People in Haiti who practice Vodou believe that they are doing a good thing, they also believe that “the people who practice this religion are good Christians” (Michel 22). But if you were to look on the outside not speaking to the people who practice vodou, most people would see them as evil and devil worship. I am here to change that. I do not what people to start rumors about this religion I want them to understand it. They do not have to like it but they do have to understand it. As I said I the beginning” people who practice Haitian vodou believe that they are good Christians and it is okay to practice and be catholic” (Michel 22). The reason why that is okay is because those two religions are similar. That does not mean that they are the same that only means that they are similar.
The way that they are similar is by the fact that they both have a god. Another way that they are similar is by the fact that “they both have a common logging for the divine and ever-ending search for a better life for followers and devotees” (Michel 22). They also believe in “finding the purpose for life” (Michel 23), as far as I know the Catholic’s who do
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know what the purpose of life is are the people who have been with this religion since birth, but the people who are Catholics that do not know what the purpose of life is they tend to ask others what is or even ask the preacher what it is as well. That is the same way for the Haitian Vodou religion. “The people who participate in vodou life and rituals believe in creating harmony and keeping it balance” (Michel 23).
The bases of Haitian Vodou “is the concept of reality an example of this would-be life goals and determining the fate of living things” (Michel 23). In the Haitian Vodou religion they are not selfish their whole concept in life is helping people which is what most religions do is help people, the way that they help people is by asking the gods for their permission to help this person with this illness, and if the gods agree then they will help the person. As I said before all they want to do in life is to help people. They also have a big community, the people in this community believe what they believe, and of course they trust each other. If they did not have trust they would not be able to do what they
do. The religion itself did not originate in Haiti it “originated in West Africa” (Michel 24) and then it moved to Haiti. The people of West Africa did not stop practicing the religion they still to this day continue to practice the religion. The main place where this religion takes place in Haiti. I hope that by reading this essay you have a better understand of Haitian Vodou, I also hope that by reading this article you start to not judge the people who practice this religion and see the bigger picture rather than just listening to the people who talk about the religion. The people who practice this religion are not bad people all they want to do is to help people not hurt them.
Although the thought of being involved in such rituals is scary, I developed a deeper understanding and appreciation for the practices that Haitian voodoo participants, if it is appropriate to refer to such people as, engage in. The most impressive bit of information that I will keep with me is to be less judgmental of others; “people who practice voodoo believe in the same God as Christianity, but they also believe in communicating with other spirits, who serve various roles in healing, casting spells, and more” (Boudreaux, 2015a, p. 110). As a golden rule, I know that I should not be judgmental of others anyway, but I am human and am prone to quickly create stereotypes in my mind. I don’t always share those thoughts, but thinking makes me just as guilty as doing or saying. I am thankful for the reminder that all people are children of God, and I should research and learn about different beliefs before I make a judgmental decision, if I make that judgment at
In Santeria, Yorubas then continue to worship and honor the Orishas and to practice their strong religious beliefs. The Yoruba rituals are modified and made similar to that of the Catholic religion. As aforementioned , when the Africans where brought to Cuba and the other New Lands they saw themselves forced to disguise theri ancestral religion and to embrace the church of theri captors. This created a complex religious mixture of beliefs. Because of its roots in Africa the worship of the saints has been a misunderstood religion, sometimes reffered to as unciviliazed and almost always viewed as a dark religion or a devil worshipping religion.
It is amazing how two religions, such as Voodoo and Christianity, can be filled with so many awesome differences with respect to time eras, status, publicity, and language, and yet still have an almost identical core ideal. This also demonstrates that this core ideal of the use of humans as a mouthpiece of the divine has been a long lived concept which people, such as Mama Lola and her family, still believe in and practice today. Perhaps this proves there is some truth in the idea, and most likely, we will never know for sure, whether this concept, in it’s many different forms continues to live on, or if it dies out.
The content of Paul Farmer’s AIDS & ACCUSATION: Haiti and the Geography of Blame, was very boring to begin with. Quite literally, I was sleeping while reading the beginning of it. However, it did pick up towards the middle as it caught my interest; I found that the book was particularly funny. Before reading this book, I had no clue what I was in for other than the title and who would’ve guessed; the title says it all. It was actually about what the title said. The United States blames Haiti for the AIDS and vice versa. Although, Haiti didn’t start with that; the Haitians believed in sorcery and voodoo. The idea of anyone that has someone with ill intent or maliciousness towards them can cause them to become sick with diarrhea, was a chortle. Farmer goes deep into the book as he gives descriptions of three people who came across AIDS. However, these Haitians all believed that it was sorcery or some malign magic of someone who had despised them. The curiousness of one the cases was Manno, one of the Haitians that Farmer had interviewed, who was said to be kind, “Manno never hurt anyone; on the contrary, one thing he was known for was his ready smile. So why would someone wish to harm him?”(Farmer, 76)
Socioeconomic status plays a huge part in how Haitians identify themselves, and influences their actions greatly. Many Haitians wil...
When one first hears the word Vodou, immediately images of curses and little model dolls come to mind. We tend to synonymize it with words like sinister, evil and revenge. However, Vodou is nothing like what mainstream North American media has brainwashed people into believing. As best put by Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, “Vodou is far more than [a religion] it's a spiritual system” (Tippet and Bellegarde-Smith 145). Haitian Vodou is a spiritual system that syncretizes the practices of Roman Catholicism with West African spirituality. This paper will contextualize Vodou and give a brief history on what it is, explain how I came to gain an interest in Vodou and close off with an introduction to Chouk Bwa Libète a traditional Haitian Mizik Rasin—roots
Puerto Ricans often stray from the orthodox boundaries of Catholicism. Catholics pay rich homage to the saints, which is common in Latin America, however, parts of the island still believe in the evil eye, saints’ miracle, faith healing, and witchcraft. Catholic icons are often seen around household...
basically more alike then than they are similar for the fact that there views on
The similarities begin with the creation stories, although these similarities are very minimal. In both the Christian creation story, Genesis, and in many accounts of the
The world we live in is revolved around the beliefs and religions that individuals practice. Millions of people worship their idea of who God is to them, Christianity and Catholicism are the world’s biggest religions in today’s society with millions of followers who give their life for God. Both Christianity and Catholicism share the same beliefs and traditions, although Catholicism derived from Christianity both religions have their own differences which separates them from being alike.
One similarity that both Prophets have in common is they believe in only one true God. Muhammad for instance, only believes in Allah, which he describes as a divine individual over anyone else. According to a article of faith Muhammad states “ He is God: there is no god other than Him. It is He who knows what is hidden
Reading this paper a person might say well it seem like I do not fully sticks to the Haitian cultural practice. The truth is I do believe and follow some of the Haitian custom and I stay away from some of what they believe in and practice. I believe in mental illness whereas the people of my culture especially the one living in Haiti do not. They believe that mental illness is a state of mind, especially depression, they believe if Jesus can adore as much he did there is nothing that we as Haitian cannot, that if we don’t get up and make things happened no one else will. I actually had that state of mind through out the years after I lost my only brother in the earthquake, I was so depress my husband notice the change but I refused to seek
Identical to Muslims, Christians also believe that their God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. The Bible begins with the creation of the Earth by God in seven days. Another similarity between these two religions is their belief in life after death.... ... middle of paper ... ...
It is almost impossible to get clear demographic of Haiti due its inequality, and corruption. “Haiti is one of the unequal countries in the world: the richest 20% of its population holds more than 64% of its total wealth, while the poorest 20% hold hardly 1%.” (Haiti Fact Sheet, 2016, para. 2). Many researchers would agree that the greatest enemy of good health is poverty, and where there is poverty, exist health inequality/injustice. People who are financially able, are also those who have the opportunity to receive help at an early stage for their medical condition. (World Health Bank, 2014), with that said the Haitians are no exempt of that fact. It is noted that only 20% of the population is in control of 70% of the total income of Haiti (Muggah, & Maguir, 2010). Since the 1970’s until today, the Haitian population is divided into two categories which are the wealthy, and the have-nots. 71% of the population is living on less than two dollars a day (L’Etang, & Waine, 2012). The middle class is almost nonexistent because they fled the country as soon as they can due to political reason, or in the search for a better life in America. Besides corruption that keeps the people of Haiti under a curse, inequality and inequity are also to blame for the short life expectancy of the
The commonalities of Christianity and Islam center around the idea of believing in one God. The God of Christianity and Islam is separate from the world and creation. With numerous similarities a few that can be discussed pertaining to lifestyle include: both worship in community, believe in life after death, and put God as first priority. More so, we must not get the idea confused that Christianity and Islam worship the