<P> Practitioners of Vodou revere death, and believe it is a great transition from one life to another, or to the afterlife . Some Vodou families believe that a person's spirit leaves the body, but is trapped in water, over mountains, in grottoes--or anywhere else a voice may call out and echo--for one year and one day . After then, a ceremonial celebration commemorates the deceased for being released into the world to live again . In the words of Edwidge Danticat, author of "A Year and a Day"--an article about death in Haitian society published in the New Yorker--and a Vodou practitioner, "The year - and - a-day commemoration is seen, in families that believe in it and practice it, as a tremendous obligation, an honorable duty, in part because it assures a transcendental continuity of the kind that has kept us Haitians, no matter where we live, linked to our ancestors for generations ." After the soul of the deceased leaves its resting place, it can occupy trees, and even become a hushed voice on the wind . </P> <P> The cultural area of the Fon, Ewe, and Yoruba peoples share common metaphysical conceptions around a dual cosmological divine principle Nana Buluku, the God - Creator, and the voduns (s) or God - Actor (s), daughters and sons of the Creator's twin children Mawu (goddess of the moon) and Lisa (god of the sun). The God - Creator is the cosmogonical principle and does not trifle with the mundane; the voduns (s) are the God - Actor (s) who actually govern earthly issues . The pantheon of vodoun is quite large and complex . </P> <P> West African Vodun has its primary emphasis on ancestors, with each family of spirits having its own specialized priest and priestess, which are often hereditary . In many African clans, deities might include Mami Wata, who are gods and goddesses of the waters; Legba, who in some clans is virile and young in contrast to the old man form he takes in Haiti and in many parts of Togo; Gu (or Ogoun), ruling iron and smithcraft; Sakpata, who rules diseases; and many other spirits distinct in their own way to West Africa . </P> <P> A significant portion of Haitian Vodou often overlooked by scholars until recently is the input from the Kongo . The entire northern area of Haiti is heavily influenced by Kongo practices . In northern Haiti, it is often called the Kongo Rite or Lemba, from the Lemba rituals of the Loango area and Mayombe . In the south, Kongo influence is called Petwo (Petro). Many loa (a Kikongo term) are of Kongo origin such as Basimba belonging to the Basimba people and the Lemba . </P>

Haitian voudon ceremonies are held in lavish stone cathedrals