References to Voodoo in popular culture are plenty, especially here in the West. From pin-filled/punctured dolls, to witch doctors, possession and animal sacrifice, these are likely some of what many would immediately think of, if asked to describe what Voodoo is.
Some might also attribute it to a specific place - usually the countries of the Caribbean, like Haiti and Jamaica, or the southeastern United States, especially New Orleans.
And while some of these beliefs are indeed tangentially related, others are stereotypes that have little or nothing to do with Voodoo itself, even though seemingly embraced by the zeitgeist, thanks in part to Hollywood schooling.
Voodoo, as we know it, and that will be of some significance during the upcoming 3rd season of FX's American Horror Story (Coven), set in the aforementioned New Orleans, can trace its origins to a slavery-era coalescing of the assortment of beliefs and practices brought over from different parts of primarily Western Africa.
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