Vodou

Vodou is a syncretic religion developed by the African slaves brought as workers to Angevin colonies in Vesperia. The belief system incorporates their native ideas of the divine with Christian analogy, providing a spiritual link to the past which has managed to endure in much of the Caribbean.

Beliefs
Vodou belief is popularly accepted as not just a religion, but a necessary practice to tie the body and the soul--the tangible and the spiritual-- together. Vodou holds that there are two components of the soul: a greater, less conscious element that controls the body’s functioning and a smaller part that is the root of personality and thought, and that the two can be separated. Vodou is dedicated to one true divinity, the Bondye, but it is held to be unreachable and so prayers and practice are more dedicated to the loa, spirits commonly equated with saints with different domains and influences. Vodou’s belief in the afterlife is continuous and mysterious, believing that the soul can endure in a place for a year and a day before becoming part of the world at large. Vodou is less concerned with salvation and reaching an end goal than maintaining the traditions and obeying certain codes against dishonor and greed.

Organizations
In terms of structure, Vodou is a household, mystical religion with leaders and practitioners operating out of small temples with no real hierarchy aside from position in the ceremonies and closeness to the spirits.