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Damballah
Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations (), is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in West African Vodun, Haitian Voodoo and other African diaspora religious traditions such as Obeah. He is traditionally portrayed as a great white or black serpent, but may also be depicted as a rainbow. Damballa originated in the city of Wedo (Whydah or Ouidah) in modern-day Benin. Mythology Damballa is said to be the sky father and the primordial creator of all life, or the first thing created by the Bondye. In those Vodou societies that view Damballa as the primordial creator, he created the cosmos by using his 7000 coils to form the stars and the planets in the heavens and to shape the hills and valleys on Earth. In others, being the first thing created by God, creation was undertaken through him. By shedding the serpent skin, Damballa created all the waters on the Earth. As a serpent, he moves between land and water, generating life, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Edgar Wideman
John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus on the African-American experience. Raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wideman excelled as a student athlete at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1963, he became the second African American to win a Rhodes Scholarship to attend the University of Oxford. In addition to his work as a writer, Wideman has had a career in academia as a literature and creative writing professor at both public and Ivy League universities. In his writing, Wideman has explored the complexities of race, family, trauma, storytelling, and justice in the United States. His personal experience, including the incarceration of his brother, has played a significant role in his work. He is a professor emeritus at Brown University and lives in New York City and France. E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hector Hyppolite
Hector Hyppolite (1894 – 1948) was a Haitian painter. Considered as the "Grand Maître of Haitian Art" Born in Saint-Marc, Hyppolite was a third generation Vodou priest, or oungan. He also made shoes and painted houses before taking up fine art painting, which he did untrained. Hyppolite spent five years outside of Haiti from 1915 to 1920. His travels abroad included trips to New York and Cuba. Although he later claimed those years had been spent in Africa, such as Dahomey and Ethiopia, scholars regard that as more likely an instance of promotional myth-making than factual. Hyppolite's talent as an artist was noticed by Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, who brought him to Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince in 1946. There, Hyppolite worked in the studio run by Dewitt Peters, a water-colorist and schoolteacher from the United States who had come to Haiti to teach the English language as part of the Good Neighbor Policy. In 1944, Peters opened an art center in the capital that provided free ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haitian Vodou
Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West Africa, West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. Vodou teaches the existence of a transcendent creator divinity, Bondyé, Bondye, under whom are spirits known as . Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African deities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints. The divide into different groups, the ("nations"), most notably the Rada lwa, Rada and the Petro lwa, Petwo, about whom various myths and stories are told. This theology has been labelled both Monotheism, monotheistic and Polytheism, polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists commonly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ayida-Weddo
Ayida-Weddo, also known as Ayida, Agida, Ayida-Wedo, Aido Quedo, Aido Wedo, Aida Wedo, and Aido Hwedo, is a powerful loa spirit in Vodou, revered in regions across Africa and the Caribbean, namely in Benin, Suriname and Haiti. Known as the "Rainbow Serpent", Ayida-Weddo is the loa of fertility, rainbows, wind, water, fire, wealth, thunder, and snakes. Alongside Damballa, Ayida-Weddo is regarded among the most ancient and significant loa. Considered in many sources as the female half of Damballa's twin spirit, the names Da Ayida Hwedo, Dan Ayida Hwedo, and Dan Aida Wedo have also been used to refer to her. Thought to have existed before the Earth, Ayida-Weddo assisted the creator goddess Mawu-Lisa in the formation of the world, and is responsible for holding together the Earth and heavens. Ayida-Weddo bestows love and well-being upon her followers, teaching fluidity and the connection between body and spirit. Family Ayida-Weddo is a member of the Rada family of loa, associated w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haitian Voodoo
Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West and Central Africa and Roman Catholicism. There is no central authority in control of the religion and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as Vodouists, Vodouisants, or Serviteurs. Vodou teaches the existence of a transcendent creator divinity, Bondye, under whom are spirits known as . Typically deriving their names and attributes from traditional West and Central African deities, they are equated with Roman Catholic saints. The divide into different groups, the ("nations"), most notably the Rada and the Petwo, about whom various myths and stories are told. This theology has been labelled both monotheistic and polytheistic. An initiatory tradition, Vodouists commonly venerate the at an (temple), run by an (priest) or (priestess). Alternatively, Vodou is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exuma (musician)
Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (18 February 1942 – 25 January 1997), known professionally as Tony McKay and Exuma, was a Bahamian musician, artist, playwright, and author best known for his music that blends folk, rock, carnival, junkanoo, calypso, reggae, and African music stylings. His Exuma persona, as well as his lyrics, were influenced by the West African and Bahamian tradition of Obeah, a system of spiritual and healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies, practiced by many on the islands of The Bahamas. He was also a practitioner of herbal medicine. Reviewers have often identified McKay's music as containing or invoking voodoo-related imagery, and have compared his music to that of New Orleans-born musician Dr. John (and vice versa). However, McKay clarified against the association between the imagery of his music and the popular concept of voodoo as depicted in Hollywood-produced films, stressing that his music is instead ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Exuma (album)
''Exuma'' is the debut studio album by Bahamian folk music, Bahamian folk musician Exuma (musician), Exuma. It was originally released in May 1970 on the Mercury Records, Mercury label. Background In the early 1960s, Exuma (born Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey) had moved to Greenwich Village, New York City, New York and started playing guitar and singing in the cultivating folk rock scene developing in that area. After producer Bob Wyld came up to him offering a record deal, he chose to adopt "Exuma, the Obeah Man" as his name. The pseudonym draws from memories of Junkanoo festivals from his childhood. Production Wyld adopted the pseudonym "Daddy Ya Ya" and recruited a few musicians for the album, including Peppy Castro of the Blues Magoos (who was credited under the pseudonym "Spy Boy Thielheim"). During recording sessions, Exuma would often turn off the lights and set up candles, recalling songs from his dreams. The album cover was painted by Exuma himself. Release and recept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. Europeans established a coastal slave trade in the 15th century and trade to the Americas began in the 16th century, lasting through the 19th century. The vast majority of those who were transported in the transatlantic slave trade were from Central Africa and West Africa and had been sold by West African slave traders to European slave traders, while others had been captured directly by the slave traders in coastal raids. European slave traders gathered and imprisoned the enslaved at slave fort, forts on the African coast and then brought them to the Americas. Some Portuguese and Europeans participated in slave raids. As the National Museums Liverpool explains: "European traders captured some Africans in raids along the coast, but bou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.. The sixth of eight children born into a respected family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a local fund set up in her hometown, she enrolled at Allen High School for Girls, then spent a summer at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, preparing to apply for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She failed to gain admission to Curtis,Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'' which she attributed to racism, though staff have pointed out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chucky (character)
Chucky, originally known as Charles Lee Ray, is the main antagonist of the ''Child's Play (franchise), Child's Play'' horror Media franchise, franchise. Chucky is initially portrayed as a vicious serial killer who bleeds out from a gunshot wound and becomes Chucky through a soul transfer into a "Good Guy" doll. While originally wishing to return to a human body, Chucky's motivations change after ''Seed of Chucky''. Chucky was created by writer Don Mancini and has been voiced by Brad Dourif in all major movie and TV adaptions entries, except the Child's Play (2019 film), 2019 remake of the same name, where he was voiced by Mark Hamill who had previously voiced Charles Lee on an episode of ''Robot Chicken.'' Appearances Film ''Child's Play'' trilogy (1988–1991) Chucky first appeared in the 1988 film ''Child's Play (1988 film), Child's Play''. In the film, a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray, also known as Chucky (Brad Dourif) uses a voodoo ritual inside a toy store to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Child's Play (franchise)
''Child's Play'' (also known colloquially as ''Chucky'') is an American slasher media franchise created by Don Mancini. The films primarily focus on Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif in the original films and television series, and Mark Hamill in the reboot), a notorious serial killer who frequently escapes death by performing a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a "Good Guy" doll. The original film, '' Child's Play'', was released on November 9, 1988. The film has spawned six sequels, a television series, a remake, comic books, a video game, and tie-in merchandise. The first, second, and fourth films were box office successes with all of the films earning over $182 million worldwide. Including revenues from sales of videos, DVDs, VOD and merchandise, the franchise has generated over $250 million. Several short films have been made featuring the Chucky character: on the DVD release of '' Seed of Chucky'', a short film entitled ''Chucky's Vacation Slides'', set after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barron's Educational Series
Kaplan, Inc. is an international educational services company that provides educational and training services to colleges, universities, businesses and individuals around the world. Founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, the company offers a variety of test preparation, certifications, and student support services. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. History Kaplan, Inc. was founded in 1938 by Stanley H. Kaplan, a first-generation son of immigrants who began tutoring his classmates at age 14, operating from the basement of his parents' Brooklyn home. He originally aspired to be a doctor, but was rejected from all medical schools he applied to, despite his exceptional academic record, because of anti-Semitic admissions policies at the time. When a student introduced him to the SAT, he wrote in his autobiography, ''Test Pilot'', that he fell in love with the test, as it tested skills he knew how to teach ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
