The name given to the religious beliefs and the practice of Magic of certain sub-Saharan African peoples, also called vodou and vodun. (All three terms come from a West African word meaning “god” or “spirit.”) During the days of the slave trade, Voodoo was carried to the southern United States and the West Indies, especially Haiti. There are many local forms throughout the Caribbean, such as Santeria in Cuba, Pocomania in Jamaica, and Shango (after the Yoruban thunder god) in Trinidad.
It is in Haiti, however, that Voodoo truly thrives as a religion. Voodoo provided an emotional outlet for black slaves during the colonial period and was a factor in their war of independence from France (1791-1804). Following the success of that uprising and the expulsion of the French, Voodoo consolidated its status. A period of rapprochement began with the Vatican after 1860, however, and Voodoo has coexisted with, and borrowed freely from, Catholicism.