Blog Entry 4

Misconceptions about Voodoo

Voodoo is seen by many as a mysterious and silly tradition of magic and curses. The persistent vision of voodoo in American popular culture is that of voodoo dolls and zombies brought back from the dead. Jessie Ruth Gaston's essay on voodoo in New Orleans and its roots in African religion dispel common misconceptions of voodoo such as it being a tradition and not a true religion, the essentiality of magic in the religion, and its persistence into modern times.

The first thing addressed in Gaston's essay is her focus on the idea of Voodoo as a legitimate religion that came from West Africa. Many persons view voodoo as a set of magic traditions with witch doctors potions with no real structure; however, Voodoo has many components of a legitimate religion. Voodoo has deities that are very common to Christian saints. Some African villages would have their own deities similar to the idea of a patron saint in Catholicism. More evidence to the fact of Voodoo as a religion is the existence of a rigid hierarchy of priests and a lengthy initiation processes that are again similar to Catholic sacraments. Also, voodoo, like many religions, has a clear delineation between good and evil (Voodoo and Hoodoo). In these respects, voodoo is similar to many much more commonly accepted religions such as the three big monotheisms. Much of voodoo focuses on rites and rituals and not the curses and hexes that many people expect. This idea of voodoo more as a tradition than religion comes from the existence of magic in the religion.

Gaston writes in her essay that "magic is intimately related to voodoo... but is not its essence" (114). The magic in voodoo is strengthened by deities and rituals. In this respect it is not much different than prayer in other religions. There is not much of a stretch from praying to a saint for good health to performing a ritual for a voodoo deity for the same desired effect. The common misconception that voodoo consists mostly of magic is a flawed one. Magic is certainly a part of voodoo, as it is with any religion, but it is not the focus. Perhaps because of this reputation for magic, many people consider Voodoo to be a relic of the past but Gaston also refutes this myth.

Gaston traces voodoo into the present by offering evidence from newspapers, business cards, etc. that show that voodoo has persisted in New Orleans into the present. A common idea of voodoo is that it existed mostly in the distant past in the times of gas lamps and horse drawn carriages but Gaston mentions newspaper articles from the 1940's relating to voodoo inspired killings. The author also insists that in modern New Orleans there are still many homes with makeshift voodoo shrines and that the religion still exists in the black community of New Orleans.

There are many misconceptions and stereotypes that people have about the voodoo religion. Many of these misconceptions are tied to hoodoo curses and voodoo magic. In reality voodoo is a legitimate religion with rituals that persist to this day. Gaston's essay dispels many incorrect notions about voodoo but also serves to reinforce some stereotypes as well. After viewing the evidence offered by Gaston in her essay, one can see that voodoo is really no sillier or less legitimate than any other commonly practised religion.

Persistence and Influence of African Culture in Florida

There were many different African cultures that were brought to the American Colonies during the slave trade and not all of the cultures survived. Some of these cultures survived through retentions of African slaves of religion, language, and other cultural practices. The Gullah were one group in South Carolina that retained many clearly African traditions. Another group that differed in retention process were slaves in Florida. Africans in Florida differed in their retention process from the Gullah in that many of their retentions were influenced by separate groups and persisted in their original forms for much longer than the Gullah traditions.

One major difference between the Gullah and Floridian retentions were the groups they were influenced by. The Gullah tradition was influenced by Europeans, mostly English colonialists, whereas Africans in Florida were influenced by Native Americans and the Spanish. Robert Hall writes in his essay that many African slave in Florida escaped and lived with Native Americans or in Spanish controlled areas. Africans in Florida were particularly acquainted with the Native Americans of the area and the two groups interacted often. In many cases the blacks served as "cultural go-betweens" among indians and whites that lived in the same areas. There is clear influence in both directions between Africans and Native Americans in Florida perhaps aided by a common ground among both groups rooted in tribal culture and a respect for nature. Another area in which Floridian retentions differ from those of the Gullah is their persistence in their original form for such a long time.

Hall writes in his essay that some Africans in Florida still had tribal tattoos in the mid 19th century. Not only that, he offers various quotes in which whites spoke of the religious gatherings of blacks in Florida as belonging to the customs of "central Africa" more than of Christianity. The religious ceremonies of blacks in Florida were much more traditionally influenced than many people from the American South were accustomed to. In this respect, African culture persisted in Florida in its original form much later than the Gullah.

Hall's essay points out several key areas in which Africans in Florida differed in their cultural retentions than the Gullah people of South Carolina. The persistence of African culture and it's different outside influences demonstrate it as following a distinctively different path than the Gullah tradition. Robert Hall offers ample evidence to support the idea of a heterogeneous African existence in America well past the time that many people tend to think. Not only were there different groups of Africans brought to the Americas during the slave trade, these slaves maintained differences in their retentions during the lengthy acculturation process.