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Gary McAuley, age 9, of Portland, Ore., for his question:

WHAT IS VOODOO?

Haiti in the West Indies is the oldest Black republic in the world and the second oldest free nation in the Western Hemisphere. Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 and built the first Spanish colony and later the French developed it. Today, most of the people are descendants of Africans who were brought to Haiti as slaves.

Many of the people in Haiti today still follow the customs their forefathers brought from Africa. Most live on small farms that are tiny plots of land that were once part of large plantations where the ancestors worked as slaves.

A religion called voodoo is practiced by many of the Haitians. It is a blend of both Christian and African beliefs.

Believers in voodoo say that by performing certain rituals a person can become possessed by gods. They believe that a voodoo priest  a man they call a houngan  has certain great powers. The houngan draws designs on the ground with flour and then the people dance until they believe a god has possessed one or more of them.

Haitians believe in many gods, including the gods of rain, love, war and farming.

Voodoo is also called vodun. It is a West African word that means god or spirit. The practice of magic is often included as part of the religious experience. Followers believe in sorcery and fetishes.

Voodooism says that the spirits of people who have died continue to live in a world of ghosts. They also believe that these ghosts can visit the world of the living and that they can either bless or curse the people here.

During a voodoo ceremony, chief magicians bring the living into touch with the dead. A medicine man may go into a trance and then talk with a wooden image, saying that a spirit is answering him through the image.

In the practice of voodoo, a person might make a wax image of one of his enemies. He then may stick pins into the wax image, hoping that with the help of voodooism he will injure his enemy.

Some put voodoo and black magic together. Black magic, often practiced by so called witches, often attempts to harm certain people.

Many believe that the practice of voodooism and black magic is wrong, and in some societies the practice of these rituals is forbidden. Many believe that it is very wrong to use so called magical medicines, such as powdered animal horns or teeth, and to hold a ceremony that hopes to inflict pain and agony on certain people.

 

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