Voodoo In American Culture

Voodoo is a religion that has its origins in Africa. Voodoo can be traced to Western Africa to the Yoruba people of the eighteenth and nineteenth century (Perry, 2009). Voodoo made it to the West by means of the slave ships that took Africans to Haiti to work in the sugar plantations. Voodoo is practiced throughout the Caribbean, West Indies, South America, and Britain. In the United States, Voodoo is common in New Orleans, New York, and Florida. Voodoo is a religion that is combined with African religions and Catholic Christianity. The mergence took place during the slave trade when the salves took on the beliefs of their masters.
Voodoo is an ancient religion with a belief in one Supreme Being. Bonyde, the unknown and uninvolved being, created the whole universe. (Radford, 2013). Damballah, the serpent god of the sky created the
Zombies often portrayed as villains, are actually victims. In the Voodoo religion, zombies are said to be people brought back from the dead through magical means by priest called bokors (Radford, 2013). The bokors would capture part of a person’s soul called the zombie astral. The bokors might sell the soul to people who wanted power or he might keep the soul and make it do work. Most believers fear becoming a zombie. The bokors power to make zombies is used more often as a threat to maintain social order. Voodoo is a very interesting religion that has often been misunderstood. People have linked zombies and voodoo dolls to the religion, but this things have very little to do with the religion. When comparing it to Christianity, we do not have the rituals, and ceremonies that are associated with voodoo and we believe in God who is the overseer in all things. I found it very interesting that association voodoo have with the Catholic faith. I guess the believers in modern day worship are able to incorporate both Voodoo and Christian beliefs into one