Main content

Ernie Rea explores a much misunderstood religion. Here in the West we call it Voodoo but those who practice it, call it Vodou.

Ernie Rea takes a look at a religion that emerged on the Caribbean island of Haiti about 500 years ago when the traditional religions of enslaved West Africans merged with the Catholicism of the French colonialists. Here in the West we call it Voodoo; but the correct term is Vodou. 60 million people worldwide practice Vodou. It is thought to have originated in the West African country of Benin where the word 鈥榁odou鈥 means 鈥淪pirit鈥 in one of the indigenous languages and the 鈥楲wa鈥 (the Vodou name for Spirits) are central to the religion's belief and practice.

Ernie is joined by Her Majesty Queen Mother Dr Dowoti Desir (a Mambo Asogwe - Vodou High Priestess) from her Royal Palace in the city of Ouidah in Benin. Also taking part in the discussion are Dr Louise Fenton (a Senior Lecturer in Contextual Studies at the University of Wolverhampton) and Dr Kyrah Malika Daniels (Assistant Professor of Art History, Africana Studies and Theology at Boston College in the United States).

Producer: Helen Lee

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Mon 10 May 2021 16:30

Clip

Broadcast

  • Mon 10 May 2021 16:30

Six things you might not know about chanting

Here are six things we learned from Beyond Belief鈥檚 exploration of the power of chanting.

Podcast