Beliefs and Practices of the Vodou Religion and the Santeria Religion (Essay Sample)

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A Comparison and Contrast of the Beliefs and Practices of the Vodou Religion with the Santeria Religion
Although all religion is unique, as demonstrated in contemporary mythology works, the phrase is especially suited to specific Afro-American traditions such as Vodou, primarily observed in Haiti, and Santeria, which is predominantly followed in Cuba. Notified by entwined mythology of ethnic African communities and provoked by the religion of the Masters' Catholicism, the two religions bear remarkable resemblance and distinctions. Situated in the compelled diaspora of Africans, such two traditions hold a common heritage, origin, pantheon, ritualistic, and depiction in mass culture, and serve everyday needs (Schmidt 377). Despite being kidnapped from their homes, hauled thousands of miles during the harrowing Middle Passage, and forced to labor in an inhumane plantation system, enslaved Africans retained the customs of their ancestors. The plantation system employed two methods to subjugate these superstitions and compel people to become syncretic: the compelled intertwining of African ethnic groups by enslavers in order to move the threat of enslaved people becoming coordinated, and the allocation of the catabolic component, which the Masters and church used to characterize Pagan glorification (Schmidt 378). Vodou and Santeria developed into centralized structures of rebellion, just as enslavers had feared. However, it was not simply rejected European ownership; it was also European culture that drove the coerced civilized re-education of enslaved people.
Similarities
Various Loas servicing individual portfolios that manifest under alternative titles under the Vodou and Santeria systems are a