African Voodoo, Santeria, and Spirit Possession

Voodoo Voodoo is an African derived religion that was a product of the slave trade. Voodoo is a monotheistic religion that has a central belief in one god, Bondye. Bondye is unreachable and the only way to communicate with him is through Ioa. The Ioa or lwa are divinity spirits in Voodoo. They are very similar to the Orishas in the Santeria religion. There are twelve principal Ioas, and the most important or the one with the most power is “Papa Legba.” Papa Legba must be saluted at all ceremonies. It is a large sin to offend him and permission from him must be granted before approaching other Ioa. Voodoo is a religion that is recognized worldwide and has been continuing to grow even out of its Haitian background. Voodoo is a syncretic religion, mixed between Catholicism and Vodun. This religion was heavily influenced by the French Catholics that attempted to oppress and stop the practice of Voodoo in Haiti. In order for the African slaves to continue to practice their religion, they had to make correlations with Catholics. Thus their Ioa’s are symbolic to many Catholic Saints.

Santeria
Santeria is a religion that originated in Cuba, and Is a mix of the African Yourba Religion and Catholicism. When the slaves arrived to the Cuba, they were forced to follow the Catholic Church, which were set against their native beliefs. However, they did begin to find similar characteristics between their homeland religion and Catholicism. They began to wire the Catholic saints with their own Orishas. They had to do this in order to practice their religion in secrecy because practicing Santeria was illegal. However, Santeria continued to spread, but only by word of mouth. There are no written doctrines in Santeria, everything passed on orally. Elderly men were thought of as great people because of all of the knowledge they had. They were essentially a library that taught younger generations the secrets of the religion. This religion believes in one god named