In Haiti voodoo is recognized as a religion. ... The priest draws sacred symbols in the dust with cornmeal, ... It is an honor to be entered and "ridden" by a Loa, or spirit.

“In order for voodoo to survive, it had to borrow symbols from ... Catholic Church and praying to St. Patrick for luck or the Virgin Mary for love were means of addressing the relevant voodoo loa.

Voodoo and its rituals and herbal cures have been legal since the religion's recognition under the 1987 constitution. But decades of persecution within the country and vilification by Christian ...