Encyclopedia of African Religion

served to bind more closely the various groups of Africans who shared a common plantation expe- rience, eventually leading to th ...

It is within this atmosphere of terror that emerged Boukman Dutty, the man who was to ignite the flame that would formally annou ...

Republic of Dahomey) are inseparable.Vodunis a word in the Fongbe language, one of the lan- guages spoken in Benin. The wordVodu ...

god considered as the town or country protector, but only on condition that offerings are regularly given to him. In other words ...

Upon satisfactory completion of the initiation rites, the consecration and intensive training in the convent, the Vodunsi return ...

VODOU IN HAITI Vodou designates the indigenous religion of Haiti. Emerging out of the contact between enslaved Africans and whit ...

describing the personae of the spirits and many of the rituals performed in their honor continued to bear the mark of Africa. In ...

about both faiths and has accorded to Vodouists a religious freedom and legitimacy that heretofore they have not been able to ex ...

Unlike Western religions, Vodou rituals are not weekly occurrences. Most temples hold them three or four times a year. They can ...

to Ginen and the tibonanj to Heaven (as a result of the influence of Catholicism), and the body to the navel of the Earth where, ...

Catholic church’s liturgical calendar (November corresponds to Halloween in North America, the day consecrated to the souls of ...

enclosure). Upon entering the convent, the new member is possessed by the Vodun and she or he becomes Vodunsi ipso facto, more p ...

...

WAMALA Wamala, venerated bymany people in Central Africa, is relatedto thegreat Kintu,founder of theBagandapeoples.Narrativesof ...

704 Waset in the region were therefore determinant factors in the spiritual and political orientation of the interlacustrine peo ...

years of building produced a city that had no rivals in ancient architectural majesty. By 1500 BC, Waset was a series of giganti ...

706 Wa t e r A Kassena baby’s first bath with cold water serves as both a ritual awakening and a way to stimulate its circulatio ...

carried as it arose in the highlands of Africa and journeyed across varied terrain to empty itself into the Mediterranean. There ...

imagine a world without water at the center pre- cisely because of the profound impact of water on their lives and so on their w ...

cleanser, and the major and indispensable presence in respiration. It becomes transformed into a reli- gious object, the foremos ...