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Hoodoo
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Collection of conjure objects including bottles, a ring-shaped gourd, a bottle of Southern Comfort, packaged herbs, liquid containers, and dried roots, arranged on a gray background. Black and white portrait of a man wearing a white shirt and a string necklace with a nutmeg tied around his neck, photographed in Mississippi between 1920 and 1940. Cover of the novel The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, featuring red and black text describing magical and spiritual arts, with publication details at the bottom. Zora Neale Hurston smiling as she plays the hountar or mama drum, in a 1937 black-and-white portrait. Black and white photo of an open box propped against a tree, containing various objects and charms associated with a hoodoo bag, part of African American folk beliefs in the southern United States. A bottle tree sculpture with blue, green, and clear glass bottles placed on metal branches stands among tall green plants in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Nkisi (Kongo power figure)
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Collection of conjure objects including bottles, a ring-shaped gourd, a bottle of Southern Comfort, packaged herbs, liquid containers, and dried roots, arranged on a gray background.
Modern Hoodoo materials Hoodoo water, graveyard dirt, deadmen's powder, lodestones, gourds, and roots sit alongside a replica of a ring bottle. These ingredients were used in the treatment of Adolph Holuv and his family according to the newspaper accounts of court proceedings in 1893 against Hoodoo specialist Dr. Peter Davis. Photo courtesy of Robert Hunter, from the Chipstone Foundation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Hoodoo

religious practice
Also known as: Conjure, Rootwork
Written by
Ethan Doyle White
Possessing a PhD in Medieval History and Archaeology from University College London, Ethan Doyle White writes on religion, folklore, history, and archaeology, with a particular focus on areas of cultural...
Ethan Doyle White
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Hoodoo, folk tradition of healing, hexing, and divination originating among African Americans in the United States. Hoodoo draws heavily on older African religious practices introduced to North America through the transatlantic slave trade from the 16th to the 19th century. The tradition has also integrated influences from Christianity as well as various European and Native American folk traditions, resulting in the formation of a uniquely American religious practice. As a result of the transatlantic slave...

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