bagi

The bar was deserted, but when Max Beauvoir and I entered the hounfour there were three of them, sitting with their backs to the ochre walls of the bagi.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 89:

The various fronds are fixed in front of the doors of the bagi and the peristyle as well as to the potomitan […].

2013, Patrick Taylor, Frederick I. Case, editors, The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions: Volume 1, page 1065:

“This is a very important time for Vodou” Papa Baz tells me as he works in the bagi.

2015, Manbo Paula Wedo, Manbo Jumbo, page 370:


loa

Here, on the Island Below the Sea, the loa have their permanent residence, their primal location.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 36:

Some will caution you at great length about the dangers of Vodou. They will tell you that the lwa are jealous, thin-skinned, and hot-tempered.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 3:

Equally surprising is to find St Patrick so prominent in many Vodou shrines, until one remembers that he too had been a slave who had twice crossed the sea, the second time to freedom, and that he had particular power over snakes, like the loa (Haitian equivalent of orisha) Dambala Wèdo.

2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 714:

In the voodoo religion, a spirit intermediary between Bondye (the creator god) and human beings.


zombie

First attested in 1871.
From a Bantu language. Compare Kongo nzambi (“god”), zumbi (“fetish”), and Kimbundu nzumbi (“ghost”) (see Portuguese zumbi), and Caribbean folklore's jumbee (“a spirit or demon”).
Origin from Spanish sombra (“shadow, phantom”) has also been suggested.
May have come through Louisiana Creole [Term?]. See also French zombi (1832).

Betsy Connell: I don't know about zombies, doctor. Just what is a zombie? / Dr. Maxwell: A ghost. A living dead. It's also a drink.

1943, Curt Siodmak, Ardel Wray, I Walked with a Zombie (motion picture):

The zombies were having fun
The party had just begun
The guests included Wolf-Man, Dracula, and his son.

1962, “Monster Mash”, Bobby "Boris" Pickett and Lenny Capizzi (lyrics), performed by Bobby (Boris) Pickett and The Crypt-Kickers:

Ashley: Dad passed on a few years back. He's probably still watching, though.
Shepard: He's not a zombie, is he?

2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: SSV Normandy:

The zombies first show up 20 minutes in, after Melanie volunteers herself as the next child to mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. That’s when we learn that Melanie and her classmates are all “hungries,” or people infected with a toxic fungus that turns them into mindless flesh-eating animals.

2017 February 23, Katie Rife, “The Girl With All The Gifts tries to put a fresh spin on overripe zombie clichés”, in The Onion AV Club:

(voodoo, horror) A person, usually undead, animated by unnatural forces (such as magic), with no soul or will of his or her own.


mambo

en-noun

mambo (countable and uncountable, plural mambos or mamboes)

From Haitian Creole manbo (“voodoo priestess”) (ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”)), in later senses via Cuban Spanish mambo (“dance”).

der

The mambo next presented a container of water to the cardinal points, then poured libations to the centerpost of the peristyle, the axis along which the spirits were to enter.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 47:

The manbo showed her how to take small handfuls of liquid and spread it on her skin always moving in the upward direction.

1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 219

In the 1950s, Ukrainian American filmmaker Maya Deren traveled to Haiti and became initiated as a manbo (priestess) in Haitian Vodou.

May 2018, Kyrah Malika Daniels, Whiteness in the Ancestral Waters: Race, Religion, and Conversion within North American Buddhism and Haitian Vodou, The Journal of Interreligious Studies, Issue 23


voodoo

en-noun

voodoo (countable and uncountable, plural voodoos)

From Louisiana Creole voudou, from Haitian Creole vodou, from a West African language, such as Ewe vódũ (“deity, idol”), Fon vòdún (“fetish”) or the Kwa languages vodũ.

The spiritual beliefs of the Ewe/Fon of West Africa, practiced chiefly in Benin and in the south of Togo.


baka

Under his sign the malevolent bocor may take the shape of an animal, and men may be transformed into terrible bakas.

1953, Maya Daren, The Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 113:

A person has only to serve the baka incorrectly to have it turn against its owner and do him irremediable harm by reason of the very duality of its composition.

1969, Milo Rigaud, Secrets of Voodoo, page 83:

Because a baka can destroy a family's (or even a whole neighborhood's) well-being, there is great interest in catching and destroying them.

2001, Jennie Marcelle Smith, When the Hands Are Many, page 77:

(voodoo) An evil spirit in Haitian belief, often in the form of an animal.


peristyle

From French péristyle, from Classical Latin peristȳlum, from περίστυλον (perístulon), from περι- (peri-, “around”) + στῦλος (stûlos, “pillar”).

af

The peristyle is a roofed structure, open at the sides, in which most of the ceremonials and dances take place.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 47:

Most peristyles in Haiti have hard-packed dirt floors that can soak up libations when they're poured on the ground in honor of the spirits.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 35:

(voodoo) A sacred roofed courtyard with a central pillar (the potomitan), used as a space for voodoo ceremonies, either alone or as an adjunct to an enclosed temple or altar-room.


wanga

All magic is performed under his patronage, whether it be the medicinal, protective paquet, or the less benevolent wanga.

1953, Maya Daren, The Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 117:

Not all wanga contain the enslaved spirits of the dead, but they work best if they do.

2008, Stephan Palmié, Africas of the Americas, page 364:

Love charms are the most common type of wanga.

2011, Mark Juergensmeyer, editor, The Oxford Handbook of Global Religions, page 549:


veve

From Haitian Creole vèvè, from Portuguese viver (“to live”).

The vever, as a cabbala-like method of invoking the gods, was included as a primary ceremonial device in Rada.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 69:

The vèvè for Simbi, lord of healing, bristles with all sorts of allusions to the Kongo medicines of God, leaves, horns, water, and stars.

1995, Robert Farris Thompson, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 103

The indigenous practice of sand painting was preserved in the practice of creating vévés, intricate drawings in cornmeal that were used to call various spirits.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 15:

(voodoo) Any of various symbols, like line diagrams, that have religious significance in voodoo, serving as a representation of the loa.


bocor

From Haitian Creole bòkò, from Fon bókɔ́nɔ̀ (“soothsayer”).

“The bokor who knows the magic can make anyone a zombi—a Haitian living abroad, a foreigner.”

The corpse is buried in all solemnity, and two days later, at dead of night, the bocor digs it up, stops feeding it salt, and has himself a zombie.

A bòkò is an entrepreneur, and has a reputation as a man who will “work with both hands,” that is, for healing and revenge.

1995, Elizabeth McAlister, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, page 305

It seemed to him that he was […] surrendering all agency and becoming hers to command, as if she were a Haitian bokor and he at lunch at Bergdorf Goodman had been administered the so-called zombie's cucumber which confused his thought processes and made him her slave for life.

2017, Salman Rushdie, The Golden House, Jonathan Cape, published 2017, page 180:

(voodoo) A voodoo practitioner who deals with malefic as well as beneficial effects; a sorcerer.


Petro

Whereas the Rada drumming and dancing are on beat, the Petro are offbeat, sharp, and unforgiving, like the crack of a rawhide whip.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 49:

In Haitian voodoo, a class of loa of uncertain origin, chiefly associated with fierceness or aggression.


voodooist

“Voodooists believe that their sorcerers have the power to raise innocent individuals from their graves to sell them as sleaves.”

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 26:


Bondye

As among the Yoruba, Vodouisants must also recognize Bondye as the first and the last.

2000, Leslie G. Desmangles, The Faces of the Gods, page 162:

According to the Vodou worldview, Bondye created the world—and then, after finishing with his labors, he turned things over to the angels, saints, and lwa.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 27:

As is the case in much of the African tradition, Bondye is not the object of any direct cult or worship.

2009, Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama, editors, Encyclopedia of African Religion, volume 1, page 136:


nanchon

From Haitian Creole nanchon, variant form of nasyon, from French nation. Cognate with English nation.

(voodoo) A particular family or group of loa (voodoo spirits).


houngan

From Haitian Creole oungan, apparently from Fon houn (“spirit”) + Kongo nganga (“high priest”).

The shadow of the houngan, projected from within the tent by the flickering of the candle, dances and glides over the folds of the cloth as he completes his final preparations.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 48:

By then, estimates of the number of oungans killed in 1986-87 had reached as high as 400.

1995, Sidney Mintz & Michel-Rolph Trouillot, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, page 147

From 1751 to 1758, Makandal, a one-armed former slave and houngan, staged a rebellion that claimed some six thousand lives.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 16:

Most voodoo priests, known as houngans, operate semi-independently, catering to their followers without much structure.

2008 April 5, Marc Lacey, “A U.S.-Trained Entrepreneur Becomes Voodoo’s Pope”, in New York Times:


govi

From Haitian Creole [Term?], from Fon [Term?].

In due course of time, the parent in the govi becomes grandparent and the grandparent becomes ancestor.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 28:

So these govi used to sit on your father's family altar, but now they are on yours?

1995, Mama Lola & Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 232

The importance and significance of the govi can hardly be overstressed because it enables as well as brings to light the Voduists' reverence for their ancestors, a ubiquitous and fundamental feature of African religion in general.

2009, Ama Mazama, Encyclopedia of African Religion, volume 1, page 297:

A sacred urn or pitcher in Haitian voodoo, used to hold the spirit of an ancestor.


Vodouisant

Vodouisants believe that if the lwa are pleased with your actions, they will reward you with health, financial success, and all-around good luck.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 5:


Rada

Apparently a local form of Arada (now Allada), a city in ancient Dahomey.

The majority of the deities are Dahomean and the rites of these are called Rada, from the town Allada.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 60:

In Haiti, the Rada have come to represent the emotional stability and warmth of Africa, the hearth of the nation.

Most books on Vodou have concentrated largely on the Rada pantheon.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 31:

We associate the Rada Lwa with the color white and with a sense of purity and formality. Because of this, anthropologists and non-Haitians often described the Rada as the “good ancestral Lwa,” while the spirits of the Petro nation of Lwa were considered “evil,” or invented by slaves in Haiti, though this is extremely oversimplified.

2012, Mambo Chita Tann, Haitian Vodou, page 95:

In Haitian voodoo, a class of loa of Dahomeyan origin, chiefly associated with warmth and benevolence.


gros bon ange

The gros-bon-ange is the metaphysical double of the physical being, and, since it does not exist in the world of matter, it is the immortal twin who survives the mortal man.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 26:

In voodoo, one of the dualistic aspects of the soul, responsible for basic biological functions such as blood flow and breathing.


ti bon ange

From Haitian Creole, from French petit bon ange (“little good angel”).

der

Indeed it is characteristic of the almost anonymous, transcendent, spiritual nature of the ti-bon-ange that it is automatically liberated at the moment of death and hovers over the body for nine days before ascending to heaven.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 44:

Throughout this period the ti bon ange is extremely vulnerable, and it is not until it is liberated from the flesh to descend below the dark abysmal waters that it is relatively safe.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 182:

For them, the act of zombification is a matter of capturing the ti bon anj and thus exerting an absolute power over the individual.

1995, Laënnec Hurbon, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 192

Here we begin to see that there is a cooperative relationship between the tibonanj and the gwobonanj.

2013, Carol P. Marsh-Lockett, Elizabeth J. West, editors, Literary Expressions of African Spirituality, page 103:

In voodoo, one of the dualistic aspects of the soul, responsible for personality, character, and willpower.


hounfour

A stretch of straw mats is laid on the ground leading from the door of the hounfor.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 47:

I arrived around ten and was taken into the peristyle, the roofed court of the hounfour, and was led around a semicircle of tables to the one where Beauvoir sat at the head.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 47:

In the afternoon, Magda and I went out to purchase some gifts: perfume for Ezili and a bottle of rum for the ounfò.

1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 276

Because her Western science has failed to restore Jessica to health, Betsy secretly takes her charge to see the houngan priest at the hounfour for help.

2011, Kyle William Bishop, American Zombie Gothic, page 88:


zombie's cucumber

After the baptism, or sometimes the next day, he or she is made to eat a paste containing a strong dose of a potent psychoactive drug, the zombi's cucumber, which brings on a state of disorientation and amnesia.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 187:

“Your soul will answer, you see. And they'll feed you the zombie's cucumber. You ain't got no choice but to eat it.”

2013, Arielle Crowell, Deadly Magnolia, page 210:

It seemed to him that he was […] surrendering all agency and becoming hers to command, as if she were a Haitian bokor and he at lunch at Bergdorf Goodman had been administered the so-called zombie's cucumber which confused his thought processes and made him her slave for life.

2017, Salman Rushdie, The Golden House, Jonathan Cape, published 2017, page 180:

Datura stramonium
Datura stramonium#Translingual

Jimsonweed (Datura stramonium), as used in Haiti.


Ghede

In Haiti, the Gede are the most numerous among all the Iwa.

1996, Gerdès Fleurant, Dancing Spirits, page 103:

As life ends in death, so does a fet end with homage to the Bawon and Brigitte, the king and queen of the graveyard, and their servants, the Ghede.

Ghede loa are boisterous and have a healthy sexual appetite.

2012, Michael R Hall, Historical Dictionary of Haiti, page 120:

In Haitian voodoo, a class of loa generally associated with death.


potomitan

From Haitian Creole potomitan, and its source, French poteau mitan (“central post”).

Around this poteau-mitan revolve the ritual movements and the dance; at its base the offerings are placed; and through it the loa enter the peristyle.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 36:

Across from us two young men were setting up a battery of drums; they cast furtive glances at Rachel as she cracked open a bottle of rum, tipped it three times toward the poteau mitan, and took a drink.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 226:

Next, swinging a censer, Divié blessed the poto mitan and all the ounsis who raised their skirts and swished them around to get the full effect of the incense.

1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 277

The poteau-mitan is a ladder between Heaven and Earth, a pathway by which the ancestors can rise from below and the spirits descend from above.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 36:

The Lwa are believed to ascend or descend through the potomitan, which is therefore seen as a magical axis.

2009, Molefi Kete Asante, Ama Mazama, editors, Encyclopedia of African Religion, volume 1, page 394:

A sacramental post or pillar in the middle of the peristyle in front of a voodoo temple, used as the focus of certain rituals.


Nago

Nagos (plural)
Nagoes (plural)
Nago (plural)

From Ewe Anagó (“a Yoruba”), from Yoruba Ànàgó (“Yoruba from Abeokuta Province, Nigeria”).

uder

The Nago and Petwo lwa are honored with Florida water.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 54:

The colors red and blue are frequently worn during Nago rite Voodoo ceremonies.

2012, Michael R Hall, Historical Dictionary of Haiti, page 181:

In Haitian voodoo, a class of loa of Yoruba origin.


langaj

From Haitian Creole langaj, from French langage (“language”). Doublet of language.

Though used only by initiates, some passages in langaj emphasize sounds in a fashion that appeals to the ears of the profane as well, even when no translation is accessible as in most of the following examples.

2003, Marie-Jose Alcide Saint-Lot, Vodou, A Sacred Theater, page 172:

The langaj used for activation and the specific combinations required for a ceremony are initiatory secrets.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 41:

He and his assistant, a bigger, stronger, younger man, are both singing, bent over the bowl, in langage, which is a mix of slavery-era African dialects combined with Creole; it's used only in voodoo ritual and is one of the world's few remaining wholly sacred languages.

2013, Amy Wilentz, Farewell, Fred Voodoo, Simon & Schuster, page 196:

(voodoo) A sacred or incantatory language used in Haitian voodoo rituals.


houngenikon

The houngenikon thereupon starts off the song, the drums and the chorus join in and when it is ended the houngan inquires: “Are you satisfied?”

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 51:

The drums changed and the Houngenikon came dancing on to the floor, holding a vessel filled with some burning liquid from which sprang blue and yellow flames.

Sometimes Bienaimé nods in the direction of a particularly noisy racket, and the houngenikon flicks at those kids with his whip.

I was told that the Vodou priest Cesar had had a serious fight with Nicole, the ounjenikon, mistress of song, of his temple.

1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 211

(voodoo) The leader of singing in a voodoo ceremony.


met tet

From Haitian Creole mèt tèt, from French maître (“master”) + tête (“head”).

While his physical heritage may show resemblance to one parent or the other, in infancy, his deities, including the maît-tête, become manifest only with maturity and establish their special position.

1953, Maya Daren, The Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 71:

The Vodou system of identifying each person's mèt tèt amounts to a method for personality typing, and this system is of great significance for understanding the moral force field of Haitian Vodou.

2000, Nancy M. Martin, Joseph Runzo, The Meaning of Life in the World's Religions, page 241:

Outside Haiti, where Vodou ceremonies are held less frequently and possession is an aberration, not a commonplace, it is more difficult to determine which lwa is your met tet.

2006, Kenaz Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook:

(voodoo) The loa with whom a Vodouisant has a particular connection, and with whom they specially identify.


laplas

From Haitian Creole laplas, from French la place.

The la-place is, in a sense, master of ceremonies for the houngan.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 156:

The laplas and the two flag bearers followed Divié all around the poto mitan a number of times as he did this.

The reine dwapo and the laplas swing the flags and the sword and salute the cardinal points and the congregation.

2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 48:

(voodoo) The assistant to a houngan or mambo.


hounsi

At the entrance to the tent, the hounsis stretch out upon the mats.

1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 48:

Each hounsis remained anonymous, focused inward and turned away from the audience toward the poteau mitan and the drums.

1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 48:

In both Rada and Petwo modes of ritualizing, it is customary for ounsis to show respect to priests and priestesses through such ritual salutations.

1995, Karen McCarthy Brown, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 214

A voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.