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Reference.org
Hoodoo (spirituality)
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<p>Hoodoo is an <a href="/facts/Ethnic_religion/0en4Qxjs">ethnoreligion</a> that, in a broader context, functions as a set of spiritual observances, traditions, and beliefs—including <a href="/facts/Magic_(supernatural)/ttcCLh3A">magical</a> and other ritual practices—developed by <a href="/facts/Slavery_in_the_United_States/CduIa8do">enslaved African Americans</a> in the <a href="/facts/Southern_United_States/ppnGuAtB">Southern United States</a> from various <a href="/facts/Traditional_African_religions/782bHTkX">traditional African spiritualities</a> and elements of <a href="/facts/Native_American_ethnobotany/F2rD2Iyj">indigenous</a> American <a href="/facts/Ethnobotany/VRLwdGea">botanical knowledge</a>. Practitioners of Hoodoo are called rootworkers, conjure doctors, conjure men or conjure women, and root doctors. Regional synonyms for Hoodoo include roots, rootwork and conjure. As an autonomous spiritual system it has often been syncretized with beliefs from <a href="/facts/Islam/zDLbL45C">Islam</a> brought over by enslaved West African Muslims, and <a href="/facts/Spiritual_church_movement/DFu6g21L">Spiritualism</a>. Scholars define Hoodoo as a <a href="/facts/Folk_religion/JQCCczgY">folk religion</a>. </p><p>Some practice Hoodoo as an autonomous religion. Some practice it as a <a href="/facts/Syncretic_religion/UQXQXSts">syncretic religion</a> between two or more cultural religions, in this case being African indigenous spirituality and <a href="/facts/Abrahamic_religions/y9z2Wf9q">Abrahamic religion</a>. </p><p>Many Hoodoo traditions draw from the beliefs of the <a href="/facts/Kongo_people/MCBqully">Bakongo people</a> of <a href="/facts/Central_Africa/ufJ003ex">Central Africa</a>. Over the first century of the <a href="/facts/Atlantic_slave_trade/No8T5Jhl">trans-Atlantic slave trade</a>, an estimated 52% of all enslaved Africans transported to the Americas came from Central African countries that existed within the boundaries of modern-day <a href="/facts/Cameroon/QnrdY05C">Cameroon</a>, the <a href="/facts/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo/E2KmHDdv">Congo</a>, <a href="/facts/Angola/PQrYRHMd">Angola</a>, <a href="/facts/Central_African_Republic/TKMWWr57">Central African Republic</a>, and <a href="/facts/Gabon/RKDffnwV">Gabon</a>. </p>