Vodou & Diaspora Traditions
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Azaka: the Vodou spirit of agriculture and harvest
A farmer in rural Haiti once told an ethnographer that when the rains fail, you do not pray to the sky.
2026-08-23Candomblé Practices: Rituals and Beliefs
Three atabaques, one deep as a heartbeat, one sharp as rain, one weaving between them.
2026-08-23Candomblé vs Macumba: Understanding the Distinctions
The iron bell rings three times in a Bahian terreiro.
2026-08-23Candomblé vs Yoruba: A Closer Look at Their Relationship
The atabaque drums pound in a terreiro in Salvador, Bahia.
2026-08-23Candomblé vs Yoruba: Cultural Connections
A Brazilian mãe-de-santo once told a visiting Nigerian priest that her grandmother's orixá spoke Portuguese.
2026-08-23Comparing Haitian Vodou and Other Types of Voodoo
A visitor to a peristil in Port-au-Prince once asked a houngan if he could buy a voodoo doll.
2026-08-23Exploring the Relationship Between Brujeria and Wicca
The woman in the Mexican market sells bundles of ruda and albahaca next to a statue of Saint Death.
2026-08-23Feast of Saint John the Baptist: history and traditions
On the night of June 23, across the hills of Brittany and the valleys of the Pyrenees, shepherds once lit fires that could be seen from one ridge to the ne
2026-08-23Haitian Vodou vs. Louisiana Voodoo: Key Differences
A woman in New Orleans places a brick-red brick on her grandmother's grave.
2026-08-23Haitian Vodou vs. Santeria: Understanding the Distinctions
A priest in Port-au-Prince draws a veve on the dirt floor with cornmeal, his hand moving without hesitation.
2026-08-23Hindu purification rituals: a Vodou practitioner's comparison
A Vodou priest in Jacmel once watched a Hindu family perform a puja on the banks of the Ganges.
2026-08-23How does John's baptism differ from Christian baptism?
A man wades into the Jordan River wearing a leather belt and a cloak of camel hair.
2026-08-23How is John the Baptist different from Jesus?
A desert ascetic who lived on locusts and wild honey.
2026-08-23Jewish practices and rituals: an esoteric comparison
Jewish esoteric practices and rituals are mystical techniques from Kabbalah and Merkavah mysticism that seek direct divine encounter through precise lingui
2026-08-23John the Baptist vs John the Apostle: what's the difference?
In a medieval alchemical manuscript, two bearded men stand on opposite sides of a still: one holds a scallop shell, the other a serpent-wound chalice.
2026-08-23Laws of purification in the Bible: how they compare to Vodou purity codes
A Kohen in ancient Jerusalem washed his hands and feet before entering the sanctuary.
2026-08-23Louisiana Voodoo vs Hoodoo: Understanding the Distinctions
A tourist in New Orleans buys a red flannel bag labeled "Voodoo gris-gris" from a shop on Bourbon Street.
2026-08-23Marie Laveau vs Papa Legba: how they connect in Vodou
A priestess of New Orleans and a guardian of the crossroads.
2026-08-23Orthodox cross vs Catholic cross: key differences
A traveler steps into an Orthodox church in Thessaloniki and sees a cross with three horizontal bars, the lowest one slanted.
2026-08-23Papa Legba and Elegua: similarities and differences
A man pours rum on the ground, three times, at the base of a ceiba tree.
2026-08-23Papa Legba in Vodou vs Hoodoo: what's the difference?
A bottle of gin sits on a red-draped altar in a shotgun house in New Orleans.
2026-08-23Papa Legba vs Baron Samedi: key differences
In a peristyle in Port‑au‑Prince, the first song calls a man with a straw hat and a crutch.
2026-08-23Saint John the Baptist Catholic history
The Catholic Church celebrates two births in its liturgical calendar: the Virgin Mary's and John the Baptist's.
2026-08-23Santeria vs Hoodoo: Key Differences
A visitor walks into a botanica in Miami, past shelves of seven-day candles and dried herbs.
2026-08-23Santeria vs Yoruba: Understanding the Connections
Three strokes, a pause, then a pattern that a Yoruba priest in Oyo would recognize as a greeting to Changó.
2026-08-23Soul dance vs spirit dance: what is the difference?
A dancer in a Haitian peristil falls to the ground, possessed.
2026-08-23The Relationship Between Louisiana Voodoo and Catholicism
A woman kneels before a small altar in a New Orleans shotgun house.
2026-08-23What are flesh scriptures in the Bible?
A Roman soldier stationed in Judea around 30 CE watched a Jewish teacher hold up a piece of goat skin covered in Hebrew letters.
2026-08-23What is Brujeria and its Practices?
We are standing in a small market stall in Oaxaca City.
2026-08-23What is Damballa in Vodou?
Who Is Damballa in Haitian Vodou? Damballa is the primordial serpent lwa in Haitian Vodou, the sky father who coiled the world into being and whose wisdom
2026-08-23What is Santeria Practice and Its Significance?
Santeria practice is a living Afro-Cuban religion that blends Yoruba cosmology with Roman Catholic saints and rituals, serving as a system of spiritual pro
2026-08-23Aline Sitoé Diatta: prophetess and resistance figure
The French colonial police arrived at her village in the Casamance region of Senegal on a Tuesday in 1941.
2026-08-20Fetishes in Vodou: sacred objects and their power
We have watched a oungan (priest) tie a small bundle of leaves, stones, and a chicken bone with red and black thread.
2026-08-20How does Jewish purification ritual compare to Vodou cleansing?
A woman in a Brooklyn mikveh lowers herself into living water, reciting a blessing for spiritual renewal.
2026-08-20How to create a safe circle
We have watched newcomers freeze at the moment of casting, hand raised, words forgotten, waiting for something to happen.
2026-08-20How to move in the Spirit through dance
In the back rooms of the Deep South during Reconstruction, enslaved and free Black Christians circled a wooden center, shuffling in a counterclockwise ring
2026-08-20Maman Brigitte: the Vodou goddess of the cemetery
A white cross stands at the center of a cemetery in Port-au-Prince, its base covered in splashes of Barbancourt rum, crossed bones, and the black feathers
2026-08-20Marie Laveau's teachings: what she actually taught
Ann Street cottage in New Orleans left no grimoire, no catechism, no written doctrine.
2026-08-20Papa Legba in New Orleans: history and pilgrimage sites
A man in a straw hat leans on a gnarled walking stick at the intersection of St.
2026-08-20Saint-Louis Cemetery: history and the Vodou connection
A marble tomb in New Orleans bears the scratches of three centuries of desperate hands.
2026-08-20The calebasse: the sacred rattle of Vodou
A dry, percussive shake cuts through the drumming in a peristyle near Port-au-Prince.
2026-08-20The dance of the spirits in Vodou: ritual movement explained
A oungan in Léogâne once told us that the spirits do not come because they hear the drums.
2026-08-20The protection circle in Vodou: how to cast it
The houngan traces a line in the dust with the flat of the blade.
2026-08-20Understanding Louisiana Voodoo Practices and Beliefs
On a humid Thursday morning, a woman places three copper nickels and a cigar on the pink granite tomb of Marie Laveau.
2026-08-20What is Haitian Vodou for Beginners?
A priestess in Léogâne once told a visiting ethnographer that her spirits did not live in the statues.
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