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Hoodoo (spirituality)

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For other uses, see Hoodoo (spirituality) (disambiguation).

Hoodoo refers to African traditional folk magic. A rich magical tradition which was for thousands of years indigenous to ancient African botanical, magio-religious, and folk cultures, its practice was imported when mainly West Africans were enslaved and transported to the United States, in America.

Hoodoo is used as a noun and is an English phonetic approximation of the Ewe word Hudu which still exists today. Hoodoo is often used in African-American vernacular to describe a magic "spell" or potion, or as a descriptor for a practitioner (hoodoo doctor, hoodoo man or hoodoo woman), or as an adjective or verb depending upon context. The word can be dated at least as early as 1891.* Some prefer the term hoodooism, but this has mostly fallen out of use. Regional synonyms for hoodoo include conjuration, conjure, witchcraft, or rootwork. (cf. Harry M. Hyatt, "Hoodoo-Conjure-Witchraft-Rootwork," a 5 volume compendium on the subject, published in the 1970s.) An amulet characteristic of hoodoo is the mojo, often called a mojo bag, mojo hand, conjure bag, trick bag, or toby; this is a small sack filled with herbs, roots, coins, sometimes a lodestone, and various other objects of magical power.

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  • An earlier attestation dates from 1863. A Confederate infantryman, wounded in the failed assault against Union-held Helena, Arkansas on 4 July, said, "Since that day at Helena I tell the boys I would rather buck against a hoodoo than try to down old Glory on the Fourth of July." Barring a radically different meaning of "hoodoo," the reference seems to be to trying to beat a curse (as being preferable to refighting the Battle of Helena). [citation needed]

Spirit-based natural magic

Most practitioners of hoodoo are African American, but Whites and Native Americans also use hoodoo, although their practices share commonalities more with Pennsylvania Dutch pow-wow magic, rather than with the practices in West Africa. In its home of Africa, Hoodoo (Hudu) is a well respected tradition, which is typically passed through old family priestly lines. Today, in America, traditional folk knowledge is passed from person to person; and there is no evidence of a structured hierarchy.

The goal of hoodoo is to allow people access to supernatural forces to improve their daily lives by gaining power in many areas of life, including gambling, love, divination, cursing one's enemies, treatment of disease, employment, and necromancy. As in many other folk religious, magical, and medical practices, extensive use is made of herbs, minerals, parts of animals' bodies, an individual's possessions, and bodily fluids, especially menstrual blood, urine and semen. Contact with ancestors or other spirits of the dead is an important practice within the conjure tradition, and the recitation of Psalms from the Bible is also considered magically effective in hoodoo. Due to hoodoo's great emphasis on an individual's magical power, its basic principles of working are easily adapted for use based on one's desires, inclination and habits.

Home-made potions and charms form the basis of much old-time rural hoodoo, but there are also many successful commercial companies selling various hoodoo components to urban and rural practitioners. These are generally called spiritual supplies, and they include herbs, roots, minerals, candles, incense, oils, floor washes, sachet powders, bath crystals, and colognes. Many patent medicines, cosmetics, and household cleaning supplies have been also aimed at hoodoo practitioners and have found dual usage as conventional and spiritual remedies.

Differences between Voodoo and Hoodoo

Hoodoo and Voodoo are often mistaken for one another. Some believe that the terms may have a common etymology; the religion of West African ethnic groups Fon and Ewe call their religion Voodun, or Voodou. In the Caribbean, the worship of the Voodun gods was disguised with Catholic saints and ceremonies combined with other Catholic symbolism. With the religious persecution and suppression of both Catholicism and African religions in America, “hoodoo” is what remains.

The ancient African religion of Voodun is an established religion with its ancient roots in West Africa. Its modern form is practiced across West Africa in the countries now known as Benin, Togo, and Burkina Faso, among others. It is practiced all throughout West Africa;. In Haiti and Cuba and other Caribbean islands it is practiced in a syncretic form that has been greatly modified by contact with the Catholic church. Although the Voodoo of Haiti is better know to English speakers, the practices among Spanish speakers is called Santeria.

In the U.S., Hoodoo is not a religion – that is, it is spiritual and magical in nature, but it does not have an established theology, clergy, laity, or order of liturgical services. Hoodoo shows obvious and evident links to the practices and beliefs of African folk magico-religious culture. The Hoodoo practiced in the U.S. by the enslaved Africans was brought from West and Central Africa, specifically, the area that is now known as the Congo and Angola, Togo, Nigeria and other West African regions.

References in other media

Music

Many blues musicians have referred to hoodoo in their songs. Popular examples include "Louisiana Hoodoo Blues" by Ma Rainey, "Hoodoo Lady Blues" by Arthur Crudup, and "Hoodoo Man Blues" by Junior Wells). In addition to the expected terms hoodoo and mojo, other conjure words in blues songs include jinx, goofer dust, nation sack, black cat bone, graveyard dirt, and black spider dumplings.

The Bo Diddley song Who Do You Love contains an extensive series of puns about a man hoodooing his lover. Bo Diddley also recorded an album titled Got My Own Bag of Tricks (1972), a reference to a mojo hand or trick bag.

The Creedence Clearwater Revival song Born on the Bayou references hoodoo in the line "I can still hear that old hound dog barking, chasin' down a hoodoo there". A hoodoo is another name for a root doctor; someone who practices hoodoo.

Lord Infamous of the rap group Three 6 Mafia makes references about hoodoo hexes in many songs, for example in the song "Triple Six Clubhouse".

Paul Simon's song "Loves Me Like a Rock" makes a pun on the word "hoodoo" by pausing after the beginning of the phrase "who do you think you're foolin'" and then repeating the words "who do" while the backup gospel chorus the Dixie Hummingbirds sings the syllable "hoo..." to fill up the pause in the lyrics.

Rock band Muse recorded a song entitled "Hoodoo" on their album Black Holes and Revelations.

Goth band The Deep Eynde recorded a song called "Hoodoo", released in 1995 and can be found on one of Cleopatra Records many compilations.

Stoner Metal band Clutch recorded a song entitled "Hoodoo Operator" on their album "Slow Hole to China."

Other Musicians who Referenced these Practices in either their songs or Lifestyle

Folk Humor

A sort of "who's on first" routine arose from the sound of the word "hoodoo," which went like this: "You remind me of the man." "What man?" "The man with the power." "What power?" "The power of Hoodoo." "Hoodoo?" "You do." "Do what?" "You remind me of the man..." It may have arisen from vaudeville or burlesque but more likely it's a joke once in common circulation.

The routine is performed by Cary Grant and Myrna Loy in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer and is quoted in the Frank Robinson novel The Power, and later referenced by David Bowie's character, Jareth, in the song Magic Dance of the film Labyrinth, albeit using the word 'voodoo' instead of 'hoodoo'. The Michael Crichton book, Next, sticks to the original phrasing although the routine is performed by a parrot.

Books

Zora Neale Hurston recorded many hoodoo practices and tales. Other authors on the subject include Harry M. Hyatt, Newbell Niles Puckett, Jim Haskins, Mama Zogbe, Emma Bull, and catherine yronwode. Also Ishmael Reed, in his book Mumbo Jumbo, makes reference to Hoodoo.


Radio

Since 2004, Dr. Christos Kioni, a conjure doctor from Florida, has co-hosted and produced a weekly hour-long radio show and podcast on the subject of hoodoo called "The Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour."

Film

Television

Supernatural, a television series on the CW network, has referred to the practice of hoodoo in a few episodes during its second season. "Playthings" refers to the use of a five-spot symbol as protection, and "Crossroad Blues" contains references to goofer dust and using a hoodoo-like ritual to summon a demon to a crossroads to make a pact.

Games

Hoodoo (and Voodoo) are a central part of the plot to Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father, an adventure game released in 1993. A hoodoo stick, hoodoo bow and jinxed hoodoo skin are all items in World of Warcraft.Also In Rayman 3 there is an enemy named a hoodoo, and has the ability to go invisible and cast forcefields at will.

Sports

In English, Australian, and New Zealand sports journalism, the word hoodoo is sometimes used to refer to a team's inability to achieve a certain goal - such as beating a particular opponent or winning a certain trophy. This usage jokingly implies that there is some supernatural force preventing the team from doing so and derives from the false notion that hoodoo magic consists only, or primarily, of curses. For example, the Gloucester Rugby Club is said to have a hoodoo against Bath Rugby Club, having failed in to beat Bath RFU in the English league at the Rec (Bath RFC Home Ground) in their 134 year history.

Military history

The first battleship of the United States Navy, the USS Texas, commissioned in 1895, was referred to by nickname as the "Old Hoodoo" due to a series of incidents that occurred after she was commissioned that gave her a reputation as an unlucky ship. The code letter "H" that was assigned to the Texas at that time may have also contributed to the inspiration. At the battle of Santiago, Cuba, on July 3, 1898, the "Old Hoodoo", in the words of a contemporary New York Sun article published shortly after the battle, became the "Old Hero".

See also


  1. ^ http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1116345
  2. ^ http://thebluehighway.com/skip.html
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