Voodoo

Voodoo (pronounced voo-doo)

(1) A polytheistic religion practiced chiefly by those in or from the Caribbean deriving principally from African cult worship and containing ritualistic elements borrowed from the Catholic religion.

(2) A person who practices this religion.

(3) A fetish or other object of voodoo worship.

(4) A group of magical and ecstatic rites associated with voodoo.

(5) Generalized slang term for black magic; sorcery.

(6) Of or pertaining to, associated with, or practicing voodoo.

(7) In informal use as pejorative adjective applied as a critique of anything characterized by deceptively simple, almost as if magical, solutions or ideas.

1850s: A creation of US English derived from several words in the Louisiana Creole French vandoux, vandoo and vodun, from the Haitian Creole vodou, the exact origin of which remains uncertain but etymologists conclude the source was West African, such as Ewe vódũ (deity, idol), the Fon vòdún (fetish) or vodũ which existed in a number of Kwa languages although in the anthropological record there are references to Vandoo, said to be the name of an African deity, from a language of Dahomey).  The documentation is sparse but the researchers also recorded vodun (a fetish connected with snake worship in Dahomey) which they linked to vo which had the senses of “to be afraid” & “harmful”.  Use as a verb was first noted in 1880.

Slavery in the Caribbean had the interesting effect of bringing the religious practices of enslaved West Africans into contact with the ritualistic Roman Catholicism practices in the French and Spanish colonies, and structurally, there were striking similarities, the absorption of the Church’s influence (in form if not theology) resulting in distinct New World religions like Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo.  Voodoo is best known as a form of animism involving trances and other rituals including communicating with the souls of the dead and it remains widely practiced in the Caribbean.  The late nineteenth century word Hoodoo is thought a variation and it may have been an imperfect echoic but there are specialists who list it as a separate practice derived from the Vodun of Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso (formerly the Upper Volta).  The words Voodoo and Hoodoo interact in practice, a Hoodoo often a physical object said to be vested with magical powers or qualities as a result of some Voodoo ritual.  For some time, the common name in English for all these religious traditions was Voodoo and it remains part of the modern English vernacular (sometimes figuratively (eg voodoo economics)) but the capitalized proper noun Voodoo should be used only to describe the religion as practiced in Louisiana, the spellings Vodou and Vodú correct if referring to the traditions in Haiti and Cuba respectively.

However, Voodoo was appropriated by popular culture to describe a number of practices both poorly understood and deliberately exoticized in the West.  In some cases, there were pure inventions and spiritual practices involving charmed objects inspired imaginative authors and script-writers to create the so-called “voodoo doll,” despite there being no record of stabbing an effigy with pins in Africa, the Caribbean or the US slave states.  Hollywood also embraced the zombie.  In Vodou, the zombie is a living but soulless individual whose free will has been taken by a powerful sorcerer or bocor, not the risen dead monster depicted in films, books, and video games.  Ultimately, use of the word voodoo is complicated by widespread familiarity with the appropriated, secular, pop culture mythology of the entertainment industry—a mythology that poorly represents or directly conflicts with the authentic religious and historical core of Voodoo and related spiritual traditions such as Vodun, Vodou, and Hoodoo.

Crooked Hillary Clinton voodoo doll (2016).  Crooked Hillary Clinton has never denied practicing voodoo.

In the 2016 US presidential election, there were plenty who hated one or other of the candidates and a good many who found the choice uninspiring.  These three target markets were served by artist Shane Bugbee (b 1968) who offered voters a practical device with which to visit a plague on either or both their hoses: Donald Trump and crooked Hillary Clinton voodoo dolls.  Hand-made in the US (a small contribution to making America great again (MAGA)) with a screen printed appliqué, each stood six inches (150 mm) tall and was supplied with a handful of stick pins although the blood-thirsty who wished to inflict more severe injuries could certainly use their tools, instruments or devices of choice.  No information was provided as to flammability but anyone wishing to see crooked Hillary burned at the stake (the Lord forbid) wasn’t discouraged from trying.  Each voodoo doll was produced in a run of 666 hand-numbers editions and listed at US$13 each or US$20 for the pair.

In 2005. Mattel released a Lindsay Lohan doll, the accessories including a velvet rope, popcorn, a director's chair, make-up case, designer handbag, shoes, clothes and jewelry.  The doll could be re-purposed for anyone wanting a Lindsay Lohan voodoo doll (the Lord forbid).

Technically, what is in popular culture called a voodoo doll should probably be called a hoodoo doll or even just a hoodoo because it is an inert object transformed by a spell or other ritual.  Although Voodoo priests have for decades confirmed the use of effigies for this purpose has no part in their traditions, the practice does exist in other cultures and voodoo dolls are widely available in shrink-wrap while for those who prefer to make their own, instruction sets are downloadable.  For those with a doll, the process is much the same as the process of consecration familiar in many Christian denominations in that once the ritual of choice is performed, doll becomes voodoo doll.  When it has served its purpose, it may be returned to an inert status by the appropriate ritual (the equivalent of the act of de-consecration).

The Love Me or Die by C W Stoneking

I studied evil, I can't deny,

Was a hoodoo charm called a Love Me or Die,

Some fingernail, a piece of her dress,

Apocathery, Devil's behes'

I will relate, the piteous consequence my mistake,

Fallin slave to passin desire,

Makin' the dreaded Love me or Die.

 

Against a Jungle primeval green,

She had the looks of a beauty queen

No bangles or chain, wearin' broken shoe

Seventy-five cent bottle perfume.

I said, "Good mornin", I tipped my hat,

All the while I was cunning like a rat,

Smilin gaily, looked her in the eye,

I felt in pocket, the Love me or Die.

 

My past history, one to behold,

I studied magic from days of old,

Membership, secret societies,

Power and wealth in my family

But Matilda, Darling,

Why you don't take my wedding ring,

Like a demon under the floor,

I buried the hoodoo down the back door.

 

Lawd, word broke through the town,

That a fever strike Matilda down,

Nine thirty, the doctor arrive,

Priest come runnin, quarter to five.

Standin in the weeds early next day,

I saw the meat wagon rollin away,

I seen Matilda layin in the back,

Her old mother wearin a suit of black

 

Sound the trumpet, and bang the drum,

I wait for me judgement to come,

I know her spirit is down beneath,

I hear the weepin and gnashing of the teeth.

Flames of Hell licks at my feet,

In the shadow of the Jungle I feel the heat,

Matilda's waiting in Hell for me too,

All cause she died from a bad hoodoo.