Introduction

This chapter introduces slave trading between the kingdoms of Dahomey, Allada, and Hueda and French traders, exploring how it impacted the emergence of Haitian Vodou in Saint-Domingue. The study of Saint-Domingue between 1650 and 1803 reveals the atrocious conditions in which enslaved people preserved Vodou. The prominence of people from the Bight of Benin in the early period of the colony explains the salience of Allada’s Rada Rite. The Bight of Benin’s Sèvis Ginen emerged on the plains near sugar plantations while Central African traditions tended to emerge on coffee plantations in the mountains. Central features of Vodou’s values, beliefs and practices are introduced alongside a comparison of Vodun and Vodou theologies. Vodou’s history is traced from Saint-Domingue into contemporary days. The features of Vodou are analyzed and Vodou hermeneutics’ use of methodologies in history, religious studies, linguistics, literary criticism, and ethnomusicology is introduced.