The Nature of Voodoo : Voodoo is a traditional West African spiritual system of faith and ritual. The core functions of voodoo are to explain the forces of the universe and to influence both universal forces and human behavior. Voodoo's oral tradition of faith stories carries genealogy, history, and fables from generation to generation. Followers honor deities and venerate ancient and recent ancestors through a faith that spreads across groups in West Africa, North and South America, and the Caribbean. New Orleans voodoo is a system of folk magic in which objects like roots, gris-gris bags, powders, graveyard dirt, and "poppets" or "voodoo dolls" are used for magical effect to achieve material gain or to oppose an enemy. New Orleans voodoo is not to be confused with the Vodou religion. How voodoo came to America The Vodou religion, along with the "hoodoo" style of magic, was brought to America by the black Afro-Caribbean slaves that worked the plantations of the South. The slaves' Christian owners tried to stamp out the native religion; to hide their practice of it, the slaves changed the names of their African gods to those of Christian saints. People today still practice the religion and embrace the magic.

voodoo_santa	voodoo_snowman	voodoo_alien	voodoo_cancer
voodoo_cat	voodoo_dog	voodoo_panda	voodoo_monkey
voodoo_heart	voodoo_tooth	voodoo_penis	voodoo_vag