Inside The Rituals Of Haiti's 'Vodou' Faith

An enchanting collection of photographs has given a glimpse inside Haiti's Vodou faith but it's not all animal sacrifice and evil spirits.

Anthony Karen said he felt compelled to travel to the Caribbean country after a documentary piqued his interest in its dark and mysterious rituals.

But once there, he discovered there are many misconceptions about the religion he now considers one of the most organic and natural forms of spirituality.

 

Several times a day, light casts down from an opening at the highest point of the grotto ceiling, during these times, many Vodouisants can be found making their requests to the Loa/Iwa. It was that same light that the Taino Indians in that region centered many of their rituals.

 

Two Vodouisants moments after a spiritual possession and sacrifice

 

A Hougan (or Hougan) uses talc power to refresh and purify a sacrificial offering. The meat and hide will then be eaten and shared amongst that family or others in need.

The life energy of the animal is for the Lwa (spirit) and often the blood is collected in a calabash bowl and later placed on the Poto Mitan, which represents the center of the universe and access to the spirit world.

 

A Mambo (high priestess in Haitian Vodou) is overcome by a spirit.

'The practice of sacrificing animals is a sacred ritual, which means feeding the spiritual bodies and entities through the angels of the earth,' Karen said, adding that such rituals are not exclusive to Haiti or the Vodou faith.

'It is like recycling and regrouping the various energies to strengthen the body and the soul to assist in living this human experience.'

A Mambo (high priestess in Haitian Vodou) is overcome by a spirit.

A family of Vodouisants begin to invoke the Loa/Iwa

 

A Vodou priest (Hougan or Houngan) begins to invoke the spirits (Loa or Iwa) during the feast day of St. Francis De Assisi in a remote region of Haiti.

 

A Vodouisant adheres a prayer to the grotto walls with candle wax during the feast day of St. Francis De Assisi

 

Vodouisants navigate their way deep inside a grotto once inhabited by the Taino Indians to make their requests of the Loa/Iwa (spirits) who serve them.

 

A Vodou priest (Hougan or Houngan) begins to invoke the spirits (Loa or Iwa) by blowing candle smoke in the face of another Vodouisant during the feast day of St. Francis De Assisi in a remote region of Haiti.

A Vodouisaint is entered by a spirit

 

Vodouisants navigate their way deep inside a grotto once inhabited by the Taino Indians to make their requests of the Loa/Iwa (spirits) who serve them.
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