Vodoun devotee from Togoville in Togo, West Africa with her baby on her lap whilst sitting down for traditional priest to pour drink to make libation and the vodounsi (woman voodoo priest) sprinkles spiritual food of the gods around her to perform protection rituals and initiation of the baby into Voodoo religion. Benin and Togo are the cradle of Voodoo.
Certain people erroneously equate Vodun with fetish. Indeed, some would see the Vodun cult as a coarse idolatry of material objects or as a cult of matter, without any consideration of its rich functionality which I shall illustrate below. Furthermore, it should be noted that these mistaken views are due to ethnological approaches to the Vodun phenomenon which refrain from articulating its uniquely physical, cosmic and social function in religious mediation. It is true that "Mê wê no ylo do Vodun b'ê non nyin Vodun" (it is because man calls it Vodun that it is Vodun). But rather than seeing in it a power generated by the complex interaction of senses, intentions, gestures and spoken words, it is far more a question of the anthropological support which placesVodun in a symbolic system where it owes its performance to the necessary mediation of the physical, and therefore of matter in general. It would thus be more correct to translate "Mê wê no ylo do Vodun b'ê non nyin Vodun" as: A personal attitude of recognition and acceptance is required for the sacred to become symbol. Vodun evokes the mystery and what pertains to the divine. In this way the suspicion is removed, at least as regards the essence, even if it remains in the somewhat deviant manifestations of the Vodun phenomenon. The network of relationships of which Vodun is a symbol is yet another proof of this.
Vodun and Gbe (life/world): Cosmogony
The word "gbê" which means "life", also means "the universe". It is this second meaning that we focus on here. The created universe in its cosmic deployment is not foreign to the deployment ofVodun. In the concrete expressions of the latter, there is a Vodun of the earth (Sakpata), a Vodun of the sky (Xêvioso), a Vodun of the sea (Agbé) and Vodun(s)representing the ancestors (Toxwyo), as we have seen. Indeed, all the elements of the universe are involved in the Vodun phenomenon. It is not that the mind-set of South Benin imagination conceives of a Vodun cosmogenesis: Vodun is thus neither the generator nor the creator of the universe. But its link to everything in nature is one of mediation and of the protection of man. In fact, its link with "Gbê" only finds its meaning through its link with "Gbêto" (man).
Vodun and Gbeto (Man): Anthropology
The religiosity manifest in man through the Vodun phenomenon makes him a subject who places himself at the service of its symbolism. And while serving it, he makes use of it in return. Furthermore, what men call Vodun, is the unknowable, mystery, the ineffable when it comes to natural elements; it is the extraordinary, the hero, the unbeatable, the powerful when it is a question of human beings. Before the name Vodun is given to them, they are referred to as "nu mê sên" (venerable thing; worthy of adoration). This gives rise to the cults and their impacts. After objectively identifying the Vodun, man becomes its subject. Henceforth, not a single aspect of his life escapes his object of adoration and veneration. The Fá , messenger of the Vodun(s), intervenes while a child is still in his mother's womb, to identify his destiny and, if need be, to avert it. Similarly, throughout all the stages of life, from birth, and through the different existential situations, the Vodun faithful will feel enfolded in the omnipresence of Vodun, and will constantly benefit from the watchful and protective eye of the Pantheon, with all the consequences of this solicitude. But curiously and paradoxically, Vodun does not "accompany" a faithful in death, to the beyond. At the funeral of a Vodun adept, a rite exists to remove the spirit of the Vodun of which he is the "spouse", so as to leave him to his fate. Here there are perhaps two meanings that are important to note. Firstly, the Vodun takes care of the living and not of the dead; secondly, Vodun is essentially an intermediary between man and God the Creator, to whom he simply delivers him when he dies.
As a principle of mediation for man, Vodun also plays an important role in the organisation of human society.
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/search?q=VOODOO+%28AFRICAN+SPIRITUAL+RELIGIOUS+SYSTEMS%29
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