Butler, Camron
First off, I wanna begin with there is no such thing as "black" voodoo. Unless you're referring to cultures that have really taken it in. But we've associated black magic with voodoo in class before and as it turns out these two are distinctly different in some ways. Voodoo is a religion while black magic is something you either can or can't do, there is no practicing what you can't do. Black magic and voodoo have some effects in common, for example, they can both be used to curse people or contact spirits. However contacting spirits is someplace they are fundamentally different. Voodoo rituals are used to contact spirits when the gate to hell is open (night) and the rituals are supposed to gain their favor, perhaps with a sacrifice, so they will help out the person performing them (these spirits can also be gods). Night is when the gate to hell is open and the spirits can roam to earth for whatever purpose. Harnessing this is referred to as "nocturnal energy". Black magic users however, don't need nocturnal energy (however they do practice ritualistic worship of nocturnal spirits), instead, it is often found that they perform their magic at night because for 1 people are asleep and unable to defend themselves from the magic, and 2. because the nocturnal energy can increase the power of their spells.
Voodoo and black magic also have very different histories. Voodoo originated in west Africa and was brought to Haiti where it is still commonly practiced today. Voodoo is also a combination of different religious aspects from slaves brought from different places in Africa and the native Haitian population. But black magic is much older dating back before the Renaissance. Black magic has its roots in Europe where just as the slaves did. Practitioners had to hide black magic for fear of being executed. Eventually as the slaves disguised voodoo as harmless dance parties, black magic users called it nature magic to avoid prosecution.
So both black magic and Voodoo can heavily involve spirits and both can harness nocturnal power. But they have very different purposes, intentions, and histories.
(btw the only difference between white magic and black magic is what is needed to perform rituals and spells as well as intentions of said rituals or spells.)
In class, I didn't mean to imply that Voodoo and "black magic" are synonynmous--and I admit that I don't know much about black magic and its Renaissance origins. (Would "Black Herman," the historical Houdini-like character who talks to LaBas at the party fit in this category? Probably not--he's more an "illusionist" in the Houdini mold, although LaBas strongly implies that his "powers" derive from his knowledge of the loas.)
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the only context for the reference to black magic in class was in the context of how Voodoo as a religion has been marginalized, trivialized, and sensationalized in our very language--and the "black" in "black magic" in this context definitely has something to do with associating blackness with "evil" and darkness and mystery, in keeping with how Africa and African culture has been treated by the English language for centuries.
I think the distinction that you bring up about Voodoo being a more religious practice is fairly important in the context of Mumbo Jumbo. The apparent ease with which you can interchange black magic with voodoo represents the common opinion, and in the book voodoo is seen as anti-christian as thus evil. I think that if voodoo was seen as another religion it may have gotten a little bit more respect as part of the culture and would be viewed in a slightly more positive light.
ReplyDeleteWhen Catholicism was forced upon slaves some just enjoyed adding Christian saints to voodoo religion
ReplyDeleteVoodoo isn't "black magic", but could it be characterized in the United States as "black" magic (referring to race)? I'm not sure of the exact role that race will play in the voodoo stereotypes, but it certainly has popped up in Mumbo Jumbo thus far, in fact there was even a section explaining Jes Grew 'breaking the race barrier'. Just something to consider.
ReplyDeleteVoodoo isn't "black magic", but could it be characterized in the United States as "black" magic (referring to race)? I'm not sure of the exact role that race will play in the voodoo stereotypes, but it certainly has popped up in Mumbo Jumbo thus far, in fact there was even a section explaining Jes Grew 'breaking the race barrier'. Just something to consider.
ReplyDeleteThis is a interesting analysis, especially for me (and most people I'd imagine) due to how light my knowledge on these topics is. Relating it back to Mumbo Jumbo, this is the kind of information, which if not known while reading, can affect interpretation. It's an eye-opening thought about how lack of certain knowledge can drastically change readers' experiences, in any book.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I love this post because people tend to mix black magic with things that aren't actually black magic. Also, I do think the distinction is important because it makes Papa LaBas into a more caring, religious person than a weird creepy witch person.
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