An exhibition featuring the Haitian voodoo religion is being held at a museum of the world’s religions in New Taipei City and is the latest effort by Haiti’s embassy in Taiwan to promote the Caribbean nation’s culture.
More than 300 Haitian artifacts related to the nation’s traditional religion and culture are on display at the “Vodou in Haiti” exhibition at the Museum of World Religions in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District (永和). It is to run through June 14.
Haitian voodoo is a religion that combines African spiritual systems and Catholicism.
On display at the exhibition are collections from the Haitian National Bureau of Ethnology and private collectors, as well as historical religious items discovered from ruins and debris in the wake of a magnitude 7 earthquake that devastated the nation in 2010, organizers said.
The exhibition has five sections, including the history of Haiti, the rituals of voodoo and religious items used to worship spirits subservient to the Supreme Creator, Bondye, who voodooists believe in.
At the exhibition, visitors can see an array of items for the altar, clothes and musical instruments used in rituals to worship the spirits that the faithful believe will help convey their wishes to the Supreme Creator.
The exhibition also displays a video on a religious ritual to help visitors learn more about Haiti’s religion.
The exhibition offers a rare opportunity for Taiwanese to learn more about Haiti, which has maintained diplomatic ties with the Republic of China since 1956.
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