Vodou (Anglicized: Voodoo) or Vaudoo is a family of New World syncretistic religions primarily based on the faiths of the Fon, Ewe, and related peoples of West Africa (see West African Vodun), of the Kongo people of Central Africa (see Lemba), and of Christianity.
It is found in areas of the African diaspora, especially Brazil, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba.
The word voodoo derives from vodũ, which in Fon, Ewe, and related language (distributed from contemporary Ghana to Benin) means spirit or divine creature (in the sense of divine creation).
The pantheon of vodoun is quite large and complex. In one version, there are seven male and female twins of Mawu, interethnic and related to natural phenomena or historical or mythical individuals, and dozens of ethnic vodous, defenders of a certain clan or tribe.
In Haitian Vodou (Sèvis Lwa in Creole or "Service to the Spirits"), there are strong elements from the Bakongo of Central Africa and the Igbo and Yoruba of Nigeria, although many different nations of Africa have representation in the liturgy of the Sèvis Lwa.
Haitian Vodouisants believe, in accordance with widespread African tradition, that there is one God who is the creator of all, referred to as "Bondyè" (from the French "Bon Dieu" or "Good God").
There are said to be twenty-one nations or "Nation" of spirits, also sometimes called "lwa-yo".
The spiritscome in "families" that all share a surname, like Ogou, or Ezili, or Azaka or Ghede.
For instance, "Ezili" is a family, Ezili Dantor and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family.
The Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. In Dominican Vodou, there is also an Agua Dulce or "Sweet Waters" family, which encompasses all Amerindian spirits.
There are literally hundreds of lwa. Well known individual lwa include Danbala Wedo, Papa Legba Atibon, and Agwe Tawoyo.
