Encyclopedia of African Religion

Molefi KeteAsante; Ama Mazama

doi:10.4135/9781412964623

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Desounen

Edited by:
Molefi Kete Asante
&
Ama Mazama
In:Encyclopedia of African Religion
Chapter DOI:https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623
Subject:Black Studies
Keywords:rituals; soul; vodu

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Desounen (also sometimes written dessounin) is an important ritual of death that is observed by Vodu practitioners in Haiti. It has its origins, like much of the Vodu religion practiced in Haiti, among the Fon people of Dahomey (Republic of Benin), West Africa. It is the first among several rituals performed after the death of a Vodu initiate and can only be conducted by a Houngan (priest) or a Mambo (priestess). This entry looks at the belief and practice and its roots in Fon cosmology.

Vodu Belief

The word desounen is French in origin and implies the extraction of sound from a voice and, by extension within the world of Vodu, the removal of the life substance from the body. The life substance or spiritual entity is ...

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  Asante, M. K., & Mazama, A. (2009). Desounen. In Encyclopedia of African Religion (pp. 196-196). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623
  
  Asante, Molefi K., and Ama Mazama. "Desounen." In Encyclopedia of African Religion, edited by Asante, Molefi Kete., and Ama Mazama, 196-196. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.
  
  Asante, M. K. and Mazama, A. 2009. Desounen. In: Encyclopedia of African Religion. Molefi K. Asante and Ama Mazama Editors, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. pp. 196 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623> [Accessed 4 Dec 2023].
  
  Asante, Molefi K. and Ama Mazama. "Desounen." Encyclopedia of African Religion. Edited by Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2009, pp. 196-196. Sage Knowledge, doi: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412964623.
  
  Asante, Molefi K., and Ama Mazama. Desounen. In Encyclopedia of African Religion. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.; 2009: 196-196. doi:10.4135/9781412964623
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