Voodoo Research Paper

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With several different religions present in any given group of slaves, the majority of slaves adapted by holding a service which accepted all lineages and respected all ancestreal lines of faith, both aspects being of primary concerns in African religions. These services were effective in blending the rites and practices of many religions into one combination religion. This adaption effectively created a new religion, Voodoo, which translates to "spirit" in several African languages. This new religion gave the slaves a since of alliance with their nieghboring slaves and, with that alliance, a since of community. This new found unity was viewed as a threat to the French and Brittish plantation owners of the newly settled colonies. As a means to quell the religious unity, the plantation owners forbid the practice of religion and punished slaves who attempted to pursue voodoo. Catholicism was presented as an alternative to the African-based but now independant and Carribean ...

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respect in a world where they were deprived of everything. Former slave owners quickly found themselves duped into the beliefs of Voodoo dolls and hexes. This early means of freedom through fear is a reason Voodoo is still treated as a sinister religion. It is not that the Voodoo practice was frightening, but that that image was adopted as a means to assure it’s existance. No historical evidence of human sacrifice or affiliation with western principles of Satan has been discovered. Any affiliation with the occult has occured only recently with the "Gothic" movement in pop culture, and is not related with any orthadox Voodoo practices. Voodoo redeemed itself throughout the ...

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