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The Faces of the Gods - Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti (Paperback, New edition)
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The Faces of the Gods - Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti (Paperback, New edition)
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Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact
between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional
religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology
and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of
West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and
practices. Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of
European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true
creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery
and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment.
Many observers have referred to such New World religions as fusions
of religious practices. Desmangles instead uses the concept of
symbiosis, which he defines as the juxtaposition of diverse
religious traditions, coexisting without fusing. Desmangles uses
Haitian history to explain this symbiosis, paying particular
attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempt
by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based
"superstitions". The result is a society in which one religion,
Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is
unofficial and largely secretive. Both religions continue to play a
part in Haitian politics, and Desmangles chronicles the role of
Vodou and Catholicism in the fall of Jean-Claude Duvalier and the
rise of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
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