The term Voodoo doll commonly refers to an effigy that is typically used for the insertion of pins. [1] Such practices are found in various forms in the magical traditions of many cultures around the world. [1]
Despite its name, the dolls are not prominent in Haitian Vodou and not used in Louisiana Voodoo. [1] [2]
The practice has been denounced and declared irrelevant to Voodoo religion by those in High Priesthood of Louisiana Voodoo. [3]
The link between this magical practice and Voodoo was established through the presentation of the latter in Western popular culture, enduring the first half of the 20th century. [1] In this, the myth of this magical practice being closely linked to Voodoo and Vodou was promoted as part of the wider negative depictions of blacks and Afro-Caribbean religious practices in the United States. [4] In John Houston Craige's 1933 book Black Bagdad: The Arabian Nights Adventures of a Marine Captain in Haiti, he described a Haitian prisoner sticking pins into an effigy to induce illness. [1] Its use also appeared in film representations of Haitian Vodou such as Victor Halperin's 1932 White Zombie and Jacques Tourneur’s 1943 I Walked with a Zombie . [1] Voodoo dolls are also featured in one episode of The Woody Woodpecker Show (1961), [5] as well as in the British musical Lisztomania (1975) and the films Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), The Witches of Eastwick (1987) and Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998).
By the early 21st century, the image of the voodoo doll had become particularly pervasive. [1] It had become a novelty item available for purchase, with examples being provided in vending machines in British shopping centres, [1] and an article on "How to Make a Voodoo Doll" being included on WikiHow. [6] [1] Voodoo dolls were also featured in the 2009 animated Disney movie The Princess and the Frog , [1] as well as the 2011 live-action Disney movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides .
In 2020, Louisiana Voodoo High Priest Robi Gilmore stated, "It blows my mind that people still believe [Voodoo dolls are relevant to Voodoo religion]. Hollywood really did us a number. We do not stab pins in dolls to hurt people; we don't take your hair and make a doll, and worship the devil with it, and ask the devil to give us black magic to get our revenge on you. It is not done, it won't be done, and it never will exist for us." [3]
Vodun is a religion practiced by the Aja, Ewe, and Fon peoples of Benin, Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria.
Baron Samedi, also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the lwa of Haitian Vodou. He is a lwa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix and Baron Criminel.
A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls go back to the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. They have been made as crude, rudimentary playthings as well as elaborate art. Modern doll manufacturing has its roots in Germany, from the 15th century. With industrialization and new materials such as porcelain and plastic, dolls were increasingly mass-produced. During the 20th century, dolls became increasingly popular as collectibles.
Black magic has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes.
Voodoo may refer to:
Filipino witches are the users of black magic and related practices from the Philippines. They include a variety of different kinds of people with differing occupations and cultural connotations which depend on the ethnic group they are associated with. They are completely different from the Western notion of what a witch is, as each ethnic group has their own definition and practices attributed to witches. The curses and other magics of witches are often blocked, countered, cured, or lifted by Filipino shamans associated with the indigenous Philippine folk religions.
In folk magic and witchcraft, a poppet is a doll made to represent a person, for casting spells on that person or to aid that person through magic. They are occasionally found lodged in chimneys. These dolls may be fashioned from such materials as a carved root, grain or corn shafts, a fruit, paper, wax, a potato, clay, branches, or cloth stuffed with herbs with the intent that any actions performed upon the effigy will be transferred to the subject based on sympathetic magic. Poppets are also used as kitchen witch figures.
I Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 American horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur and produced by Val Lewton for RKO Pictures. It stars James Ellison, Frances Dee, and Tom Conway, and follows a Canadian nurse who travels to care for the ailing wife of a sugar plantation owner in the Caribbean, where she witnesses Vodou rituals and possibly encounters the walking dead. The screenplay, written by Curt Siodmak and Ardel Wray, is based on an article of the same title by Inez Wallace, and also partly reinterprets the narrative of the 1847 novel Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë.
Homosexuality in Haitian Vodou is religiously acceptable and homosexuals are allowed to participate in all religious activities. However, in West African countries with major conservative Christian and Islamic views on LGBTQ people, the attitudes towards them may be less tolerant if not openly hostile and these influences are reflected in African diaspora religions following Atlantic slave trade which includes Haitian Vodou.
A bokor (male) or caplata (female) is a Vodou witch for hire who is said to serve the loa "with both hands", practicing for both good and evil. Their practice includes the creation of zombies and of 'ouangas', talismans that house spirits.
Witchcraft in Latin America, known in Spanish as brujería, is a complex blend of indigenous, African, and European influences. Indigenous cultures had spiritual practices centered around nature and healing, while the arrival of Africans brought syncretic religions like Santería and Candomblé. European witchcraft beliefs merged with local traditions during colonization, contributing to the region's magical tapestry. Practices vary across countries, with accusations historically intertwined with social dynamics. A male practitioner is called a brujo, a female practitioner is a bruja.
A manbo is a priestess in the Haitian Vodou religion. Haitian Vodou's conceptions of priesthood stem from the religious traditions of enslaved people from Dahomey, in what is today Benin. For instance, the term manbo derives from the Fon word nanbo. Like their West African counterparts, Haitian manbos are female leaders in Vodou temples who perform healing work and guide others during complex rituals. This form of female leadership is prevalent in urban centers such as Port-au-Prince. Typically, there is no hierarchy among manbos and oungans. These priestesses and priests serve as the heads of autonomous religious groups and exert their authority over the devotees or spiritual servants in their hounfo (temples).
Sallie Ann Glassman is an American practitioner of Vodou, a writer, and an artist. She was born in Kennebunkport, Maine and is a self-described "Ukrainian Jew from Maine."
Gris-gris is a Voodoo amulet originating in West Africa which is believed to protect the wearer from evil or bring luck, and in some West African countries is used as a supposed method of birth control. It consists of a small cloth bag, usually inscribed with verses from an ancestor and a ritual number of small objects, worn on the person.
Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion that originated in Louisiana. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West Africa, the Roman Catholic form of Christianity, and Haitian Vodou. No central authority is in control of Louisiana Voodoo, which is organized through autonomous groups.
Vodou drumming and associated ceremonies are folk ritual faith system of henotheistic religion of Haitian Vodou originated and inextricable part of Haitian culture.
Christian-Vodou can be seen as a syncretism of different cultures and religions. Primarily focused on Haitian Vodou and Catholic Christianity, the two have been merging together in a way since around the 18th century, when a majority of Haiti was part of the Atlantic slave trade.
Voodoo: Truth and Fantasy is a 1993 illustrated monograph on Haitian Vodou. Written by the Haitian sociologist of religion Laënnec Hurbon, and published in pocket format by Éditions Gallimard as the 190th volume in their 'Découvertes' collection.
Voodoo in popular culture encompasses various representations of practices associated with different forms of voodoo, including Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo, and other elements attributed to African diaspora religions, with such representations often deviating substantially from any actual voodoo practices or beliefs. Tropes regarding voodoo appear most often in supernatural fantasy or horror films, with common themes including the activity of witch doctors, the summoning or control of dark spirits, use of voodoo dolls to inflict pain on people remotely, and the creation of zombies.
The Magic Island is a book by American explorer and traveler William Seabrook. First published in 1929 by Harcourt, Brace & Company, The Magic Island is an account of Seabrook's experiences with Haitian Vodou in Haiti, and is considered the first popular English-language work to describe the concept of a zombie, defined by Seabrook as "a soulless human corpse, still dead, but taken from the grave and endowed by sorcery with a mechanical semblance of life—it is a dead body which is made to walk and act and move as if it were alive."
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