Overview:
Scholar Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, a houngan asogwe, shares some core ideas about Vodou to assist these looking for to grasp that facet of Haitian heritage. From the sanctity of nature to the permanence of the soul, the listing counters misconceptions and highlights Vodou as a coherent worldview grounded in stability, vitality and ancestral continuity.
Throughout generations, Vodou has usually been misunderstood. Formed by colonial narratives, Christian missionary affect and Hollywood distortions, it’s usually topic to controversy between those that apply, settle for or reject it, even in Haiti. The talk about Vodou’s position in Haitian tradition most just lately emerged over the Haitian staff’s FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifying uniform, which incorporates a vèvè. Of Vodou’s quite a few sacred symbols, the one included within the design represents Papa Legba – the deity known as upon to open doorways.
For Haitians rediscovering the nation’s religious heritage or anybody looking for to grasp what Vodou is or isn’t, scholar Patrick Bellegarde-Smith’s teachings supply some readability.
A Vodou practitioner for 34 years and Houngan Asogwe, or senior priest, Bellegarde-Smith is professor emeritus of African and African Diaspora Research on the College of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has authored a number of books on Vodou and Haiti and was president of KOSANBA, a scholarly affiliation for the examine of Vodou and different African-derived religions. He’s at the moment engaged on a sixth guide about gender identities in Vodou.
In a latest interview with The Haitian Instances through electronic mail, Bellegarde-Smith shared ideas on Vodou’s standing in society in the mean time. He stated Vodou is similar to different perception techniques rooted in nature, together with Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Japan’s nationwide faith and Native American religions.
“The youthful technology of Haitian People, in addition to some in Haiti correct, are rediscovering their roots, their ‘racines/rasin,’ ” he stated.
“As with Native American spirituality and Buddhism within the Nineteen Sixties-Seventies in the US, African spiritual techniques are being found by white People, and others. Haitian Vodou [is] discovering favor all through society. Native American faith is now not disparaged, and Vodou is slowly attaining this standing.”
In his 2004 guide, “Haiti: The Breached Citadel,” Bellegarde-Smith defines Vodou, thus:
“Vodou is a coherent and complete perception system and world view wherein each individual and every part is sacred and have to be handled accordingly. In Vodou, every part on this planet — be it animal, vegetal, or mineral — shares principally comparable chemical, bodily and/or genetic properties…
The cosmological unity of Vodou additional interprets right into a vaunted African humanism wherein social establishments are elaborated and wherein the residing, the lifeless, and the unborn play equally important roles in an unbroken historic chain.”
Of the African and Haitian Vodou spiritual ideas Bellegarde-Smith supplied, right here’s a abstract of probably the most potent. Most, if not all, require some reflection.
All the things in existence is sacred
Vodou begins with the assumption that every one issues — animal, plant or mineral — share important properties and are a part of the identical religious continuum. Nothing is inherently mundane. All the things carries significance.
God is immaterial, and the lwa [Vodou deities] are its expressions
God is just not human-shaped, however is created by people in their very own picture. The lwa, nonetheless, are “knowable fragments of an unknowable God,” permitting people to work together with their cosmic vitality in a relatable type. God can be impartial, neither good nor unhealthy, however “cool.”
“Once you look into the cosmic mirror, the picture that appears again at you is the picture of God… There are not any messiahs, solely you standing on the heart.”
There is no such thing as a satan, unique sin, or exterior heaven and hell
Vodou acknowledges evil, however not an exterior being accountable for it. As a substitute of sin, Vodou teaches taboos that keep stability. As a substitute of the Western thought of everlasting reward or punishment, Vodou teaches that every motion generates outcomes that ripple via one’s life, one’s neighborhood and one’s spirit.
“Heaven and Hell don’t exist apart from that which you create,” one idea reads.
“There is no such thing as a satan, there isn’t any Devil, however there’s Evil. The evil one launches right into a sea of anger, vengeance or indifference, sometime returns to port and to you.”
“The target for every life, for this life, is to grasp each the forces of excellent and of evil.”
All issues are linked — coincidence doesn’t exist
As a result of the universe is unified, what seems as coincidence is just unseen connections. Occasions, energies and relationships type a part of a single cosmic script.
People are religious beings selecting a bodily expertise
In Vodou, life is just not a one-time occasion. Reincarnation is a pure recycling, thus the rationale ancestors stay lively members within the lives of the residing.
“There may be life earlier than life and life after life. That means, the soul is everlasting as a co-creator of the universe,” Bellegarde-Smith stated.
“The worry of Loss of life will kill you.”
Nature is to be revered as a sacred drive
The pure world is the working system of the divine. Power fields flowing via nature are the divine work of deities — and have to be revered.
Energy comes via sacrifice, and data via effort
The understanding that every one issues are vitality requiring feeding is a central tenet.
Power is energy, which will be achieved and result in much more vitality. Energy itself is achieved via sacrifice, and data via effort.
“Konesans [esoteric knowledge] is simplicity itself, but complicated,” Bellegarde-Smith stated.
Divination as “knowable tendencies and fragments”
“The long run is knowable as tendencies and fragments, as time wraps round itself,” Bellegarde-Smith stated.
The idea suggests sample recognition performs a job in divining what lies forward.
Stability and equilibrium should all the time be maintained
Vodou emphasizes that every part seeks equilibrium. Miracles happen day-after-day as a result of the world is balanced. Once they cease, stability has been misplaced.
“The favourite youngster carries the heaviest burden,” Bellegarde-Smith stated.
Rhythm is the universe’s language
Rhythm, the vibration of matter, is to drive what consciousness is to thought.
“All issues throb with life; one seeks to know their essence,” Bellegarde-Smith stated.