Talk:Voodoo
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Proposal about this topic
I propose that "Voodoo" be set up as a disambiguation page with links to separate articles about Haitian Vodou, African Vodun in Benin, and New Orleans Voodoo. If the African Vodun section of the current article gets expanded to the extent it deserves, the current article will become large and unwieldy.
Mike Rock 25 June 2004
Queer people reference
I object to the removal of the reference to Queer people and replacing it with the term homosexual and am restoring the reference. The terms are not synonyms -- Queer is more inclusive than homosexual, including transgenders, hermaphrodites, and other genderal and sexual identities and orientations. Also to gay people, gay is the preferred term. Homosexual more properly describes sexual acts than personal identity, and that paragraph was about identity, not sexual acts. As everyone knows, people with non-gay identities can engage in homosexual acts. Mike Rock
I don't think the author of this entry is qualified at all for it. First of all, African Vodou is *not* an obviously syncretistic religion at all; Haitian Vodou is. The syncretism is the common African/popular Catholic sort found as well in Cuba or Brazil. The part that goes "Each Vodun sect follows a different Loa (or Lwa, "mystery"), again confuses African and New World Vodou: the "sects" are an African concept, based on ancestor worship, while the identification of lwa with saints is a New World concept, where the religion syncretises with popular Catholicism. Also, Rada and Petro (concepts which the article does not identify as Haitian) are distorted beyond recognition by labeling them as "good" and "evil". The words denote the major groupings of lwa within the religion; the Rada lwa are the major ones, which have a more generally "pleasant" quality to them, dealing with domains such as courage, love, farming. The Petro are "darker" and more unpredictable, and deal with things such as death. However, the Rada are quite capable of being nasty to you if you don't serve them right, and the Petro will be nice to you if you do; these are not good or evil beings, they are simply beings which represent more or less pleasant or virtuous aspects of life.
The best books for Haitian Vodou are Alfred Métraux's ethnnography of the religion, from the mid 1950's in its French version and with a more recent English translation, and the much more easy to read "Mama Lola" by Karen McCarthy Brown.
- If you think there are mistakes and errors in this page, why not edit it and correct them? Jeronimo
To whoever created the articles on houngan and mambo - the articles do not say anything that the originating article on Voodoo doesn't already state. Hence there is no reason to create them. If there is a clear and valid reason for writing a separate article about these two roles that will present information not contained in this article, then do so, otherwise please leave them as is. Mambo is also a perfectly valid topic (the music/dance form) in it's own right, so it doesn't need a fallacious link. - MMGB
The name Vodun is derived from the local african word for spirit, and can be traced about 6.000 years back.
- What does this mean? That the word is attested in this usage (describing the religion) in documents from circa 4000 BC? Or that some linguist has estimated the existence of a protolanguage with an ancestor of the word "vodun" meaning something like "spirit" circa 4000 BC? Or, something else entirely? -- Brion VIBBER
- It means it was made up. Doovinator
Need to merge Voudun and Vodun
- Still need to merge. Nov 27 2002
Isn't this more commonly known as Voodoo? I had to admit my ignorance but I'd never heard of these variations. If this is so, shouldn't the article be moved to Voodoo?
I have attempted to merge the former Voudun here, and shuffle the two texts together as best as I was able, with some minor editing to avoid duplications. -- IHCOYC 19:57 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)
I don't know enough about the topic to write an article (although it would make for an interesting study, and a first contribution to Wik), but "voodoo dolls" are also referred to as "poppets" (at least in the U.S.), and they are still used. See for example http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/poppets.html RL Barrett 17:14 May 6, 2003 (UTC)
6,000 yrs?
How can a word in a pre-literate culture be traced back 6,000 years? Even in Europe I would be surprised if any word can be traced back that far. Adam 08:17, 13 Oct 2003 (UTC)
- Good question, and one I certainly can't verify for you. You can see above that others have questioned and scoffed in regards to the subject before, without recieving much documentation. I would say some research and a citation would be in order. Sam Spade 18:46, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- Historical linguists can use the comparative method to make predictions about words in languages that didn't have written forms. Nohat 20:13, 2004 Apr 23 (UTC)
- Comparative method Nohat 20:30, 2004 Apr 23 (UTC)
Oh, I didn't mean that, I ment about voodoo in particular. Sam Spade 20:33, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- Oh, I don't know. You'd have to look into studies of African historical linguistics. I don't have any hand. The claim does appear to be unsubstantiated, however, and you can go ahead and remove it. Someone can put it back if they can substantiate it. Nohat 20:58, 2004 Apr 23 (UTC)
I tend to assume things are accurate until they are disproven, I guess I'm some kind of anti-skeptic or something. Besides, I can't seem to find the portion we are discussing anymore anyways. Maybe its already been removed and were just being silly ;) Sam Spade 21:41, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)
rename of page
I'm going to move this page to voodoo based on the following evidence that "voodoo" is the more common term, even when referring to the Beninese religion: [1] (http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=voodoo+%2Bbenin+%2Breligion&q2=vodun+%2Bbenin+%2Breligion&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us). Here, "Voodoo" seems to be at least 6 times more common than "Vodun" on pages that contain "Benin" and "religion". Nohat 20:13, 2004 Apr 23 (UTC)
- a good decision, in line w the naming conventions. I assume they felt that vodun was less contentious however. Sam Spade 20:26, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Could there be a less stereotypical way to describe the roles of the Ezili than that they "govern the feminine spheres of life"? Perhaps a list? As long as we're being sensitive to LGBT++ people, let's be sensitive to women too.
Hmm.. I agree, you're right in the sense it is more vague than intended, I will try to think of a way to make it more precise. This will not happen immediately so please be patient. - Mike Rock