Vodun

[ voh-duhn ]

noun

1. a polytheistic religion practiced chiefly in coastal West Africa, the practice of which includes worship of spirits tied to the natural world or embodied in fetish objects of worship, and a belief that ancestral spirits share the physical world along with the living.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Vodun¹

First recorded in 1935–40; from Haitian Creole Voodoo

Example Sentences

Here, prophecy is protection, and though it is never named as such, the Dahomey religious practice of Vodun is a guide for Davis’s character, General Nanisca, as she prepares to take on enemies, foreign and domestic, and confront her own demons.

From New York Times

His art draws on his Afro-Dominican American identity, as well as on a religious upbringing that incorporated Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, Vodun, Santeria and Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices.

From New York Times

One thing that mingled distinctively in the Caribbean is religion, yielding such African-European hybrids as Vodun, Santeria and Rastafari.

From Washington Post

A few months later, a Vodun priest from Benin visited the New Seminary in New York, where Speights serves as executive director.

From Washington Post

The curator of the shop, Tessi David, took an interest in my curiosity and offered to take me to his childhood village to witness the authentic rituals involved with Vodun ancestor worship.

From Washington Post