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Ayizan
Ayizan (also Grande Ai-Zan, Aizan, or Ayizan Velekete) is the loa of the marketplace and commerce in Vodou, especially in Haiti. Background She is a racine, or root loa, associated with Vodoun rites of initiation (called kanzo). Just as her husband Loko is the archetypal houngan (priest), Ayizan is regarded as the first, or archetypal, mambo (priestess), and as such is also associated with priestly knowledge and mysteries, particularly those of initiation and the natural world. As the spiritual parents of the priesthood, she and her husband are two of the loa involved in the kanzo rites in which the priest/ess-to-be is given the asson (sacred rattle and tool of the priesthood) and are both powerful guardians of "reglemen" or the correct and appropriate form of Vodoun service. She is syncretized with the Catholic Saint Clare. Her symbol is the palm frond The palm branch is a symbol of victory, triumph, peace, and eternal life originating in the ancient Near East and Med ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Veve
A ''veve'' (also spelled ''vèvè'' or ''vevè'') is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of Vodun throughout the African diaspora, such as Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. The ''veve'' acts as a "beacon" for the ''loa'', and will serve as a ''loa''s representation during rituals. ''Veves'' should not be confused with the ''patipembas'' used in Palo, nor the ''pontos riscados'' used in Umbanda and Quimbanda, as these are separate African religions. History Possible origins include the cosmogram of the Kongo people, or originated as the Nsibidi system of writing for the Igboid and Ekoid languages from West and Central Africa. Function According to Milo Rigaud, "The ''veves'' represent figures of the astral forces... In the course of Vodou ceremonies, the reproduction of the astral forces represented by the veves obliges the loas... to descend to earth." Every ''loa'' has his or her own unique ''veve'', although regional differences have led to different ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haitian Vodou
Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. Vodou revolves around spirits known as '' lwa.'' Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African divinities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints. The lwa divide up into different groups, the ''nanchon'' ("nations"), most notably the Rada and the Petwo. Various myths and stories are told about these lwa, which are regarded as subservient to a transcendent creator deity, Bondye. This theology has been labelled both monotheistic and polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists usually meet to venerate the lwa in an ''ounfò'' (temple), run ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loco (loa)
Loco is a loa, patron of healers and plants, especially trees in the Vodou religion. He is a racine (root) and a rada loa. Among several other loa, he is linked with the ''poteau mitan'' or center post in a Vodou peristyle.Torres, Rafael Agustí. "Loas y Vèvès del Vudú", p. 25 (in Spanish) He is the husband of the loa Ayizan and just as she is the archetypal mambo (priestess), Loco is considered the first houngan (priest). As the spiritual parents of the priesthood, he and his wife are two of the loa involved in the kanzo initiation rites in which the priest/ess to be is given the asson (sacred rattle and tool of the priesthood). Both are powerful guardians of "regleman" or the correct and appropriate form of Vodoun service. He is similar to the Arawak deity Louquo, a founding ancestor of the Arawak people. He's related to the Iroko and the ''Ceiba pentandra'', two sacred trees, one in Africa and one in Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoodoo (folk Magic)
Hoodoo is a set of spiritual practices, traditions, and beliefs created and concealed from slaveholders by enslaved Africans in North America. Hoodoo evolved from various traditional African religions, practices, and in the American South incorporated with various elements of indigenous botanical knowledge. Hoodoo is an African Diaspora tradition created during the time of slavery in the United States and is an esoteric system of African-American occultism. Many of the practices are similar to other African Diaspora traditions as the practices come from the Bakongo people in Central Africa. Over the first century of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, an estimated 52% of all kidnapped Africans (over 900,000 people) came from Central African countries like Cameroon, Congo, Angola, Central African Republic and Gabon. By the end of the colonial period, enslaved Africans were taken from Angola (40 percent), Senegambia (19.5 percent), the Windward Coast (16.3 percent), and the Gold Coa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folk Catholicism
Folk Catholicism can be broadly described as various ethnic expressions and practices of Catholicism intermingled with aspects of folk religion. Practices have varied from place to place, and may at times contradict the official doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church as well as overall Christianity. Description Some forms of folk Catholic practices are based on syncretism with non-Catholic or non-Christian beliefs or religions. Some of these folk Catholic forms have come to be identified as separate religions, as is the case with Caribbean and Brazilian syncretisms between Catholicism and West African religions, which include Haitian Vodou, Cuban Santería, and Brazilian Candomblé. Similarly complex syncretisms between Catholic practice and indigenous or Native American belief systems, as are common in Maya communities of Guatemala and Quechua communities of Peru to give just two examples, are typically not named as separate religions; their practitioners generall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. To its south-west lies the small Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is disputed as a United States territory under federal administration."Haiti" ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Haiti is in size, the third largest country in the Caribbean by area, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rite Of Passage
A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite de passage'', a French term innovated by the ethnographer Arnold van Gennep in his work ''Les rites de passage'', ''The Rites of Passage''. The term is now fully adopted into anthropology as well as into the literature and popular cultures of many modern languages. Original conception In English, Van Gennep's first sentence of his first chapter begins: "Each larger society contains within it several distinctly separate groupings. ... In addition, all these groups break down into still smaller societies in subgroups." The population of a society belongs to multiple groups, some more important to the individual than others. Van Gennep uses the metaphor, "as a kind of house divided into rooms and corridors." A passage occurs when an indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houngan
Oungan (also written as ''houngan'') is the term for a male priest in Haitian Vodou (a female priest is known as a (''mambo''). The term is derived from Gbe languages (Fon, Ewe, Adja, Phla, Gen, Maxi and Gun). The word hounnongan means chief priest. ‘'Hounnongan'' or ''oungans'' are also known as ''makandals''. Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion, which blends traditional Vodun from the Kingdom of Dahomey with Roman Catholicism. In similarity to their West African heritage, ''oungans'' are leaders within the community who run temples (''ounfò'') to respect and serve '' lwa'' (also written as ''loa'') alongside the Grand Maître (grandmaster or creator). ''Lwa'' are like spirits, encompassing a collection of Yoruba gods and Roman Catholic saints. ''Lwa'' manifest themselves in people during Vodou ceremonies through spirit possession. Each lwa has a distinct dance rhythm, song, sacrificial victuals, and clothing. ''Lwa'' choose ''oungans'' whilst they dream, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mambo (Voodoo)
A ''manbo'' (also written as ''mambo'') is a priestess (as opposed to a ''oungan'', a male priest) in the Haitian Vodou religion. Haitian Vodou's conceptions of priesthood stem from the religious traditions of enslaved people from Dahomey, in what is today Benin. For instance, the term ''manbo'' derives from the Fon word ''nanbo'' ("mother of magic"). Like their West African counterparts, Haitian ''manbos'' are female leaders in Vodou temples who perform healing work and guide others during complex rituals. This form of female leadership is prevalent in urban centers such as Port-au-Prince (the capital of Haiti). Typically, there is no hierarchy among ''manbos'' and ''oungans''. These priestesses and priests serve as the heads of autonomous religious groups and exert their authority over the devotees or spiritual servants in their ''hounfo'' (temples). ''Manbos'' and ''oungans'' are called into power via spirit possession or the revelations in a dream. They become qualified a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syncretised
Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus asserting an underlying unity and allowing for an inclusive approach to other faiths. Syncretism also occurs commonly in expressions of art and culture, known as eclecticism, as well as in politics, known as syncretic politics. Nomenclature The English word is first attested in the early 17th century, from Modern Latin , drawing on Greek grc, συγκρητισμός, synkretismos, labels=none, supposedly meaning "Cretan federation", but this is a spurious etymology from the naive idea in Plutarch's 1st-century AD essay on "Fraternal Love (Peri Philadelphias)" in his collection ''Moralia''. He cites the example of the Cretans, who compromised and reconciled their differences and came together in alliance when faced with external dang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clare Of Assisi
Clare of Assisi (born Chiara Offreduccio and sometimes spelled Clara, Clair, Claire, Sinclair; 16 July 1194 – 11 August 1253) was an Italian saint and one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic religious order for women in the Franciscan tradition, and wrote their Rule of Life, the first set of monastic guidelines known to have been written by a woman. Following her death, the order she founded was renamed in her honour as the Order of Saint Clare, commonly referred to today as the Poor Clares. Her feast day is on 11 August. Life Clare was born in Assisi during the High Middle Ages, the eldest daughter of Favarone or Favorino Sciffi, Count of Sasso-Rosso and his wife Ortolana. Traditional accounts say that Clare's father was a wealthy representative of an ancient Roman family, who owned a large palace in Assisi and a castle on the slope of Mount Subasio.Robinson, Paschal (1908). "St. Clare of Assisi." ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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