Illegal, then official.
Banned under the Code Noir, restricted after independence, prosecuted under the penal code's provisions on superstitious practices well into the twentieth century, and periodically the target of state and church campaigns. In 2003 a presidential decree recognised Vodou as an official religion of Haiti, allowing oungan and manbo to perform legally registered marriages and baptisms.
Vodou's legal history is a record of prohibition. The colonial Code Noir of 1685 required the baptism of enslaved people and banned African religious assembly. After independence, successive Haitian constitutions and codes restricted it, and the penal code's articles on sortilèges — spells — and superstitious practices were used to prosecute practitioners into the twentieth century, with the 1935 decree against superstitious practices remaining in force for decades. The Church-and-state campaign of 1941 operated against that legal background. Recognition came late: the 1987 constitution guaranteed religious freedom in general terms, and a presidential decree of 4 April 2003, under Jean-Bertrand Aristide, formally recognised Vodou as a religion of Haiti on equal footing with others, permitting oungan and manbo to register with the ministry and to conduct legally recognised marriages and baptisms.
The same ground, other faiths
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