Encyclopedia of African Religion

to permanently leave the body and settle in the
deceased’s sacred necklace, an important item
during the initiation process also kept in the govi.

Roots in Dahomey

The theology and practices governing the Voduists’
beliefs and behaviors have their origins in
Dahomey. In the late 15th century, French seamen
began patrolling off the coast of Dahomey, and by
1505, they had kidnapped a sizeable number of
Africans and taken them to the French colony of
Saint Domingue. This trend was to continue, and,
thus, it is commonly admitted that a large number
of enslaved Africans were taken from Dahomey to
Haiti. As a result, the religion or the theological
tenets governing Vodu were brought to the
American hemisphere by West Africans primarily
from the Dahomey region. Therefore, one must
look to Fon cosmology to acquire a historical and
philosophical understanding of desounen, which is
only a small part of an elaborate death ritual.
According to Fon cosmology, every individual
is made from clay and water. The Fon referred
to the soul as “se,” and it is equivalent to the
gros-bon-age, which continues throughout eter-
nity. Theseis an immaterial divine substance that
comes directly from Mawu Lisa (Godhead). Upon
dying, one’s se is returned to Mawu Lisa and
replanted into a newborn of the deceased’s family.
Therefore, according to Vodun cosmology, in both
Africa and Haiti, an individual’s life is part of a
continuum that links them to an unbroken heri-
tage connecting grandfather to father to son,
extending throughout space and time as a single-
branching organism. Thus, in traditional African
families on the continent and throughout the dias-
pora, following the death of a grandfather, it is
expected that his spirit will be transplanted in the
soul of the next male entering the family.
Death is an important time in traditional
Haitian culture, as well as in most African socie-
ties, because, according to Dahomean cosmology,
upon death one is reconnected to one’s essential
nature. This is the time when the immortal spirit
returns toGinen(Africa), where it awaits replan-
tation into a new physical body. While in Ginen, it
is reunited with the lwa, assigned a body, and
continues the mission it was ordained to complete
before the beginning of time. Thus, death is not the

end, but a new opportunity for the cycle of life to

continue birthing new energy to carry out the will

of the ancestors and divinities. The desounen ritual

plays a critical role in protecting the integrity of

this life cycle.

Douglas Edwin Thomas

SeealsoVodou in Haiti

Further Readings

Budge, W. E. A. (1959).Egyptian Religion:Ideas of the

Afterlife in Ancient Egypt. New York: Gramercy Books.

Deren, M. (1970).Divine Horseman:The Living Gods

of Haiti. New York: McPherson & Company.

Desmangles, L. G. (1979, Spring/Summer). The Vodun

Way of Death: Cultural Symbiosis of Roman

Catholicism and Vodun in Haiti.Journal of Religious

Thought, 36 , 5–19.

Herskovits, M. (1958).Acculturation:The Study of

Culture Contact. Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith.

Leyburn, J. G. (1966).The Haitian People. New Haven,

CT: Yale University Press.

Metraux, A. (1972).Voodoo in Haiti. New York:

Schocken Books.

DESTINY

Destiny in Africa is the idea that a person’s path

through life has been predetermined. The notion

of destiny, for example, among the Akan and

Yoruba people in West Africa is not fatalism.

There is no sense that one’s destiny is bad or evil,

but rather that one must work each day to work

out the destiny that was designed before birth.

African religion does not trivialize the idea of

destiny to ideas like romance or the futility of

working. One does not have to try to outmaneuver

destiny, but one can embrace it because one can

choose to accept destiny or fight against it. Rather

than see destiny in Africa as a fixed sequence of

events that is inexorable, one should view it as

nkrabea, the Akan idea of destiny that takes its

character from human uniqueness. Thus,nkrabea

begins with the person. This entry uses Akan

culture as an example of the African concept of

destiny and also explores more general elements.

Destiny 197