Mysteries and Secrets of Voodoo, Santeria, and Obeah

by Lionel

  In the Plaine du Nord in Haiti, worshippers gather at the Pool of St. Jacques, where they perform elaborate water rituals and pray to the Loas — their family spirits, or household gods. There are also services and ritual celebrations at Le Saut d’Eau — a French phrase meaning the waterfall. Worshippers here take what is referred to as a “fortune bath” involving the use of herbal medicines and fragrances. Saint Philomene, sometimes spelled Philomena, is also invoked both here and in the northern town of Limonade. She is associated both with water and with Africa, and the legend of her martyrdom is a tragic and sensational one. Said to have been the daughter of Greek royalty, she met the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who was overwhelmed by her beauty and asked her to marry him. When she declined, saying that she wished to remain a Christian virgin, she was imprisoned, tortured, stripped, tied to a whipping post, and flogged unmercifully. Lacerated all over, she was finally thrown back into her cell, where angels visited her with miraculous healing balm.

  Tied to an anchor and hurled into the sea, Philomena was again saved by the miraculous intervention of angels, who snapped the anchor rope and returned her safely to land. Her persecutors then fired arrows at her, but these came back like boomerangs and killed the executioners. An enraged mob finally accused her of witchcraft — because of her miracles — and decapitated her.

  Her miraculous healings and rescues are not without their parallels in Santeria, Obeah, and Voodoo, and the story of Philomena’s sufferings would appeal strongly to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century slaves who lived in a savage and brutal world of captivity where flogging was their daily reality.

  The ancient African snake god Danh of Dahomey is a total contrast to the water rituals of Haiti involving prayers to Philomena. Like the Midgard Serpent, Jormangund, also known as Midgardsorm, Danh has his tail in his mouth. But unlike the evil and antagonistic Jormangund, Danh is benign and beautiful — a rainbow serpent who symbolizes all that is good and complete. He is an ancient African religious symbol of peace and unification.

  Ochumare of the Yoruba peoples is very important in this context, because she is the Santeria goddess of the rainbow. Like Danh, she is good as well as beautiful.

  The equally benign and munificent Enkai, also referred to as Parsai by his faithful Maasai adherents, was associated with Danh insofar as Enkai was the god of the rain that often accompanied the beautiful rainbow serpent. Another rain god, famous throughout West Africa, particularly Zaire and Uganda, was Alur, sometimes called Jok Odudu, or just Jok. Traditionally, he demanded sacrifices in return for exercising his rainmaking powers, and black goats were usually offered to him.

  African pottery water or beer holder.

  Parsai, unlike Jok who demanded sacrifices, was a god of processes, a god who followed things through to benefit his people. The rain he sent made the grass grow, and grass became an important component of his rituals. He was also regarded as a beneficent deity of vegetation in general, and he delighted in blessing his grateful people.

  The goddess Mbaba Mwana Waresa was worshipped by the Zulu peoples of Natal in connection with her powers over Danh, the rainbow, and over the rain. She is also an overseer of cultivation and crops — but her singular responsibility is beer. The Zulu peoples are expert beer makers, and they are also renowned for their superb basketry. They traditionally create very attractive beer baskets, known as ukhamba, for carrying containers of their favourite local brew.

  For Enkai’s faithful worshippers, this good work with the harvest and with fertility in general was reinforced by a tortoise-shelled goddess named Ison, who was also known as Ibibio and Ekoi. This concept of a goddess protected by a tortoise shell may be considered alongside the idea of Oannes, the fish–god. If he was a visitor from a more advanced culture, wearing chain mail, was Ibibio a similar visitor wearing either body armour or a space suit?

  Fa of Dahomey had something in common with Akuj, the god of divination and soothsaying referred to earlier, but although Fa shared Akuj’s concern with the future, he did more than predict it: he was a god of destiny, like Fate, Chance, or Lady Luck. Fa was the god who made things happen.

  Where Fa was neutral, and brought both good and evil fortune, Guruhi of Gambia was a bringer of death and destruction. He had to be bought off, or avoided if at all possible. Meteors were regarded as a sinister sign of his evil presence, and he gave his adherents the power to kill their enemies.

  The African moon goddesses, Ngami and Mawu, had many equally ancient parallels throughout the world, including the Greek moon goddess, Artemis, and her Aztec equivalent, Coyolauhqui, meaning Golden Bells, who was sister to the sun god, Huitzilopochtli. A similar brother-sister god and goddess relationship can be traced within the old Roman pantheon, where Luna (referred to as Selene by the Greeks) was regarded as the sister of Helios, the sun god.

  In ancient China, the moon goddess, Heng-O, was the mother of twelve moons and ten suns. Her male counterpart in Japan was Tsuki-Yomi, who formed part of the Shinto religion. Khons, the Egyptian moon god, was the son of Amen and his consort, Mut. Sin, also known as Nanna, was a moon goddess of the old Sumerian civilization, and Soma — a male moon deity like Khons — was part of the Hindu pantheon.

  Wherever a lunar deity was included among the catalogue of ancient gods and goddesses throughout the world, that deity was thought to have certain prominent characteristics. Lunar deities were frequently concerned with sexual attraction, and the mystery of the deeper, more powerful romantic love that transcended sexual desire but did not replace it. These deities were also associated with beauty, art, and profound wisdom. In countries where owls existed, they were often associated with lunar deities. These moon gods and goddesses were also the divine powers that governed changes and journeying — an idea that would seem to be logically associated with the phases of the moon. Another aspect attributed to some of the lunar deities was their power to affect the human mind. The word lunacy itself is rooted in this concept: the power of the lunar deity was thought to be the cause of human mental changes and disintegration.

  The Nuer of South Sudan had a totally benign deity named Kwoth. In their eyes he was in charge of nature and had all the powers associated with natural things. Over and above this, Kwoth was venerated for his sense of justice, his unlimited mercy and compassion, and his willingness to help humanity — both collectively and individually.

  Nzambi, an extremely powerful goddess of the Bakongo peoples of Angola and the Congo, has an important role in tracing modern Santeria, Obeah, Voodoo, and similar religions back to their ancient African origins. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the Portuguese arrived in the area and fought a series of wars against the Bakongo peoples until the area became a Portuguese colony in 1885. During this period attempts were made to convert the indigenous peoples to Portuguese-style Christianity. Adherence to their own ancient religion became a symbol of the Bakongo struggle against their Portuguese conquerors. This traditional African faith emphasized the importance of prophecy and attempts at foretelling the future in various ways, worshipping ancestral spirits, and using nksi — small figurines that gave protection against evil, illness, and injury. Their widespread use throughout the Bakongo culture extended to their political institutions, medical practices, agriculture, and warfare.

  The most powerful of the fetish dolls used in their magic were known as nkondi. These were carved from wood and then covered with small blades or nails. The nkondi were hollow and were able to contain hair, fingernails, and teeth. It was believed that these enclosures would strengthen, direct, and focus the magic. There is a strong connection between these old African Bakongo nkondi and figurines associated with traditional medieval European witchcraft.

  Oddudua, another Yoruba goddess, was of primary importance. In one of the legends concerning Oddudua, her brother-husband, Obatala, had been sent to earth by the supreme god Oludomare to create the human race. Unfortunately, Obatala landed in a coconut palm tree, drank some fermented coconut juice, and was inebriate
d when he began creating. Disappointed with Obatala’s poor workmanship, Oludomare sent Oddudua to join him and put right his errors. This she did. When he recovered from the coconut juice alcohol, Obatala was unhappy because his sister-wife had done what he considered to be his work. In another version of the legend, when he came round from his alcoholic stupor, he helped her and they created the human race together.

  In both versions of the legend, Oddudua is regarded as the ancestress of the Yoruba peoples and is venerated accordingly. There are clear connections between her and the primary earth mother goddess figure represented by the Venus of Willendorf. The most famous of these statuettes was discovered in 1908 in the Austrian village of Willendorf, not far from Krems. It is made from a type of oolitic limestone that is not found in that part of Austria, and the artist who fashioned it has decorated it with reddish ochre. According to the age of the strata in which she was found, the Venus of Willendorf is about 25,000 years old. Her exaggerated anatomy symbolizes fertility, but the unsolved mystery of her head covering has stimulated several very unusual and interesting theories — including the idea that she is an extraterrestrial alien humanoid wearing a space helmet. The statuette may be seen in the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna.

  Ogun, revered by the Nago people as well as by the Yoruba of West Africa, is the equivalent of Hephaestus, blacksmith of the gods in the Greek pantheon, and Vulcan to the Romans. Ogun is the African god of war as well as the god of metal and technology. He is regarded as the deity who will come to the aid of his worshippers when they have difficulties that his skill can surmount.

  Ruhanga of the Banyoro people is especially significant as a god who is concerned with death and rebirth — and the whole concept of reincarnation. Utixo, revered by the Hottentot peoples, is also a god who controls reincarnation.

  Sakarabru is worshipped by the Agni peoples of Guinea. He has some connection with the moon but is not primarily a moon god. He is at his most powerful when the moon is waxing, and least effective when it is waning. This ties in with medieval European ideas concerning the advisability of planting certain crops when the moon is waxing and some of the old European healing magic that had to be applied when the moon was in a particular phase. Sakarabru is a god of healing, and it seems that when he is invoked at the time of the waxing moon, his patients are most likely to prosper and recover their health under his benign aegis.

  The Nupe peoples of northern Nigeria credit their god Soko with power over magic and enchantments of various types, and with the ability to arrange communications with the dead.

  Unkulunkulu is revered by the Amazulu peoples and by the Ndebele of Zimbabwe as their god of organization, effective administration, and good order.

  Isaywa, also known as Wele, is a god of the stars and planets and all celestial phenomena. His role can also be associated with astrology because he is seen as a god of prosperity — so his control of stars, planets, and the zodiac may be thought of as the tools and instruments with which he brings prosperity to pass for his chosen devotees.

  Undoubtedly, there was considerable movement of thought and ideas between Egypt and the rest of Africa — especially in the days before the Sahara became a desert. In consequence, there are clear theological parallels between the two religious systems. For the Egyptians, the supreme creator was Amun, Aten, Ptah, or Re. Hathor, Bat, and Horus were sky gods. Osiris was a god of the earth. Hapi was the Nile in flood. When things went wrong, the trouble was usually traced to Seth, the god of evil and destruction. Ma’at — the god of justice, truth, balance, order, and stability — put right again what Seth had disturbed. Thoth, alias Hermes Trismegistus and Melchizedek, was a god of wisdom who was also associated with the moon just as Re was associated with the sun.

  The Egyptian gods were frequently localized. Amaunet, the female equivalent of Amon, was worshipped at Thebes, as were Amon and Mut. Amon was elevated to the role of king of the gods at Thebes, where he was also called Amon-Re. Anuket, the gazelle goddess, was revered at Elephantine. Hathor, the beautiful and sensuous goddess of wine, dancing, and lovemaking, was sometimes represented as a cow — and at Thebes she acquired the additional responsibility of being goddess of the dead. At Dendera, she was believed to be the partner of Horus. When she was worshipped in Byblos, she was closely associated with Isis. Isis, in turn, was worshipped at Philae and was the sister-consort of Osiris. She was linked with Astarte, Greek Aστάρτη, and identical to the goddess Ishtar of Mesopotamia. Normally portrayed as a beautiful, naked woman, Astarte was a goddess of fertility and sexuality. Worshipped in Tyre and Sidon, she was also known to the Greeks as Aphrodite, and Cyprus became one of her worship centres.

  The shapes of the gods were ripe with symbolism. Horus, who was thought to be one of the earliest royal gods, was a falcon whose eyes were the sun and moon. Rather surprisingly for a falcon–god, he was also Khentekhtay — the divine crocodile. Sobek was another crocodile–god who was worshipped at the Faiyum. Khnum was conceived of as having a human body topped by a ram’s head. His worship centres included Esna and Hypselis. Serapis was worshipped in Alexandria, and was regarded by his Greek adherents as being one and the same as Zeus, king of the gods. When the wise and benign Thoth was worshipped in Hermopolis, he was depicted as a baboon.

  It would be possible to spend many years of research in Africa constantly discovering fresh facts about these ancient pantheons and the ways in which knowledge of them travelled westwards and northwards — not least, via the slave trade.

  Chapter 3

  THE SLAVE TRADE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES

  Slavery is one of the oldest human institutions. Different forms of slavery seem to have existed since the earliest human societies and cultures came into existence. The exploitation of one human being by another goes back for many millennia. One of the oldest sets of laws available to historians and archeologists is the Code of Hammurabi, dating from about four thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. Even as long ago as that, it refers to slavery as being an established part of the social order.

  Groups of proud, independent, and knowledgeable people, overwhelmed by enemies and sold into slavery, have nevertheless survived and retained their identity because of highly prized social, cultural, and religious beliefs. During their slavery in Egypt, and again during their captivity in Babylon, the Jewish people demonstrated just how potent such belief systems could be.

  Jeremiah, chapter 52, verses 28–30, records three separate captivity events. In 597 BC, during the reign of the Jewish king Jehoiachin, prominent citizens were taken away into exile and the Jerusalem Temple was raided. During the reign of Zedekiah in 586 BC, Jerusalem was severely damaged and more of its citizens were taken as captives to Babylon. In 581 BC there was yet another captivity episode. However, when the Persians overcame the Babylonians, the good and humane Emperor Cyrus gave the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem in 537 BC. Throughout that long exile, the Jewish captives had maintained their national identity, and survived as a people, because of their religious beliefs.

  When Africans were sold into slavery, those with the strongest cultural and religious beliefs were the ones who retained their true identity against all that they had to endure. They never gave up. They never gave in. Instead they welded their ancient African faiths onto the religions of those who had enslaved them. From the fervid heat of that emotionally charged welding process came the power and mystery of Santeria, of Voodoo, of Obeah — and of many other similar magical religions.

  Scroll cylinder of Cyrus of Persia.

  Historians have long observed that when things are at their worst, heroes arise and lead their people to better times. Particular hardships seem to give people specific strengths that enable them to overcome their difficulties and endure their sufferings. A closer, more specific analysis of that generalization suggests that slavery can create indomitable conquerors. Spartacus provides an example. The proverbial iron enters the soul. The whips, chains, and branding irons of their overseers can change vulnera
ble and oppressed slaves into free and independent men and women whom nothing can stop.

  The mysterious, magical religions of the Caribbean, of Cuba, Haiti, and Barbados, and of New Orleans and South America are all inextricably intertwined with the slave trade from Africa dating from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth. As early as the end of the fourteenth century, wealthy and powerful Europeans began buying slaves in Africa and taking them to Europe. In those days, the captives were mainly set to work as domestic servants or as agricultural workers.

  Religion was a prominent part of the picture at this stage, and the excuse of the Europeans who took Africans as slaves was that they wanted to give them a chance to become Christians. The logic here was as hypocritical and perverted as the logic of the Holy Inquisition. Heretics were tortured and then burnt alive on the grounds that the Inquisition was giving them just a little temporary pain in this world to save them from the everlasting fires of hell in the next. In the same way, these earliest slave exploiters argued that taking Africans away from their homelands and families in order to make them Christians was perfectly justified. It was greatly to the Church’s discredit that it wholly approved of and encouraged these practices.

  Spanish and Portuguese sea captains would sometimes take their black slaves with them as servants on their voyages, and the amazing career of Estevanico demonstrates how far such adventures could lead. Also known as Esteban the Moor and Little Stephen, Estevanico was a North African Berber, born in 1503 in Azamor, which was then a Portuguese stronghold on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. Enslaved by the Portuguese, Estevanico was sold to a wealthy Spanish nobleman, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza. After many adventures by land and sea in the New World, he reached what is now Arizona and New Mexico. The details of the end of his life are not clear, but according to one persistent tradition, he escaped in 1539 from the indigenous American village of Hawikuh, in what is now New Mexico, and made his way to Rio Mayo. Here he settled with the Mayo people, acquired a small harem, and had a number of children. One of Estevanico’s sons, named Aboray, was said still to be living there in 1622.