The Practice of Voodoo in The Secrets of Haiti's Living Dead, an Article by Gino del Guercio Essay

The Secrets of Haitis Living Dead, an article by Gino del Guercio, written in the 1970s, is about voodoo, a religion that is derived from African polytheism and ancestor worship and is practiced chiefly in Haiti and magic, practices designed to gain control over the supernatural. The article identifies the origin of voodoo in Haiti and it shows the purpose that voodoo has in several Haitian societies. Voodoo is a practice that is said to be able to raise people from the dead. Voodoo is now done in most rural areas of Haiti. Voodoo practices have slowed down drastically due to modernization. These rituals are done for punishment. Rituals are a religious or solemn ceremony consisting of a series of actions performed according to a prescribed order. According to legends, raising people from the dead is usually done for evil purposes by malevolent people. This can arguably be considered witchcraft, a belief in the perpetration of harm by persons through mystical means. However, people that had committed terrible crimes were said to have been sold off to vodounists or voodoo priests. Once sold off, the people are zombified and raised from the dead. After they rose, the zombies were beaten and sent to plantations to work as slaves. Zombification, a form of voodoo according to many people of Haiti, is an even more severe punishment than death. By zombifying people, the vodounists and priests were able to take away the free will and independence of the accused. Haitians have been practicing voodoo and sorcery since the late 18th century during occupation of the French. Sorcery is the use power obtained from evil spirits. In the article there is bias in that Guercio uses phrases like claim. Using these phrases shows Guercios opinion and question the validity of the claimed information. Aside from that,...