African Interpretations of the Christian Cross in Vodou

Abstract

Scholars who have written about Vodou, the folk-religion of Haiti, have called it a syncretism, that is, an amalgam of various religious traditions (Price-Mars 1928; Jahn 1961; Herskovits 1971). These traditions permeate the folk-beliefs and ritual dances of the peasant masses of Haiti. The religious amalgam originated with the arrival in the New World of slaves from West Africa as early as 1510.

The contact between Dahomean religions and European Catholicism in Haiti during the colonial period (1492–1804) resulted in a system of correspondences between these two religions. Such correspondences can be seen in Vodun not only in the reinterpretation of many Catholic saints but also in the reinterpretation of the Christian cross. Contrary to the opinions of many scholars who claim that the use of the Christian cross in Vodun ceremonies is Christian in character, this article points out that Vodunists do not interpret the symbol of the cross in the context of Christian theology, but in the context of Dahomean mythology.