When you think of the Care Bears, do you think of them as nothing more than annoying characters in an overly preachy children's cartoon? Or do you find them vaguely unsettling, perhaps because your inner eye can sense some of the truth behind these chubby brightly colored 'friends' - the truth of Voodoo masquerading as children's entertainment.
One of the characteristics of the spread of Voodoo in the Western Hemisphere is the adaptability of the paradigms of Voodoo worship and magic to the host cultures and religions. This has been demonstrated in the accommodation of Voodoo to the native cultures of Brazil in the form of Macumba (Candomble and Umbanda), and in the adaptation of Catholic religious iconography to Voodoo in the practice of Santeria, where saints have been adapted to substitute for specific voodoo gods. These examples are well known and publicly recognized. The Catholic Church has even been quietly tolerant of both Voodoo and Santeria for many years.
What fewer are aware of is the introduction of Voodoo symbology and worship into the culture of the United States through the medium of children's cartoons. Voodoo has always been syncretic and adaptable, and through the work of a few Boccor/Animators and sympathetic Voodoo practitioner producers in Hollywood the Lwa have found new forms and gained unprecedented access to generations of young television viewers. While recent attention has been focused on the popularity of the Kabbalah and ritual Jewish magic in Hollywood, the Lwa and Voodoo were there first and have already permeated the culture to a depth which few suspect.
Voodoo's invasion of children's animation began in the 1950s with the tentative work of early media-voodoo pioneers such as Art Clokey whose character Gumby clearly derives from the Jamaican festival spirit Goombay or Big Bwoy, an amorphous and confused buffoonish character who heralds the start of festival season. The similarity of the exaggerated features of the two characters is hard to miss.
Another tentative effort to introduce some Voodoo elements into a children's cartoon can be found in the popular 1980s cartoon Rainbow Brite which features a horse - a traditional symbol of Legba - which has a rainbow tail - clearly symbolic of Damballah. In the enormously popular Smurfs you can also see Voodoo themes portrayed, especially in the character of Smurfette whose position as a unique and powerful female figure surrounded by male cohorts clearly echoes the role of Irzuli in Voodoo mythology.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Dave Nalle
It just occured to me that the real danger isn't when a kid starts talking to their Care Bears, it's when they start answering back.
Dave
2 - Eric Olsen
pretty pics, too, Dave, thanks - one of them isn't showing up, however
3 - Eric Olsen
also, the astonishing thing about the Care Bears is that my 20 year-old daughter and my 5 year-old daughter have had almost identical devotion to them at a 15-year remove. Now I know why
4 - Phillip Winn
I love Gumby. I'm just saying. Peace, bro!
5 - Eric Berlin
I'm with you, Phillip: Gumby's rad.
6 - The Theory
seriously. I grew up with Care Bears... and now they have become all Hot Topic. I was bowled over last year when I went in and saw Grumpy Bear and Funshine Bear on t-shirts.
I would totally wear one of those. Voodoo or no.
7 - Dave Nalle
Which one, Eric? They're all showing up for me.
Dave
8 - Phillip Winn
By the way, that Unicorn picture reminds me of a t-shirt I keep threatening to buy for my wife: Unicorns fart rainbows
9 - Dave Nalle
Oiks, and where did my book links go? I had book links, dammit! Good ones too.
Dave
10 - Phillip Winn
The scariest image on the page is that candle at the top. Scary stuff there, mate.
11 - Eric Olsen
the one at the 8th paragraph, which begins, "Voodoo is a religion"
12 - Dave Nalle
Hmmm, Love-a-Lot bear is loading for me, Eric. Perhaps you aren't caring or sharing enough to see her?
Dave
13 - Eric Olsen
possible, even likely
14 - Phillip Winn
Such is nature of Firefox that I didn't even notice the image wasn't loading! Such is also the nature of Firefox that I was able to put the image URL directly into the address bar, and got this message:
"The image “http://www.ragnarokpress.com/scriptorium/lovealotbear.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors."
No joke.
15 - Dave Nalle
Hmmm. I'll make the image over again and reupload it. Wonder why some browsers like it and some don't.
Dave
16 - Dave Nalle
Apparently Legba had tainted that image with some Photoshopishness so I sacrificed a goat and drove out the malign influence and it should be working now.
BTW, the Michael Reaves novel linked to with the article is really excellent and I recommend it highly. It does a great job of showing how relevant Voodoo is as a religion and/or world view for modern times.
Dave
17 - not a fundie
you all need to get a life and stop trying to find something in society that is not christian, the carebears have nothing to do with voodoo!!!!! you all need to take off the f-ing blinders and stop seeing everything as "non-christian" GODS forbid that you start wearing a tshirt and someone starting thinking that you are Pagan or something.......BURN YOURSELF YOURSELF YOU HAVE SINNED!!!
18 - Eric Olsen
hey Dave, this mighty fine post, besides fooling the civilians, now seems to run off the right edge of the page in IE - could you check it out, please?
19 - Dave Nalle
Seems to work just fine in IE for me. This article was generated the same way all my others have been. Is it the only one you see this problem with? The only HTML included is the image links. Is it possible that having the google ads pop up next to an image is causing the overrun?
Dave
20 - Eric Olsen
ah, very good point, will check it out
21 - Eric Olsen
taking out love-a-lot fixed it, but now where is the ad?
22 - Dave Nalle
You've got me. How are you inserting those ads anyway? Are they not automated? And do we really need them - they kind of break up the flow.
I'm working on a photo-essay right now and I hate to think what's going to happen when google ads get popped into the middle of it.
Dave
23 - Eric Olsen
automated yes; unfortunatley, the whole point is that they break up the flow; Phillip needs to get involved in this part of the discussion
24 - HW Saxton
Dave Nalle,Just for posterity: The term
"Santeria" is largely derogatory,since
they follow the ways of the Orishas not
the Catholic litany of Saints.It was the
name that the Spanish gave to the
traditional African religions brought to
Cuba after they became syncretic with
the enforced Catholicism of the Spanish.
A preferred term of followers is "Regla
De Ocha", to name but one that is not a
slur.
25 - gonzo marx
nice read there Mr Nalle
but i have always thought the CBs, the Smurfs, Rainbow Brite and a host of others should be tossed feet first into a wood chipper
i do like the history about the folks that worked on it, especially the animator last seen in Haiti...that is sweet
Symbols are very powerful things in and of themselves...just desserts to those that steal them, file the serial numbers off and then profit from their theft
that's my kind of Irony
Excelsior!