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My Classmate Writing

Vodou is a religion practiced by majority of people living in Haiti who identify the religion as "serving the spirits". It is also practiced in Haitian diaspora communities of North America. In Vodou there are three categories of spirits: lemo ("the dead"), lemiste ("the mysteries"), and lemarasa ("the sacred twins"). Haitian Creole is the primary language of vodou, as well as the first and only language of more than half of Haitians. In practicing vodou, an individual enters the state of trance where he or she is able to make connections with the spirits. This connection is made through drumming, singing, and dancing. The purpose of it is to “heat up” in order to bring on the possession of spirits. McCarthy Brown states, "As a particular spirit is summoned, a devotee enters a trance and becomes that spirit's chwal ("horse"), thus providing the means for direct communication between human beings and the spirits". The emergence of vodou is associated with Haiti's slave population in the eighteenth century, marked by a period when Haiti was the major supplier of sugar to Western Europe. It is known that mostly the interaction with slaves who brought with them different African religious traditions was the main reason of vodou emergence in Haiti. There were certain African ethnic groups of slave workers who influenced vodou and Haitian culture in general. According to the author, “the most influential in shaping Haitian culture, including vodou, were the Fon, Mahi, and Nago from Old Dahomey”. These ethnic groups are now known as people from Nigeria, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo.

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