Vodou Culture 101: Survival

Vodou is a very practical religion. It’s had to be, with its history of people kidnapped, enslaved, and tortured or killed for practicing it. That practicality is as much a part of the lives of vodouizans as it is a fundamental cultural concept: do what you have to do, to survive.

This is part of self-advocacy. Vodou, even in Haiti, is a minority religion. It does not have the support of governments and is often practiced by people who are ethnic, political, economic, and/or cultural minorities. Vodouizan cannot assume that people who find out that they are vodouizan will react well, either, given the reputation the Abrahamic religions (particularly Christianity) have given it. If you ask Christians, and Christianity is the majority religion here in the US, vodouizans are at best mislead. At worst they are evil and must be shunned or punished.

In the US, vodou is not an officially recognized religion. Vodou temples are not recognized as churches—many priests opt to get licensed in another, recognized faith to be recognized by the government, which requires them to report income and income source. Uncle Sam wants a piece of everything we do because the US government does not consider vodou a real religion. Vodou does not get a religious exemption from taxes. Those of us who don’t register as preachers in a religion that is considered ‘real’ by the US government tend to register as lifestyle coaches or consultants.

After all, most of our jobs involve giving life advice.

Vodou is practiced in secret for these reasons and a host of other reasons, including that vodouizan (as minorities) often find the US majority culture to be hostile to their survival. Vodou explicitly embraces professions that the US majority culture does not view as legitimate, people the majority culture does not consider legal, and situations the majority culture condemns. We don’t condemn people based on the US majority culture’s ideals. We can’t afford to. That’s how many vodouizans survive.

It’s also why we don’t tend to ask you how you make a living on meeting you, which is normal in most of the US majority culture. You make money how you make money.

Part of the community ethic of vodou is because of survival concerns. An isolated minority is a minority in danger, and there aren’t that many of us. We help each other as best we can, knowing that whatever is happening to you will also happen to me.

For vodouizan, it is simple: we want to survive. You (probably) do, too.