Lecture on "African Religions."

A lecture held by Professor Hartridge at the Tulane University, New Orleans on June 20, 1993.

The Lecture


Voudoun is the tribal religion of Africa, but the name Voudoun is actually a banner heading under which resides an entire body of distinct tribal belief systems.

The word Voudoun might sound familiar to you. What is known in the States as Voodoo is actually an amalgamation of African religious systems, Voudoun and European religions, primarily Catholicism. All of the sub-cults of African Voudoun have certain things in common. The most important is the worship of a pantheon of spirits instead of the single deity that the Christian and Moslem systems have. Some of these spirits are elementals, some relate to specific tasks or places, some represent important tribal leaders who have died. This spirit-worship is what makes Voudoun so easily adaptable. With all those spirits, it's no problem to add a few more. Say, for example, the Virgin Mary. At the height of tribal Africa, warfare was common. One tribe would conquer another, and the Loa important to the conqueror's tribal system would be adopted readily into the conquered tribe's Loa pantheon. In this way, many of the Voudoun cults spread and mingled throughout tribal Africa, enriching the belief system and causing innumerable offshoots.

The basis for the Voudoun religion seems to be as old as man himself. It has much in common with many early pagan practices: animal totems, sympathetic magic, elemental spirits in the trees, the heavens, the bodies of the sick...



Africa is believed by many to be the cradle of the human race. Some of the Voudoun Loa may be as old as the Garden of Eden itself. We still can't explain some of the real power of these primal religions -- and note, I said primal, not primitive! There are African bokors who baffle our scientists with their supernatural powers. Now, let's discuss the elements of Voudoun... In Voudoun, the spirits are called the Loa.

During a Voudoun ceremony, celebrants are possessed by the Loa. This is called 'being ridden.' The human worshipper is seen as a horse, and the Loa, as the divine horsemen. The person being ridden by a Loa take on the characteristics of that spirit and becomes, in effect, a mere vessel for the more powerful entity.



Some of the older, original African Loa include Damballah, the great serpent god; Erzulie, the 'mistress of love'....



Papa Nebo or Gede, the lord of death; Agwe, the spirit of water; Legba, spirit of the crossroads; and the cruelest and most dangerous -- Ogoun Badagris -- the lord of destruction. Tribe-specific Loa can have as much or more power as the more widely-worshipped Loa. For instance, a particular tribe might revere highly the Loa of an ancestor who was a legendary hunter or politician.

Voudoun temples are called hounfour s, their priests houngan or bokors, their priestesses mamaloa.



In a Voudoun hounfour, there's a ritual circle marked by a center pole called a poteau-mitan.



The ritual circle is prepared with a vévé -- a pattern of symbols. Each tribe's vévé is slightly different, consisting of complex symbols that identify their special Loa.



During ritual conclaves, initiates dance under the supervision of a bokor and a mamaloa, or head priestess. The use of totems, or animal masks and markings, was not uncommon in the original African ceremonies. Now, though, all but the oldest sects have abandoned this practice.

Ritual objects used during the conclaves include the ritual gourd or asson...

... the ritual knife, or ku-bha-sah...

... the ritual whip, or fwet kash...



... and the ritual coffin, or sekey madoulé. These items are often optional, called for by the mamaloa for specific magical rituals. The mamaloa is the most powerful figure in any Voudoun sect. Voudoun is really a matriarchal system. Even the bokor knows his power is limited. The mamaloa is the supreme woman -- she butterflies ans fireflies....

Trivia

 * Gabriel falls asleep before the lecture ends; his tape recorder also stops recording.
 * The dream about the sekey madoulé is a hint about how to find the conclave at the Bayou St. John on June 23. (Day 6)
 * After listening to the lecture, Gabriel knows the names of the voudoun items at the Voodoo museum and comments on them; the narrator puts special emphasis on the whip being called a 'fwet kash'. This is a little hint on the secret voodoo message on the Laveau Tomb at St. Louis Cemetery #1.