(Musker, John, and Ron Clements. The Princess and the Frog. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2009)
VoodOO demonization
(Musker, John, and Ron Clements. The Princess and the Frog. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2009)
Disney's "Princess and the Frog" is a modern example of the demonization voodoo further as it depicted the antagonist as a voodoo practitioner and showed a lot of imagery twisting aspects of the religion.
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Practitioners of Voodoo were often accused of witchcraft and devil work. Voodoo was seen as more dangerous then traditional Celtic witchcraft. The demonization of Voodoo reached a point where gravestones would claim a voodoo related death. Since Voodoo contains hexes and curses, people began to generalize all who practice the religion and claim them all to be dangerous. These beliefs gave the people a justification for racism and slavery as well, as they believed they were harmful to those around them. The rituals seemed bizarre to those outside of the religion. They witnessed jars of toe nails and snail shells, and women tearing their garments dancing and would interpret them as lustful, immoral traditions that are against the catholic church.
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Born: September 10, 1801
Died: June 16, 1881
Marie Laveau is considered the Voodoo queen of New Orleans, and was eventually called "Saint Marie". Her name was slandered in almost every newspaper in the 1800s. She attended catholic mass, while still serving voodoo spirits. Many people saw her as hypocrite, and viewed her as a devil worshipper. Laveau was a creole who was initially raised catholic. Laveau started practicing Voodoo later on in her life, making the decision to adhere to her Caribbean side. This caused her to lose social status since Voodoo was a slave religion. She was taught under Sanité Dede, who made Marie go through a rigorous initiation which fueled rumors about Voodoo being so called demonic. People started making claims about Laveau, they believed she was a witch who wanted to enhance her abilities through Voodoo. It was believed that she used Voodoo to sway a trial in order to keep her home, which made her more enemies.
Died: June 16, 1881
Marie Laveau is considered the Voodoo queen of New Orleans, and was eventually called "Saint Marie". Her name was slandered in almost every newspaper in the 1800s. She attended catholic mass, while still serving voodoo spirits. Many people saw her as hypocrite, and viewed her as a devil worshipper. Laveau was a creole who was initially raised catholic. Laveau started practicing Voodoo later on in her life, making the decision to adhere to her Caribbean side. This caused her to lose social status since Voodoo was a slave religion. She was taught under Sanité Dede, who made Marie go through a rigorous initiation which fueled rumors about Voodoo being so called demonic. People started making claims about Laveau, they believed she was a witch who wanted to enhance her abilities through Voodoo. It was believed that she used Voodoo to sway a trial in order to keep her home, which made her more enemies.
(Page, Kari, "Marie Laveau", Fine Art America)
"The negro witches have little in common with the witch of our story-books; they never ride broomsticks, or resort to the thousand and one petty arts of the Saxon or Celtic witch. Theirs is a far deeper and deadlier sorcery-a power which the negro firmly believes can waste the marrow in the victim's bones, dry the blood in his veins, and, sapping his life slowly and surely, bring him at last, a skeleton, to his grave. Nor is this all a fable: there are hundreds of graves in the So'~th on which might be placed the epitaph, "Died of obi" (Appletons' journal, " Witchcraft Among the Negroes", Volume 8, Issue 194, Dec 14, 1872; pp. 666-667)
Misinterpretation of Rituals
- There are ceremonies and rituals in Voodoo in which you allow yourself to become possessed by a spirit, and to the catholic church this was seen as despicable. The purpose of these rituals were to serve the spirits by making yourself a host to them and allowing them to experience whatever they would like as a human, since they can't have their own physical body. " The human beings serve the spirits by inviting the spirits to “act out their carnal desires through the human host by means of eating, drinking, smoking, dancing, singing, and sexual gratification” (Gandolfo 2010b: 2). This practice is called spirit mounting, and is very sacred because it reinforces their faith. There are also many rumors of animal sacrifice, which is true but not in the stereotypical way as they are used in celebrations. There were many rumors of cannibalism as well, and that in order to be initiated into voodoo you must engage in cannibalism, but there is no proof to back up those claims.
1. Appletons' Journal: A Magazine Of General Literature. / Volume 8, Issue 194
2. Evening star. [volume], October 05, 1930, Page 6, Image 94
3. Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich), April 04, 1943, FINAL, Page 5, Image 91
4. (The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.), May 14, 1922, SECTION SEVEN, Page 6, Image 90)
5. New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]), December 26, 1920, Image 64
2. Evening star. [volume], October 05, 1930, Page 6, Image 94
3. Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich), April 04, 1943, FINAL, Page 5, Image 91
4. (The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.), May 14, 1922, SECTION SEVEN, Page 6, Image 90)
5. New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]), December 26, 1920, Image 64