What is Voodoo?
{{wiktionary}} The word '''voodoo''', which has many different names and spellings (like ''vodun, vodou, voudou, vudu, vodoun, vowdown, vooodooo, vundun'') is the name of a [[West Africa]]n animist, spiritual folkway. Some class it as a [[religion]]. However, voodoo is more a way of life. It is a [[supernatural]] [[ancestor|ancestral]] connection, passed from generation to generation by word of mouth ([[oral tradition]]), [[ritual]]s and [[spirit]]ual practices. Voodoo has variations from tribe to tribe. Religion, on the other hand, is based on formal organization, [[myth]]s and [[dogma]] in texts, buildings constructed for worship, and a [[hierarchy]] of ordained leaders. Voodoo is [[animism]] or [[spiritism]]. That is, all aspects of the natural world are seen as having spiritual identity immune to physical death. Animism includes belief in a person's spirit surviving the death of the body. [[Ancestor]]s' 'spirits' are called upon for inspiration, protection or other influences over the material world. The roots of voodoo in the [[Americas]] come from the [[Fon]], [[Ewe]], and [[Yoruba]] people of [[Africa]].<nowiki/>. The word vodún is the Fon-Ewe word for spirit.<ref>{{Citation | contribution = Hoodoo | title = The Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore | volume = 2 | publisher = Anand Prahlad}}</ref> In voodoo many [[god]]s and [[spirit]]s are prayed to or called on. Both spirits of nature and of dead people are important. The spirits of family members who have died are especially important. Voodoo often has rituals with music and dancing. Drums are used to make most of this music. In voodoo people often believe that a spirit is in their body and controlling the body. Having a spirit come into is wanted, and important. This spirit can speak for the gods or dead people you love, and can also help to [[heal]] or do [[magic]]. == Vodou in Haiti == Another word for voodoo is ''vodu'', used in [[Haiti]] where the [[creole language]] is based on the [[French language]]. African voo