Hoodoo (religion)
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Term used to designate the system of folk medical and magical practices originally developed by enslaved people in North America, particularly on the plantations of the old South. Hoodoo melds traditional West and Central African traditions with Native American and colonial European ethno-pharmacopeias and ritual knowledge. Its practitioners embrace natural reverence and engage in practices including herbal healing, ancestor worship, counterclockwise circle dancing (Ring Shout), water immersion, sacred music, and charm use. While united by common elements, Hoodoo is geographically distinct and best described as a body of personalized practices transmitted through apprenticeships. It has been assimilated into, but is distinct from, Voodoo practices in the Mississippi River Valley. For the African diasporic structured religion of the Mississippi River Valley, use “Voodoo.”