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Voodoo practitioners aspire to achieve complete harmony with the spiritual world via their spiritual intercessors, be they ancestors or Lwa. Practicing voodoo involves appeasing the Lwa, calling on them for help, and remaining on good terms with them. If a person is having difficulty maintaining a good relationship with his met tet, ancestors, or other Lwa, a priest is consulted. A priest will help the person do what needs to be done. A male priest is called an oungam, and a female priest is called a mambo. They are responsible for healing, organizing rituals, and offering guidance, if their service is needed. The intercession of a priest, however, is not necessary to the practice of voodoo.
A voodoo ceremony in Haiti. Voodoo ceremonies often involve sacrificing animals to the Lwa in order to propitiate them. Sacrifice in general plays a great role in voodoo, as the Lwa require frequent gifts and tokens of appreciation. They are not done, as some believe, because of bloodlust or a taste for carnage; and it does not stem from an inveterate hostility to animals. As in most voodoo practices, the sacrifice of animals is meant to express gratitude to the divine. One of the most intriguing and disconcerting (to the Western observer) aspect of voodoo ceremony is possession. Often during a ceremony, a believer will appear as if he has been struck by a severe blow on the back of the head. He will fall as if in great pain. This is a harbinger of possession. A brief struggle will ensue; this represents the conflict between the visiting spirit and the human body. The person will writhe, contort his body, and shake uncontrollably. Then, there will be calm. This announces the victory of the spirit. The person is now a vehicle for the visiting spirit. Everything the person does is attributed to the Lwa that possesses him. Possessed people are believed to have supernatural strength and healing powers. The "etiology" of possession is frequently discussed by scientifically minded outsiders. What is the science behind it? Its resemblance to seizure activity has led some to conjecture that it is a form of "epilepsy", just as the medieval St. Vitus dance has been speculated to be. Others have construed it as a cultural phenomenon; and it has also been thought that it provides a way for Haitians to release the stress and anxiety that accompanies living in one of the poorest, most diseased areas in the world - a cultural pseudoseizure. It In any case, attempts to understand possession have been primarily dismissive, regarding it as a mental or physical aberration. While possession is considered an honor, sometimes one is not in the mood. Certain hats and devices are used to ward off possession.
Another picture of a Voodoo ceremony in Haiti.
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