The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Haiti - Hardcover

Desmangles, Leslie Gerald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807820598 ISBN 13: 9780807820599

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr, 1992

Synopsis

Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti, is a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. In this book, Leslie Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, focusing particularly on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices.

Desmangles sees Vodou not simply as a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but as a true creole phenomenon, born out of the oppressive conditions of slavery and the necessary adaptation of slaves to a New World environment.

Desmangles uses Haitian history to explain this phenomenon, paying particular attention to the role of the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century maroon communities in preserving African traditions and the attempts by the Catholic, educated elite to suppress African-based "superstitions." The result is a society in which one religion, Catholicism, is visible and official; the other, Vodou, is unofficial and largely secretive.

About this title

Book Description

"With this book Desmangles has made a significant contribution to providing a scholarly understanding of Vodou. He has shown Vodou to be a well-developed, vibrant folk religion that has played and continues to play a major role in the religious lives of the common people of Haiti. . . . Professors of sociology, anthropology, and religion would be wise to give this book serious consideration for adoption in either graduate or undergraduate courses that deal with folk religion."-- Sociology of Religion

From the Inside Flap

Desmangles analyzes the mythology and rituals of Vodou, the folk religion of Haiti and a by-product of the contact between Roman Catholicism and African and Amerindian traditional religions. Focusing on the inclusion of West African and European elements in Vodouisants' beliefs and practices, Desmangles shows that Vodou is not merely a grafting of European religious traditions onto African stock, but a true creole phenomenon.

Edition details

• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0807820598
• ISBN 13: 9780807820599
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240