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[CHAPTER 11]
[Page 1]
VOODOOISM AND MUMBO-JUMBO
“Be careful what you do,
Or Mumbo-Jumbo, God of the Congo,
And all of the other
Gods of the Congo,
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you,
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you,
Mumbo-Jumbo will hoo-doo you.”
--Vachel Lindsay.
For many years Voodooism in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes has been regarded mainly as an exciting and exotic phenomenon largely practiced by Negroes. It was evolved in Africa from primitive forms of chemistry and psychology, and its general beliefs and ceremonies are very similar to the types of folk-beliefs found throughout Europe. The African slave of the New England States found witchcraft and charges of witchcraft during the early years of their bondage in America. He also found his knowledge of black magic buttressed by the various incantations, spells, and charms of the English colonists, who attempted to plant the seeds of their sect in the barren, puritanic soil of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and other States. Slaves practicing black magic from this section, who were later sold into the South, called themselves “conjurers” in contradistinction to the slaves of French-speaking people who spoke of such persons as “Vaudoux”.
Voodooism is the common term given to the “superstitions (collectively) prevalent among West Indian and Southern United States creoles, mulattoes, and negroes, and deals with charms, conjuring, snake-worship, and witchcraft.”1 Doctor, priest, king or
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