Vodou Culture 101: Forgiveness
This is another point of difference with US majority culture that can be traced to the influence of the Abrahamic religions.
Vodou is not big on forgiveness—that is, vodou is not particularly concerned with cycles of punishment and redemption. This is both because of the influence of poverty, which results in unpleasant consequences when we hold a grudge and or are unkind or unpleasant, and something more from the religion itself. It is easiest to see by comparison.
US majority culture, because people can afford to pretend to be independent and because of the Abrahamic religions, tends to view a mistake as a permanent stain on the person and their character. Commit a crime and we’re happy as a society to strip freedom and rights from you, make sure employers and communities know about it, and you will not infrequently be reminded of the crime bureaucratically and in public debate even when decades have passed, just to make sure you stay aware of your sin. Once stained, you can never be unstained. People will consistently anticipate that you won’t change and for many people, you will never be anything more than the stain.
The use of the word ‘sin’ is deliberate. That’s exactly where this tendency comes from: from good versus evil, the eternal battle plot arc and the idea that you can be either this or that. Abrahamic religions believe you only have one life, so your actions in life can condemn you for all of your existence. The only thing that can redeem you is a cycle of sacrifice, guilt, and atonement, the details for which vary between Abrahamic religions. Fundamentally, in Abrahamic religions, your nature is flawed and (depending on who’s preaching) likely evil, which justifies any kind of punishment in society for as long as you live.
Vodou has no use for the idea of sin, the idea that the soul is permanently ruined by mistakes and can never change for the better. It also has no interest in characterizing people as good or evil, enlisting them in any sort of cosmic battle, or treating them as if they stay the same. In fact, vodou asserts that change is inevitable: you will change over the course of your life, whether you want to change or not. Life after life, you will progress toward the divine. The only thing you can do is choose to go a little faster toward something that ends in joy.
You can make a mistake, and at any time you could learn to cease making that mistake—in fact, that’s one of the things the spirits delight in helping people do.
Trust is earned in vodou communities, but vodou communities have a short memory for your mistakes. All you have to do is demonstrate that you’re done making them.
