Just in case you feel asleep like our stoic Gabriel, here's a nice little synopsis of Hartridge's lesson:
A Voodoo Conference by Prof. Hartridge:
"Voudoun worships a pantheon of spirits, known as
Loa [...] Some
Loa are the spirits of tribal ancestors. This pantheon is not static: new spirits are born, old spirits are forgotten. [...] Human worshippers are seen as horses, the
Loa as the Divine Horsemn. A person being ridden takes on the characteristics of the
Loa and becomes, in effect, merely a vessel for the more powerful entity. [...] They believe spirits long for flesh to dance and sing, to make love, to eat and drink. Thus the worshippers offer their own bodies, hoping to please the gods and gain favor. Second, when a
Loa possesses the body of a worshipper, Voudoun believers are granted direct physical communion with a god. It is a very intimate and personal deity-worshipper relationship. [...] Voudoun temples are called
hounfour. A hounfour has a ritual circle marked by a center pole calle a poteau-mitan. The ritual circle is prepared with a vévé - a pattern of symbols. Each group's vévé is slightly different, consisting of comples symbols that identify their specific
Loa. The use of totems, or animal masks and markings, was not uncommon in the original African ceremonies."
Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Roc 1997, p. 105 - 108
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For further reading:
Haitian Voodoo and
Louisiana Voodoo
Voodoo Pantheon and Mythology
Comprehensive List of Loa
Sexuality and Voodoo
I strongly recommend the trilogy of novels dedicated to Haiti by
Madison Smartt Bell:
All Souls' Rising,
Master of the Crossroads and
The Stone That the Builder Refused, which are extremely interesting from an historical perspective and fascinating from a mythological one.
