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Lately, I have been considering the many uses of water and liquid substances in Vodou. There are the healing and cleansing baths, some with special herbs and/or colors.
"The best cleansing bath is one taken in a body of natural water....Sit on the shore for a while and talk to the Mother about your problems....as you walk into the water, chant, 'I thank you, Most Holy Mother, for taking my concerns and washing them away.' Walk into the water...when you come ashore, dress yourself in fine new clothes. Conclude by leaving an offering such as silver coins, food, or the promise of a good deed. As you leave the area, don't look back." --Teish, __Jambalaya__
Libations are poured for the Ancestors (water, juices or alcohol can be used). There are also washes for the household, especially for the floors and the steps of a house.
What I am wondering is.....is the Vodou "cleansing" ritual the forerunner of the Christian practice of Baptism?
Will you share your knowledge of working with the "flowing" aspects of Vodou for cleansing or healing purposes?
"The best cleansing bath is one taken in a body of natural water....Sit on the shore for a while and talk to the Mother about your problems....as you walk into the water, chant, 'I thank you, Most Holy Mother, for taking my concerns and washing them away.' Walk into the water...when you come ashore, dress yourself in fine new clothes. Conclude by leaving an offering such as silver coins, food, or the promise of a good deed. As you leave the area, don't look back." --Teish, __Jambalaya__
Libations are poured for the Ancestors (water, juices or alcohol can be used). There are also washes for the household, especially for the floors and the steps of a house.
What I am wondering is.....is the Vodou "cleansing" ritual the forerunner of the Christian practice of Baptism?
Will you share your knowledge of working with the "flowing" aspects of Vodou for cleansing or healing purposes?
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West Virginia
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Re: Vodou and Baptism
Wed, August 26, 2009 - 11:41 PMThe best bet to find this out would be to trace, from research, where the idea of baptism originated.
All in all, the world over has seen water used as a purifying aspect, something to cleanse not only people but objects. To suggest that Vodou inspired Christianity's habit of personal purification through water is iffy -- I'd be more inclined to wonder where the cultures would intersect at the time. I suspect it might be easier to ask if the Semites or Mesopotamians and the Yorubans/those native of Africa carrying the tradition encountered one another. Sounds like an anthropological question :p. I'll do a bit of digging myself when I get the chance.
Unfortunately, I have no experience with the aspects of working with Vodou. I haven't the slightest which Lwa/Orisha rules my head xD.
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Re: Vodou and Baptism
Thu, August 27, 2009 - 8:59 AMCleansing and purification in vodun first starts with the shedding of blood. For instance, in washing some one's head. One first does sacrifice over the head of the person. One may use a chicken, pigeon or whatever the FA or spirit has required. Then after this sacrifice is done and rubbed (the blood) into the head and face of the person...the ceremonial washings began with herbs, drinks, water, perfume, powders etc. In purification of homes, in Africa, this always start with sacrifice. The killing of a goat or specified animal. Everything that is seen in church rituals (especially if one examines Catholicism) is pre-dated in Vodun and other indigenous spiritual systems. Baptism, the death, burial and resurrection of newness of life is all there. The "crossroads" where the original human sacrifice was done and now the animal sacrifice is taken, in vodun, is embodied in the cross of Christ where the sacrificial lamb died...Jesus Christ being the ultimate human sacrifice! As I have said, the spirits are the same yesterday, today and forever! They are consistent in what they require.
Wedosi -
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Re: Vodou and Baptism
Fri, August 28, 2009 - 7:08 AMInteresting about the Blood (from the sacrificial animal) being used as a "wash". It gives new meaning to that old Hymn "Washed in the Blood of the Lamb."
The word "BLESS" has an interesting etymology:
Bless:
O.E. bletsian, bledsian, Northumbrian bloedsian "to consecrate, make holy," from P.Gmc. *blothisojan "mark with blood," from *blotham "blood" (see blood). Originally a blood sprinkling on pagan altars. This word was chosen in O.E. bibles to translate L. benedicere and Gk. eulogein, both of which have a ground sense of "to speak well of, to praise," but were used in Scripture to translate Heb. brk "to bend (the knee), worship, praise, invoke blessings." Meaning shifted in late O.E. toward "to confer happiness, well-being," by resemblance to unrelated bliss. No cognates in other languages. Blessing is O.E. bledsung.
from: www.etymonline.com/index.php
Blood is simply another kind of "flowing" substance, and one that confers Life. Water, and flowing substances (like milk), always seem to confer Life!
I believe that all animal sacrifices must be treated with the utmost respect, and for those who live in a place where the "butchering" is done in corporate slaughterhouses, this must be put right! I have shifted my own purchase of meats to places where I know the animals are treated humanely, the animals are fed with natural ingredients and not force-fed, and the carcasses of the animals are treated with respect.
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