Survival of the African ancestor's spiritualism by ethnic groups in the Americas.
To be clear the African diaspora in the Americas are the descendants of many African ethnic groups primarily West and Central African although not limited to those regions.
Many of us of North America have significant ancestry from the Bight of Benin 🇧🇯 (Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Benin). Also, our South American counterparts have significant ancestry but not limited to the Kongo there lies the difference in genetic ratio excluding Gullah Geechee people’s in the Southern U.S. who shows a significant Central African inheritance as well as, Windward Coast due to African diaspora transports from the Caribbean but that's another post, let's get back to the point...
Differences:
What sets Haitian Vudou apart from the mother Vodun in Benin is the syncretism of the influence of their African Ancestors that includes Igbo, Congo, Yoruba, etc not just Dahomey and the need to disguise their deities and beliefs with Catholicism. With that being said, it wouldn't be CONSIDERED Haitian Vudou without syncretism of Catholicism Loa more specifically Rada loa, Petro loa, Kongo loa, Nago loa, Ghede loa, with loa such as ( Maman Brigitte) for example.
Similarities:
The Atlantic African diaspora birth synchronized spiritual beliefs with the inclusion of our ancestors. We are not just Yoruba but we brought Yoruba based spirit into Santeria, Candomblé, Umbanda, Haitian Vodu, and Mississippi Valley Voodoo, etc. We are not just Kongo but we brought Kongo based spirit belief into synchronized Palo Mayombe and more. With that being said, none of these spiritual beliefs would be considered their particular division without their differences.
Hoodoo in the South:
Hoodoo is an African American spiritual way of life born out of the need of the African Ancestors to survive and rebel against enslavement. There wasn't much Catholicism in the Southern United States however there was Protestant Christianity. The main difference between Catholicism and Protestant Christianity is, "Catholicism and Protestantism have distinct views on the meaning and the authority of the Bible. For Protestant Christians, Luther made clear that the Bible is the "Sola Skriptura," God's only book, in which He provided his revelations to the people and which allows them to enter in communion with him.
Catholics, on the other hand, do not base their beliefs on the Bible alone. Along with the Holy Scripture, they are additionally bound by the traditions of the Roman."
Most Southern African Americans could not hide their Deities in Saints because according to the Protestant that would be considered Idolatry worship of an idol of a cult image.
Instead, they fused the Idea of survival and hiding their spiritual beliefs into the bible scriptures. If there was a bible scripture reminding them of the deity of war they would associate that deity and scripture to be the same and in turn weaponized the bible just as their colonizer and oppressor tried to do them. Remember, hoodoo was born out of survival, therefore the bible is used as a weapon and a talisman. The Ancestors were told that it was forbidden to learn how to read, but that's one thing you can't tell a person of African descent. You can't tell us what we CAN NOT DO, so the African ancestors learned how to read this weapon and passed the word. Put it like this, imagine a person tries to shoot you with a gun with a loaded gun, you dodge and they miss, but you see that gun as a weapon and that it may have power.
You, not having a gun go find the gun used against you, take it, and use it to rebel against the person who tried to shoot you. You not only shoot them but you shoot their entire family and neighborhood causing an influence and uprise of the rebellion of other "victims" of the wrongdoer. Like the African ancestors in South America and the Caribbean, their need to preserve the beliefs of African spiritualism was their strength and a way to rebel against enslavement no matter if it meant tricking European Christians into believing that they were catching on to their way of worship. I will elaborate on the cause and effect of numerous rebellions later, but this is a post explaining Hoodoo and some differences between her African diaspora sister spirit systems and religions.
To conclude, yes Hoodoo and all African Diasporic spirituality is African-based but it is eclectic and synchronized due to the mix of many African ethnic groups by the way they were forced to live their life in the Americas. As a result, this created the African Diaspora, but no matter what, as these systems are indeed ancestral veneration based, birth by Africans in the Americas the power comes from the African bloodline this is undeniable no matter what marketers try to tell you. This is a spiritual way of life based on the ROOTS of the culture.
Hoodoo tarot card from the deck HooDoo TAROT by Tayanna Lee McQuillar
My grandfather’s bible and my late brothers bible.