Voodoo rituals and beliefs

Voodoo (sometimes also spelt vodu or vodou) in the Fon language of Dahomey ( now Benin)is a word for gods. The Fon people separate gods in three regions: the sky, the earth and the clouds in between.

Dahomey tribe (Benin)

The Creator lives in the sky and created twin gods. Strong and endure Lisa the sun god and his sister Mawu a moon goddess of night, peace, joy, fertility, motherhood and rain. The two eldest children of sun god and moon goddess were were Sagbata and his twin sister who were send to earth to populate it with their children.
The younger brother Sogbo was sent to the clouds and become the ruler of thunder and lightning. Sogbo was jealous of his older brother who was the ruler of the earth so he stopped the rain. People on the earth were starving because nothing could grow without the rain. Their prayers moved Mawu to send Lega, a god of fate and the youngest son of Lisa and Mawu, to the earth. He took the Otutu, a song bird, with him and told it to sing as soon as fire broke out. Angry Sogbo caused fire on earth with lightening very soon, Otutu started to sing to let Mawu know. Mawu sent rain and earth was saved.

Mawu - voodoo goddess of moon

Voodoo, vodu or vodou is also the name for religion of former slaves from West Africa imported into Haiti in the West Indies. The diverse magico-spiritual beliefs of people from the African states of Dahomey, Loango,Ashanti, Yoruba and Mandingo, whose cultures were deliberately broken up and scattered through Haiti, have been brought together to form a sense of religious identity and continuity out of fragmentation. Voodoo is a collective spiritual creation born out of the inhumanity of the slave system, and it brings together ancestor worship, spirit possession, dance, song and drumming.

Voodoo is a peasant religion practised by 90 percent of Haitians but regarded with contempt by the small Westernized ruling class. Haitian voodoo is a fusion between African spirit beliefs and Catholic Christianity. Christian God (called Bondye in Haitian Creole) leads over the ritual and sends down his angels in variety of performances like lighting of candles or animal sacrifice. Rituals and liturgy are mostly Christian origin and the loa (called as well angels or saints) are seen to be part of Christian cosmology.
Santeria is a Caribbean practice similar to voodoo and is also centered on the worship of African gods within a Christian religious framework.

fetishes for sale - voodoo market at Lome - Togo

Voodoo market at Lomé (Togo) - fetishes for sale

Human being consist of material body animated by spirit and may achieve status of divinity or loa. When loa possesses a new devotee it has to be baptized and take the holy communion. Loa moves into the head and displaces his or her gros bon ange or good angel soul, one of the two souls that person carries, causing trembling and convulsions. The spirit incarnates into it's earthly host and rides it like a horse. This spirits union can be called celestial marriage . Possessed person might seek the protection of the loa. The spirit's duty is to protect it's spouse, but it must be given presents in return.
The spirits help with ordinary problems as well as healing or putting problematic human relationships into an external form where they can be worked out.