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Haitian Vodou art is art related to the Haitian Vodou religion. This religion has its roots in West African traditional religions brought to Haiti by slaves, but has assimilated elements from Europe and the Americas and continues to evolve. The most distinctive Vodou art form is the ''drapo Vodou'', an embroidered flag often decorated with sequins or beads, but the term covers a wide range of visual art forms including paintings, embroidered clothing, clay or wooden figures, musical instruments and assemblages. Since the 1950s there has been growing demand for Vodou art by tourists and collectors. ==Origins== Art historians disagree on the origins of Haitian Vodou arts. Suzanne Blier makes the case that they come from the coastal areas of Benin and Togo. Robert Farris Thompson makes a plausible connection with Central Africa based on similarities with ''nkisi'' figures from the Kongo, and cosmograms, flags, drums and dances from that region. The first slaves from West and Central Africa were brought to the Caribbean in the 16th century. Europeans often claimed that the slaves were being rescued from devil worship. However, the slaves maintained their religious practices in secret, and their priests were among the leaders of the first revolt in Haiti in 1791. Haiti became the first independent nation of African people in the Western Hemisphere in 1804 under President Jean-Jacques Dessalines. The traditional religion continued to be banned, and as late as the 1940s the Catholic church undertook a campaign against Vodou, ransacked temples and burned religious artifacts. Many of the techniques of sacred art have now been forgotten, and few sculptures were being made by 2001. The Vodou religion was finally recognized officially in 2002. The great majority of Haitians still practice the Vodou religion. The religion continues to evolve, and in addition to the traditional West African ''lwo'' (spirits) it now includes the spirits of heroes of resistance to the colonial forces, and spirits of powerful religious leaders. The iconography of the Haitian Vodou religion combines elements from Africa, Europe and the Americas. Thus a ''drapo'' made for an African spirit may include an image of a Catholic saint. The saint's image was originally in part designed to deceive Catholic missionaries, but also was chosen in recognition of similarity between the saint and the ''lwa''. Since then the saint and the spirit have become syncretized. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Haitian Vodou art」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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