w (wtortle)

The third great crucible of African-derived religion in the Americas is, of course, Haiti. Due perhaps in part to the difficulties in conducting sustained research in the strife-torn Caribbean nation in recent decades, the literature on Vodou has been slower to develop than that for Candomble and Santeria. Yet a similar historical trajectory may be discerned, beginning with the emergence of distinct neo-African nations, Rada and Petwo, associated with the deities or Iwa of Dahomey and of Kongo/Angola, respectively.