Voodoo

The Simple English Wiktionary has a definition for: voodoo.

The word voodoo, which has many different names and spellings (like vodun, vodou, voudou, vudu, vodoun, vowdown, vooodooo, vundun) is the name of a West African animist, spiritual folkway. Some class it as a religion. However, voodoo is more a way of life. It is a supernatural ancestral connection, passed from generation to generation by word of mouth (oral tradition), rituals and spiritual practices. Voodoo has variations from tribe to tribe. Religion, on the other hand, is based on formal organization, myths and dogma in texts, buildings constructed for worship, and a hierarchy of ordained leaders.

Voodoo is animism or spiritism. That is, all aspects of the natural world are seen as having spiritual identity immune to physical death. Animism includes belief in a person's spirit surviving the death of the body. Ancestors' 'spirits' are called upon for inspiration, protection or other influences over the material world. The roots of voodoo in the Americas come from the Fon, Ewe, and Yoruba people of Africa.. The word vodún is the Fon-Ewe word for spirit.^[1]

In voodoo many gods and spirits are prayed to or called on. Both spirits of nature and of dead people are important. The spirits of family members who have died are especially important. Voodoo often has rituals with music and dancing. Drums are used to make most of this music. In voodoo people often believe that a spirit is in their body and controlling the body. Having a spirit come into is wanted, and important. This spirit can speak for the gods or dead people you love, and can also help to heal or do magic.

1. ↑ "Hoodoo", The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore, vol. 2, Anand Prahlad