Where: Haiti, Port-au-Prince
People: Haitians
Religion: Vodou/Voodoo
Ritual: Veye
Vodou (Voodoo) is believed to be a 6000 years old religion. The word Vodou is African and means spiritually. Vodou does not have a founder or a founding event like many other religions, but has evolved through history as a mixture of tribal religions from Africa and Catholicism. Vodou is a so-called oral religion – it has been transmitted orally from generation to generation.
At a Veye (a kind of a wake ceremony) in a small Vodou-temple in Port-au-Prince, the deceased is represented by a calabash in a bowl of water mixed with different perfumes and herbs. Singing and drumming on the calabash for 4 to 6 hours to summon the Vodou spirits, the Hounsies (female servants) are finally calling upon the spirit of the deceased. Once the spirit has been lured into the calabash, it is carried outside and the spirit is set free.
