User:Stevenarntson/group spaces/Archive/English Composition/group 4

Group Members

 * Ryan Natividad
 * Arte Walton
 * amber Risinger
 * Olivia Berghorn

Overview of the Project
this project is about haiti and its religion voodoo.

Research Paper
When one thinks of voodoo images of wild men and women with spratatic drums and blood being spilled from sacrafices comes to mind or the stero typical white doll with a needle stabbing trhough it comes to mind. Our group decided to do our research paper on voodoo to figure out that there is more to voodoo than the "evil" dark magic. voodoo is the domanite religion in haiti it is not just for the poor outcast that most would assume but it is also followed and practiced by the higher class society. in our research paper we will explain some of the basic concepts of voodoo, the religious rites of voodoos, some common Iwa.

There is only one god named Bondye, he is very similar to the god of islam, judaism and christianity. there are only three important spiritral beings in the voodoo religion the first Iwa which is are various spirits of family members and the major forces of the universe  such as good, evil, reproduction, health and all aspects of daily life. It is believed that the Iwa interact with human beings, they are belived to delever messages during religious ceremonies. the Iwa are believed to even cause good and bad things happen to people. the second are the twins they are the condictory forces to be reconeded with  such as good or evil, happy or sad, it is beleived that if they are honored in religious ceremonies they will help you to the better side of life. the third is the dead they are mainly the spirits of family members who have died. If the spirits of family members are ignored they are believed to become dangerous and rouge. if the family members spirit is honored they will become helpful. contrary to popular belief voodoo is not for harm it is actually used for healing more than sixty percent of all voodoo activity is used to heal. healers use herbs and faith healing with Iwa and the other spirits to cure illnesses. the preisthood of voodoo contains both men(houngan) and woman (mambo) of there functions are healing, performing ceremonies for the spirits, to hold initiations for new priests called tesses, telling the future and reading peoples dreams, casting spells for various things including protection, and creating potions.

The rites for the religion of voodoo are very planned although the ceremonies or services may look spratik and wild but each ceremony is spacifically planed and certian rites must be followed. they are usually held outside under a rough roof around the center pole called the poto mitan, the ceremony is usually always led by a mambo or houngan. drums are used to provied music and dancing which is esential for the entire service. durning the service everyone particapats the La Place or master of ceremonys are often present, there are usally serving woman dressed in white called Hounsi. If the Iwa are present they can mount and delever messages to any participant in the ceremony, when a person is "mounted" by the Iwa they take over the persons body for a short time. It is believed that when the Iwa comes the person leaves, they do not know where the person goes. if a Iwa "mounts" a person of the oppisite sex they are referred to as the sex of the Iwa not the persons actual sex. almost every voodoo ceremony has an animal sacrifice  by killing the animal  one releases life and the Iwa are re-juvenated from the life that is sacrificed to them. there are two main sorts of voodoo the first called Rada which is the family spirit and the iwa they are relitivly peacful and happy. the second is called petro or congo this is the black magic voodoo usually thought of when voodoo is mentioned. this magic is the angry and evil Iwa, dangerous things happen when the petro is used including death curses and the making of zombies it is also used for wild sexual orgies. although scholarly estimates that nienty five of all voodoo that is used is Rada, although the black magic of Petro is used it is not common. another rite in the ceremony is the analysis of humans. It is believed that humans have two spirits and a body called ti-bon-ange (little good angel) which is similar to the western understanding in people, and the ros-bon-ange (big good angel) which is the soul that is seprated from the human it is similar to the western belief but the soul is much more seprated from the human.

Some common Iwa in the Voodoo pantheon are the Legba which is and old man who is the gate keeper between the two worlds. the world of everyday earth and the world of the invisiables. he is the origian of life. the sun is one of his symbols as well as the phallas becouse of he is also a source of regeneration. the Kalfu which means the crossroads is the counter part to Legba he is a dangerous Iwa he is the spirit of the night and and the darkness origins, the moon is his symbol. Papa Ghede is the spirit of death and resurrection. he is known as a total clown,  erotic and comic. He is the lord of eroticism. Dumballah s known as the father figure. He is the good snake, the source of peace and tranquillity. The egg is offered to him when he comes to "mount" a person He is much loved and sought after during ceremonies his wife Aida-wedo is usually with him. Agwe is the spirit of the seas, he is honored mostly by the people who live near the sea.Ogoun is the spirit warrior and  the force of politics. he is very violent. Erzulie is the earth mother and a Spirit of the goddess of love and the muse of beauty she is Strongly identified with the Virgin Mary. Her appearance is one of cleansing, dressing and delicate foods daintily eaten. it is believed that she can read the future in dreams. she is a much loved lwa.

voodoo is critized by forigener in haiti mostly becouse they worship a competing religion and dont want voodoo to continue. some charge that it is the worship of the devil the claim is completly false voodoo is not the worshiping of the devil it deals with spirits of the Iwa and the god Bondye. the Iwa are believed to determine are lives, rather than the western belief of free will  and personal responsibility that we all control are own lives. what ever that has happened was caused by the Iwa. the catholic experience with voodoo is somewhat testing and horrid, slaves under french rule were forbidden to practice voodoo, although they were allowed dances on the weekends that were actually services. in 1804 a liberation in haiti took place the white men were driven out of haiti and many were killed including roman catholic preist with this the Vatican broke with Haiti and did not establish relations again until 1860. During this 56 year period the houngans and mambos were able to build  up the religion Voodoo, in a combination of the African spirit religion and Catholicism. All lwa became associated with Catholic saints (Dumballah the snake lwa is St. Patrick; Erzulie, the earth mother is the Virgin Mary). The consequence of this is that Haitians see nothing with practicing Voodoo and Catholicism together. the catholic church tried to get rid of the voodoo religion many times during 1860's through the 1950's.

we hope to have cleared up some common misconsuptions of voodoo. voodoo is a very strange religion that is assumed dark and hostile but in reality it is used for healing and is usually docile.

left text ==Fictional Story== Haitian dreams

It was the last day of my journey and as I packed my bags and began to get ready to depart for the airport I couldn’t help but think of her face over and over again. Her name was Maria and although she was not a Haitian native she was very familiar with the countries history and rich culture.

She would be my tour guide of sorts for my stay in this strange and majestic land. First we hit all the tourist spots like the many roadside filled with local handcrafted trinkets that ranged from fresh fruit grown only miles away to potions that there sellers swore were absolutely authentic love potions that would make me irresistible to all women who only need to lay eyes on me. As Maria and I ventured through many of the roadside markets and waterfront I was always begging for something more. I wanted to wander off the beaten path to a mystical place filled with black magic and voodoo ceremonies with firelight dancers and spirits filling the sky. Maria however contested again and again that this was all myth and that true voodoo was nothing more than another religion with tales as tall as Moses parting the red sea and a man speaking to a tree that was ablaze with fire. Myself not being of any religious belief I could see how she could be so skeptical but I always hoped there would be more than empty prayers fading into the night sky like a shipwrecked sailor hoping that his message in a bottle would actually reach his loved ones half a world away. But like always she insisted this was merely a creation of western media to get us stupid Americans to buy more popcorn and movie tickets.

This I began to believe as well until one night a strange man came to me in my dream. Not just a dream this was unlike anything I had ever experienced in my entire life. In my dream I awoke on a beach, I was not alone however, like always Maria was at my side. As we struggled to figure out were we were the strange man appeared at the waters edge as if he was rising from the sea itself. He looked at us and without saying a word we both knew exactly what he wanted, for us to follow no matter where he led. The man walked at a moderate pace but seemed to float on an invisible barrier that lay between his naked feet and the rough cracked earth that Maria and I tried our hardest navigate without letting the man out of our sight. As we moved further into the deep of the midnight jungle we began to hear drumming and chanting and we could see a faint glow reflecting high into the trees overhead. As we broke through the last bit of thick brush we saw a scene that looked like it was directly out of a Hollywood movie. There was a large wooden pole shoved deep into the ground and there was a large fire built around it with flames that licked over ten feet into the air. There were many people dancing with painted faces around the fire while several people played old animal skin drums that sound sounded like the flesh that they came from. As soon as we broke the circle the man floated directly into the fire as the flames burst what seemed like fifty feet into the air. Just then two topless women wearing only what can be described as a loin cloth appeared and suddenly blew a strange white powder into our faces. I was very frightened and taken aback at first but almost immediately a very intense euphoria took over my body and mind as I slipped into a world I had never imagined. My body felt possessed as I stripped off my clothes and began dancing amongst the others around the fire. I was no longer in control of my body or mind it was like I was sitting inside a car with auto pilot turned and all I can doo is look out the windshield. When I attempted to take control of my mind nothing happened I simply continued to dance and chant as if my life depended on it. Soon my guide Maria and I were slowly dancing around the fire as the drums began to slow and join in one melody. Ever 3-4 seconds the drums would bang in unison as the fire seem to add its own notes of sorts and flare up several feet higher than its resting height. Once everything was in perfect unison many different colored lights began to swirl in and out as if caught in a twister right above the buried pole until all at once the fire exploded to engulf all the dancers and the lights in the sky grew so bright I felt like my eyes were literally burnt out of my skull, just as I tried to squint to close my eyes I awoke.

As I sat up I realized that I was back on the beach were I had started and I was staring onto the frightened eyes of Maria as we both tried to make sense of what was happening. As we gathered our clothes and dressed Maria tried herself as well as me that this was simply a vivid dream and that there was no need to ever speak of this again. Neither of us had any explanation as to what had happened to us that night and the more I thought about it the more I felt like some sort of crazy person having some sort of elaborate hallucinations, but I know what I saw, what I felt, it was real. Wasn’t it?

Poetry
Insert Text about our Poetry

reflective assessment
The best part was that it was a broad subject, so we were able to take different routes with it. we rushed through it ,we never really were able to communicate during class, we all procrastinated. Not all the group members were always present which made it hard when the assignments kept changing. There was also little to no communication between the group members. in the future i think we will all put more of and effort into the project and not wait until the last minute to do it and we will probably comnicate with our group members better. To know all the parts of the project and to start giving dead lines for when things can be turned in,
 * 1) good
 * bad
 * 1) future strategies

research
corbett, bob. "Introduction to Voodoo in Haiti". march 1988:

"The traditional religion of Vodun (Voodoo) in Haiti". march 18 2009 .

Fleurant, Gerdès. The traditional religion of Vodun (Voodoo) in Haiti. Westport, Connecticut · London: Greenwood Press, 1996.

Ryannatividad 02:03, 26 February 2009 (UTC)'s poem
Hurricanes Severe

Haiti ever so tropic

Mountains Floods Quakes

< >'s poem
vast sweltering heat

beating drums of hate and passion

calling up the spirits

rise out of the ashes

searing pain

darkness

hidden is shadow

a culture of voodoo

< >'s poem
"I'm running out of options

With the Advil gone

My wife fed up

My joints buckle

My chest caves

I feel like I'm losing control

No need for the odd face, Doctor

I know what I say makes no sense"

There is a silence.

As someone miles away gives me another jolt of pain.

renga #1
vast sweltering heat

watching waiting for arrivals

guest should be here soon

the party should last forever

in the vast land of hati

in this mysterious place

we shall throw a party

with a crazy beating drum

there is no rhym or reason

we just want to dance tonight

the guest have arrived

the party will now begin

bottles will open

lest get this party started

dancing to the wild beating

lets party all night

drinking and dancing for all

celabrate the night

ceremonial dancing

jumping screaming and singing

voodoo ritural

the ritural is complete

the voodoo just dont stop

now the party is ending

now it is time for good byes

when the sun decends

the celebrations carry on

far into the night

no one knows of the hour

nor is it concerning them

renga #2
when the sun decends

the celebrations carry on

far into the night

no one knows of the hour

and no one cares