N I G H T B R I N G E R . S E
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ABOUT VOODOO
The cults of black and white magic and sorcery practised by the black peoples of the West Indies, especially Haiti. The word derives from the Creole French vaudoux = sorcerer of witchdoctor, probably applied by early Haitian slaveowners to black magicians.
Voodoo originated in the ancient religions and magical arts of western Africa, from Gambia in the north to Angola in the south. When Africa chiefs sold huge numbers of their tribespeople into slavery, the crammed slave ships carried many priests and wizards of the ancient beliefs across the South Atlantic. The slaves were eager for the support of such magician, who quickly established themselves in the New World.
All magic depends upon the co-operation of spirits, demons, and deities with the magicians, and in the West Indies the massed spiritual forces of the great slave communities created a whole new asemblage of such beings. They are known as loas, and like the spirits of every other part of the world their function is to help, comfort, or torment human beings.
The wizards and sorcerers founded a whole new cult, popularly known as voodoo, upon the worship of loas. Probably its real name is unknown except to the trained practitioners of the cult.
The priests of voodoo, known as houngans, and the sorcerers, who are called zobops, may be either male or female. They have to undergo prolonged training and initiation, and absolute secrecy, before they are qualified to perform voodoo rites and formally accepted into the order of zobops. Fully-initiated houngans and zobops possess powers similar to those of witches, wizards, and sorcerers of all other parts of the world. They can raise the dead, fly through the air, appear in a variety of forms, and supply all the usual spells and charms ranging from love potions to death spells.
It appears, however, that the male practitioners may be more powerful than the females. It is said that a male zobop may voluntarily turn himself into a loup-garou, a kind of ghost mosquito which sucks the lives out of children, whereas a female may changing into a loup-garaou against her will.
There is a huge assemblage of loas, led by Papa Legba and Maitre Carrefour. They have such names as Amelia, Bazo, Danger Mina, Gangan, Ogoun, and Wangol, Many, like Erzilie, the loa of erotic love, help humans in special ways when the houngans ask them to do so. Others perform more generalised tasks, and may torment men and women unless the houngans hold them at bay. Some are new manifestations of ancient tribal deities, but many, known as the proto loa, are those which sprang into existence in the New World. The houngans also maintain that a number of Christian saints, including John the Baptist, has joined the ranks of the loas, and even that Christian angels (known in voodoo as zanges) play their part in voodoo rituals. The zanges, and the loas with saints' names, act as messengers to the God of Christianity, to ask Him to help with whatever may be required.
Houngans and zobops contact the loas in order to perform their magic, whether helpful or harmful. They dominate Haitian communitites because of their ability to manipulate the spirits and deities. Voodoo rituals for contacting the loas are shrouded in secrecy, but people sneak in whispers of fearsome ceremonies using the blood of white children and of the appearance of loas in the form of venomous serpents.
Some voodoo ceremonies involve whole communities, so that the total force of many mortal minds and souls may be concentrated into an irresistible power. When the beat of voodoo drums is heard through the jungle night, and distant firelight flickers through the trees, it means that every man and woman of some village is dancing in a frenzied ritual. Anyone not directly concerned should keep well away, because the night will be full of loas answering the zobops' call.
The result of a flawed voodoo spell, cast by a person (name unknown) with indequate knowledge of this sorcery. The intention was to raise the corpse of Joachim Belarivo and use him as a zombie, to perform manual labour during the hours of darkness. The ceremony succeeded in resurrecting Belarivo, but it seems that some important component of the spell had been omitted because Belarivo refused to work and insisted on attending any neighbourhood celebrations. The sight of a resurrected corpse is not in the least attractive, and when Belarivo tried to join the dancing at a local wedding the guests stampeded in screaming confusion. Only the priest stood his ground, and with great difficulty persuaded Belarivo to return to the grave.
After that, the shuffling step of Belarivo was heard soon after the start of any kind of gathering from a birthday party to a political meeting. The people of the district commissioned the most powerful practitioners of voodoo in attempt to control the rambling corpse, but Belarivo argued stubbornly with them, in his harsh terrible croak, that he was doing no harm and only wanted to enjoy the company of the living. Eventually the people thought they might discourage him by staying at home, but when Belarivo began to appear at ordinary family dinners they were obliged, at great expense, to seal him into a lead coffin and bury it beneath a pile of boulders.
Persons brought back from death by voodoo rituals, so that, as living corpses, they may be programmed to work for the houngans or zobops who have resurrected them. Sometimes a voodoo practitioner will actually kill a person, in order to resurrect and enslave him in the form of a mobile corpse.
Zombies only move around after dark, so that anyone seeing one from a little distance away during the hours of darkness might not know it to be dead. It is easy, however, to distinguish a zombie from a living person. It can 'see' in the dark, so that it avoids obstacles which might trip a living person, and it never moves faster than a slow shambling walk. If it should confront a human being, it will not raise its head to look him or her in the eyes.
A zombie is obedient to all human commands and will do the heaviest work without protest or wearying, although it must return to its grave before sunrise. The owner does not have to feed or care for it in any way, but must make sure that it never touches salt. Even a few grains of salt will make a zombie realise it is dead, whereupon it will dig itself back into its grave and ignore any further attempts at resurrection.
It may be assumed that any prosperous farmer, who does not exert himself unduly, is the owner of zombies who do all the work for him during the night. A zombie-owner does, however, lead an uneasy existence. There is always the possibility that some rival or enemy may use the appropriate spells to re-programme one of his zombies, so that it will turn upon him during the night.
There is another class of zombies known as 'errant zombies'. These are the bodies of people who have died in accidents instead of living out their natural lifespan. They arise from their graves and wander around during the night, but do not seem to do any harm. Eventually, when they reach the end of the period for which they would have lived but for the accident, they settle peacefully into their graves.
Voodoo History
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