The most common religions on earth are Christianity, Muslims and Buddhism. The majority of believers living on our planet consider themselves to be precisely one of these three movements. However, along with them, for many millennia, there have been other less popular religious trends, the number of adherents of which is estimated not in millions, but in thousands. These beliefs originate from primitive times, when people on earth lived in a communal-clan system and worshiped not one God, but several deities responsible for various spheres of human life. So, for example, before the adoption of Christianity, the pagans were the ancient Romans, Greeks and Slavs.
In the modern world, pagan cults are no longer as widespread as they were in ancient times, however, they have not disappeared from the face of the earth, and there are still many peoples worshiping spirits, demons and gods of the elements. Today, pagans can be found in remote Siberian villages, in South America, Polynesia, in some areas of the United States, in Australia. However, Africa is still the most mystical and pagan continent. Despite the fact that since the beginning of colonization, various missionary groups have tried to convert the local residents to Catholics and Muslims, they have not achieved much success. Currently, more than 50% of the inhabitants of the Black Continent, to one degree or another, are adherents of various pagan cults. Their faith is mysterious, primitive, mysterious and ominous, at all times it brings sacred fear and horror to thosewho had a chance to run into her.
The most common pagan religion in Africa is Voodoo and its varieties (Hoodoo and Santeria).
Voodoo is the most ancient and mysterious belief, the main concept of which is based on the fact that the world is ruled by special demons and spirits. Any event and phenomenon in the life of an ordinary person directly depends on the favor or disfavor of these spirits. To communicate with the world of demons, the tribe chooses the strongest and most capable person who knows how to communicate with the other world. Voodoo priests (or Voodoo sorcerers) are chosen either at a community meeting, or this title is passed on to them by inheritance (for example, from a father or grandfather).
Performing special manipulations, placating the spirits with special prayers and sacrifices, the sorcerer can ask them for advice or help, both for good purposes (for example, to cure an illness, create a family, get rich), and with an unkind intention (for example, to send a serious illness, curse, poverty, death). Complex rituals and magic spells are available only to Voodoo priests, however, the so-called "household magic" can also be applied by ordinary people who worship Voodoo (for example, to appease a spirit during a holiday, prepare a medicine that heals diseases, make a protective talisman).
The most frightening moments in the Voodoo religion, which are known even to European people, are the rituals and curses performed by the sorcerer through the creation of clay, wooden, wax, rag dolls on which he transfers the image of a victim.
One of the directions of Voodoo is the Hoodoo religion, which is widespread in some parts of Africa. The adherents of this religion themselves claim that it is the dark twin of Voodoo. That is, the whole concept of this religious movement is based on the fact that the sorcerer turns to higher powers in order to harm another person: to send damage, illness, steal a soul or even kill him. But in contrast to such manipulations, there are special protective spells, drugs, powders, using which people can protect themselves from evil influences. Therefore, entering the house of an ordinary resident who professes Hoodoo, you can see a lot of amazing mysterious objects, herbs, amulets, because this is how people protect themselves and their home from evil Hoodoo shamans.
Another variety of Voodoo is Santeria. This religion originated about 500 years ago, during the colonization of North and South America. Santeria is most widely distributed in Cuba, Brazil, the Caribbean, as well as in some southern states of the United States (for example, Mississippi).
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This cult arose as follows: having colonized North and South America, the Spanish conquistadors were in dire need of cheap slave power, so very soon ships sailing from enslaved Africa and carrying black natives to work on plantations headed to these continents. The brought slaves worked all day in the fields, and returning to the huts, they whispered mysterious incantations in an incomprehensible language. All this terribly irritated their masters, professing Christianity, so the slaves were forcibly taught to Catholicism, severely punishing and beating them for disobedience.
Fearing beatings and starvation, the slaves decided to deceive their masters by secretly giving Christian saints the names of their deities and using Catholic figurines in their prayers. The appearance was created that the natives accepted Christ as their God and fervently prayed to Saint Peter and Paul, although in fact they continued to read prayers to their pagan gods. Over time, the deception was revealed, and the Spaniards contemptuously called this cult "Santeria" (holiness). However, the new faith of African slaves was never eradicated.
From the outside, the ceremonies in Santeria are a rather interesting sight: shamanic dances to the smoke of cigars and the beating of drums take place against the backdrop of an altar filled with ceramic figures of Christian saints, rosary beads and ominous pagan masks. All prayers and appeals to higher powers for help invariably end with the sacrifice of a rooster or a kid, which refers this cult to its progenitor Voodoo.
The world is constantly changing and transforming, many ancient customs and traditions are irrevocably becoming a thing of the past, small original tribes are gradually letting civilization into their lives, forgetting the covenants and heritage of their ancestors. Perhaps someday the Voodoo religion will also disappear from the face of the earth, but for now, in some parts of the planet it is still possible to hear the mystical drumming and see the ominous wax figures made by the old priest.