African American Religion Hoodoo Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

African American Religion Hoodoo - Essay Example Although most of its adherents are black, contrary to popular opinion, it has always been practiced by both whites and blacks in America. Other regionally popular names for hoodoo in the black community include "con-juration," "conjure," "witchcraft," "rootwork," and "tricking." The hoodoo tradition places emphasis on personal magical power and thus it lacks strong links to any spe-cific form of theology and can be adapted to any one of several forms of outward reli-gious worship. Although an individual practitioner may take on students, hoodoo is not an obviously hierarchical system. Teachings and rituals are handed down from a one practitioner to another, but there are no priests or priestesses and no division be-tween initiates and laity (Haskins, 1978, p. 13, 124). Like the folk magic of many other cultures, hoodoo attributes magical properties to herbs, roots, minerals (especially the lodestone), animal parts, and the personal pos-sessions and bodily effluvia of people. The African origins of hoodoo can clearly be seen in such non-European magical customs as jinxing, hot footing, foot track magic, crossing, and crossroads magic, in which are embedded remnants of the folkloric be-liefs of various African tribes.