Danbala and Ayeda Wedo

Lasirene

Vodou Doll

Young Manbo

Blue Fungus Frog

Red Eye Frog

Blue-legged Frog

Iguana

Vodou has interested me since I was a child, but in researching this series I began to realize it’s far more complicated that I had imagined. The Zombie Hollywood films from the past are far from the reality of this religion.

Haitian Vodou has long fascinated and bewildered outsiders, with dark tales of dolls, Zombies and animal sacrifice. These sensational images are not the truth of Vodou.

Vodou has knit the Haitian people together through centuries of oppression and struggle. Vodou was created by individuals drawn from many different cultures, its mix of African tribal beliefs, Catholicism, Masonic and Napoleonic influences was shaped over the course of several centuries.

Vodou is religion, culture, heritage and philosophy.

It is also art, dance, language, medicine, music, justice, power, storytelling and ritual.

It heals and destroys, is both good and bad, simple in concept and complex in practice.

The Vodou religion is before all other religions. It is more ancient than Christ.