Today's Holyday Art (ST. ANNE) for Vodouists by Jordi Cohen

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Tahlib

Image from Jordi Cohen's Vodou celebration series: "Bassin Saint Jacques Pilgrimage"

Every July in Haiti, tens of thousands of believers participate in mass rituals, sacrifice animals and pray to voodoo spirits and the dead for help. Most believers are both Catholic-Christians and Vodouists, a blending of belief systems rooted in a time when African religious practice was actively suppressed, and enslaved Africans were forced to convert to Christianity.

• Official name: The Saint Anne celebration (Saint Anne is the mother of the Virgin Mary)
• Location: Limonde, Haiti (northern region)
• Observed by: Vodouists in Haiti (Vodou; Voodoo; Vodun; or Vodoun)
• Beliefs: Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondye, but also worship many lesser spirits, as the loa. When it came in contact with Roman Catholicism, the supreme being was associated with the Judeo-Christian God, the loa becoming the saints such as Saint Anne.
• Calendar: Saint Anne begins on July 26 (St. Jack Majeur, July 25; and Maetresse Silverine, July 29)
• Length: 15 days makes it a major celebration but it is still much smaller than the 50,000 which annually gather at St. Jack Majeur Fest on July 25th (see above). 
• Observances: Common table experience includes offering candles, food for the poor and money for the church and celebrating with big musical orchestra competitions. At St. Jack'sFest  ritual bathing, prayer, lighting of candles, as well as animal sacrifice occurs.
• Interfaith Links:  Africa's Animism, Yorùbá, Bakongo, and Taíno beliefs, as well as Europe's Roman Catholic Christianity