religion, and between 80 and 85% of Haitians are Catholics.” The religion of Voodoo is also practiced. “Vodou encompasses several different traditions, and consists of a mix encompassing African, European and indigenous Taìno religious elements.” It is unknown how many people practice Voodoo, but many practice it along with their Christian faith. Haiti has a rich culture that comes mostly from voodoo tribes. Haitian culture is a mixture of French, African elements, and native Taíno, with influence from the colonial Spanish. “The country's customs essentially are a blend of cultural beliefs that derived from the various ethnic groups that inhabited the island of Hispaniola.” “In nearly all aspects of modern Haitian society however, the European and African elements dominate. Haiti is…
Most of the Haitian population was originally from Africa, which supports the transformation from the Kongo culture to Haitian Vodou. The Encyclopedia of Global Religion reads, “What is distinctive about Haitian Vodou additionally is that it incorporated the powerful systems of the Bakongo [Kongo] peoples in Central Africa.”21 In addition, Paul Gardullo writes in his review of Donald Consentino’s Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, “The roles of various spirit repositories and containers or Paket Kongo are described, as well as their ties to Nkisi, their Kongo counter-parts.”22 The most distinct similarity between these two objects are their relations with the spirits they ‘hold.’ Both minkisi and paket kongos can help someone communicate between the spiritual and living world in each of their respective cultures. They both have a master ritualist that uses that communication with the spirits to assist their clients. And finally, many paket kongos are tied with a crucifix atop the container, shown in figure 2. Not only is this another example of the Haitian Vodou…
Depending on the santero, black magic or witchcraft can be used but is not prevalent. Palo Monte or Palo Mayombe is the practice of black magic or witchcraft, and even Satanism.…
Peguero, V. (1998). Teaching the Haitian revolution: its place in western and modern world history. The History Teacher, 32(1), 33-41.…
Haiti has a population of nearly 9,801,664, while the total median age is at 21.6 years old. After the 2010 earthquake the preliminary 2011 numbers differ significantly from those of 2010 due to the demographic effect. Birth rate is 23.87 births/1,000 populations which is fairly low due to the lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex. The death rate is 8.1/1,000 population and was strongly influenced by the earthquake that took a heavily toll on the country. While the urban population is at 52 percent and the rate of urbanization is 3.9 percent, including the capital of Haiti, Port-Au-Prince, has 2.143 million people for the population and population below the poverty line is above 80 percent. Roughly around 2.98 children born in total fertility rate and HIV/AIDS – adult prevalence rate is 1.9 percent (2009 EST.), also with 120,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Major infectious diseases include food or waterborne diseases with a high degree of risk. Not to mention more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs leaving the unemployment rate at 40.6 percent. (Stated be Indexmundi.com)…
The Haitian Revolution lasted from 1791 to 1804. Before the revolution, blacks and mulattoes wanted equality, and also independence from France. Slaves worked from before dawn till after dark. They were underfed, undernourished, and overworked by their owners. Owners used violence and terror to force slaves to work. They would burn them in ovens, pour boiling cane sugar on them, and put salt, pepper, or lemon on whip wounds. Slaves resisted slavery through infanticide, suicide, and plotting to kill their owners. Many slaves would run away to less populated places to become maroons and form their own communities. They also practiced Vodou, an outlawed religion that was created by the slaves in Haiti. As time passed by, things began to change and the colony would be different from then on. “In July 1801, Toussaint Louverture issued a new constitution that pleased neither the French nor the masses in Saint-Domingue. The constitution completely abolished slavery [...] and declared that all citizens had equal rights.” (Choices 34). Although the constitution sounded like it benefitted the blacks, it did not do much. “But it also upheld some of the tenets of the colonial system. For example, it outlawed Vodou, in…