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Haitian Vodou (, , also written as Vaudou; Vodun or Vodoun ; and Voodoo ) is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called "vodouists" (French: ''vodouisants'' (:voduisɑ̃)) or "servants of the spirits" (Haitian Creole: ''sèvitè''). Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable Supreme Creator, ''Bondye'' (derived from the French term Bon Dieu, meaning "good God"). As Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, vodouists direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called Loa. Every loa is responsible for a particular aspect of life, with the dynamic and changing personalities of each loa reflecting the many possibilities inherent to the aspects of life over which they preside. In order to navigate daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the loa through the presentation of offerings, the creation of personal altars and devotional objects, and participation in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and spirit possession. Vodou originated in the Caribbean and developed in the French Empire in the 18th century among West African slaves when African religious practice was actively suppressed, and enslaved Africans were forced to convert to Christianity. Religious practices of contemporary Vodou are descended from, and closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. Vodou also incorporates elements and symbolism from other African peoples including the Yoruba and Kongo; as well as Taíno religious beliefs, Roman Catholicism, and European spirituality including mysticism, Freemasonry, and other influences. ==Names and etymology== ''Vodou'' is a Haitian Creole word that formerly referred to only a small subset of Haitian rituals. It is descended from an Ayizo word referring to "mysterious forces or powers that govern the world and the lives of those who reside within it, but also a range of artistic forms that function in conjunction with these ''vodun'' energies." In Haiti, practitioners occasionally use "Vodou" to refer to Haitian religion generically, but it is more common for practitioners to refer to themselves as those who "serve the spirits" (''sèvitè'') by participating in ritual ceremonies, usually called a "service to the Loa" (''sèvis loa'') or an "African service" (''sèvis gineh''). These terms can also be used to refer to the religion as a whole. Outside of Haiti, the term ''Vodou'' refers to the entirety of traditional Haitian religious practice. Originally written as ''vodun'', it is first recorded in ''Doctrina Christiana'', a 1658 document written by the King of Allada's ambassador to the court of Philip IV of Spain. In the following centuries, ''Vodou'' was eventually taken up by non-Haitians as a generic descriptive term for traditional Haitian religion. There are many used orthographies for this word. Today, the spelling ''Vodou'' is the most commonly accepted orthography in English. Other potential spellings include ''Vodou'', ''Vodoun'', ''vaudou'', and ''voodoo'', with ''vau-'' or ''vou-'' prefix variants reflecting French orthography, and a final ''-n'' reflecting the nasal vowel in West African or older, non-urbanized, Haitian Creole pronunciations. The spelling ''voodoo'', once very common, is now generally avoided by Haitian practitioners and scholars when referring to the Haitian religion. This is both to avoid confusion with Louisiana Voodoo, a related but distinct set of religious practices, as well as to separate Haitian Vodou from the negative connotations and misconceptions the term "voodoo" has acquired in popular culture. Over the years, practitioners and their supporters have called on various institutions including the Associated Press to redress this misrepresentation by adopting Vodou in reference to the Haitian religion. In October 2012, the Library of Congress decided to change their subject heading from "Voodooism" to Vodou in response to a petition by a group of scholars and practitioners in collaboration with KOSANBA, the scholarly association for the study of Haitian Vodou based at University of California Santa Barbara.〔For a fuller description of transitions in spelling, see: (From Voodoo to Vodou )〕 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」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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