Myths and Misconceptions
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Vodou is often associated with the lore of Satanism, zombies and "voodoo dolls". Zombie creation has been referenced within rural Haitian culture, but is not a part of the Vodou religion. Such manifestations fall under the auspices of the bokor or sorcerer rather than the priest of the Loa.
The practice of sticking pins in voodoo dolls has history in folk magic. "Voodoo dolls" are often associated with New Orleans Voodoo and Hoodoo (folk magic) as well the magical devices of the poppet and the nkisi or bocio of West and Central Africa.
The dark side of Vodou is often a dramatic device of modern horror and action-adventure movies such as The Serpent and the Rainbow and Live and Let Die (part of the Ian Fleming James Bond series).
In April 1997, thirteen scholars gathered at the University of California Santa Barbara for a colloquium on Haitian Vodou. From that meeting the Congress of Santa Barbara was created, also known as KOSANBA.
Read more about this topic: Haitian Vodou
Famous quotes containing the words myths and and/or myths:
“The poets were not alone in sanctioning myths, for long before the poets the states and the lawmakers had sanctioned them as a useful expedient.... They needed to control the people by superstitious fears, and these cannot be aroused without myths and marvels.”
—Strabo (c. 58 B.C.–c. 24 A.D., Greek geographer. Geographia, bk. 1, sct. 2, subsct. 8.
“Myths, as compared with folk tales, are usually in a special category of seriousness: they are believed to have “really happened,” or to have some exceptional significance in explaining certain features of life, such as ritual. Again, whereas folk tales simply interchange motifs and develop variants, myths show an odd tendency to stick together and build up bigger structures. We have creation myths, fall and flood myths, metamorphose and dying-god myths.”
—Northrop Frye (1912–1991)