What Is Winti? Afro-Surinamese Spirituality Explained

The pangi, a wrapped cotton cloth, is worn at many Winti ceremonies

What does the word Winti mean?

Winti is the Sranan Tongo word for wind. Sranan Tongo is the Creole language of Suriname, and many of its words come from English, which is why winti sounds so close to wind. The name says something about the spirits themselves: like the wind, a winti cannot be seen, but you notice what it moves. In the traditions I know, a winti can come into a person during a ceremony, the way a gust of wind fills a sail.

The word is used in two ways. With a capital letter, Winti is the name of the whole religion. With a small letter, a winti is one individual spirit. So a person can say they follow Winti and that a particular winti walks with their family.

Where does Winti come from?

Winti took shape on the plantations of Suriname between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Dutch brought enslaved Africans to the colony from many regions, among them the Gold Coast (the Akan peoples of present-day Ghana), the Bight of Benin (Fon and Ewe speakers) and the Kongo-Angola region. Each group brought its own gods, ancestor practices and healing knowledge. Over generations, those different strands grew together into one religion with its own structure and its own language of ritual.

Winti grew from the religions of many West and Central African peoples

You can still hear those roots. The word kra, for the personal soul, matches the Akan word for soul. Kromanti, the name of a group of powerful spirits, goes back to Kormantse, a fort on the Gold Coast from which many captives were shipped. Researchers such as Charles Wooding have traced many other Winti terms and practices to specific African languages.

Winti survived under heavy pressure. Colonial authorities and missionaries saw it as idolatry. From 1874, article 458 of the Surinamese penal code made public Winti practices punishable, and that ban was only lifted in 1971, according to the Nationaal Archief Suriname and Duke University's Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic project. For generations, families kept the knowledge alive in secret, passing it on by word of mouth. That history explains why Winti is still a private, family-based tradition for many people, and why practices differ so much from one family to the next.

Slavery in Suriname was abolished on July 1, 1863, although formerly enslaved people had to keep working on the plantations under state supervision until 1873. July 1 is still remembered every year as Keti Koti, "the chains are broken", in Suriname and in the Netherlands, and for many families it is also a day to honor the ancestors.

A note on terms: Winti usually refers to the religion of the Creole, Afro-Surinamese population in the coastal area and the capital, Paramaribo. The Maroon peoples of the Surinamese interior, such as the Ndyuka and the Saramaka, whose ancestors escaped slavery and built free communities in the rainforest, have their own related religious traditions with their own names and structures.

What do Winti followers believe?

At the top of the Winti worldview stands Anana Keduaman Keduampon, the supreme creator. Anana made the world, but in the traditions I know, people do not usually approach Anana directly in daily life. Below Anana stand the winti spirits, who each have their own domain, character and preferences. Below them, and very close to the living, are the ancestors.

The ancestors: kabra and yorka

The kabra are the honored ancestors of a family, the ones who are remembered and asked for protection and guidance. The word yorka is used for the spirit of a deceased person more generally. Within Winti, the dead do not simply disappear. They can appear in dreams, warn the living and expect to be remembered with offerings and respect. Many families set out water, food or a drink for their ancestors on special days. You can read more about how ancestors speak through dreams on our page about dreams within Winti (in Dutch).

The person: kra and dyodyo

Winti also has its own view of what a person is. Everyone has a kra, a personal soul, which is linked to the day of the week on which you were born. Each person also has dyodyo, spiritual parents who protect the kra. On top of that, a person can carry one or more winti, often spirits that have walked with the family for generations. When a winti feels neglected, the tradition holds that it can make itself known through dreams, recurring problems or illness that doctors cannot explain. That is why many people consult a ritual specialist when something keeps going wrong in their life.

The four realms of the winti spirits

The winti spirits are usually grouped by the realm of nature they belong to. Wooding described four main pantheons, and most families recognize a version of this order. Names and groupings do vary, though: some families place a spirit in a different group, and some spirits, like the Kromanti, are seen by many as a group of their own. The overview below follows the classification used across Spiritual Suriname.

Rivers, creeks and waterfalls are linked to the watra winti

Besides these four realms, the ancestor spirits form a group of their own. Every winti has its own colors, songs, drum rhythms, foods and drinks. In my practice, I often see that people are surprised to learn how detailed this knowledge is. It is not vague nature worship but a carefully kept body of knowledge.

How is Winti practiced?

Winti is mostly practiced within the family, with the help of ritual specialists when needed. These are the practices you will meet most often.

Wasi: the herbal bath

The wasi is the best-known Winti ritual. It is a bath of herbs, flowers and water, sometimes with other ingredients, meant to cleanse a person, protect them or bring good luck. Some wasi are taken at home; others are prepared by a specialist for a specific purpose. A sweet bath with flowers and fragrant herbs is called a switi watra. You can read more on our pages about the wasi and herbs within Winti (both in Dutch).

Safety: some traditional ingredients, such as camphor and certain oils, can irritate the skin or are harmful if swallowed, and alcohol-based products like Florida Water are flammable near candles. Ask an experienced practitioner, and do not use anything you are unsure about.

Luku: divination and consultation

A luku is a spiritual consultation in which a specialist looks into the cause of a problem: which spirit is involved, whether an ancestor is asking for attention, and what needs to be done. The specialist who does this is often called a lukuman, while a bonuman is a ritual expert who can also prepare baths, medicines and protective objects. Read more about the role of the bonuman (in Dutch).

Offerings

Spirits and ancestors are honored with offerings, such as water, rum or sweet drinks, food, eggs, fruit and flowers. What is offered depends on the spirit: each winti has its own preferences. Offerings are a way to show respect and to keep the relationship between the living and the spirit world in balance.

Winti prey: the ceremony

The winti prey (also written winti pré) is a ceremony with drumming, songs and dance, often held through the night. The drums call the spirits, and in the course of the ceremony a winti can come into a person. People say the winti "comes into the head". The person then speaks, moves and acts as the spirit. For participants, this is the moment when the spirit world is closest.

Dress: pangi and angisa

At many ceremonies, women wear a pangi, a wrapped cotton cloth, and an angisa, a folded headscarf. The colors are often chosen for the spirit being honored. The way the angisa is folded can even carry a message. Read more about the pangi and the angisa (both in Dutch).

Winti vs. Hoodoo, Vodou and Obeah

Winti is often confused with other African diasporic traditions. They share deep African roots and a history of survival under slavery, but they grew in different places and work in different ways. Our English guides on Hoodoo and rootwork explain the American traditions in more detail.

Obeah is a fourth tradition that people sometimes mention. The word is used mainly in the English-speaking Caribbean for spiritual and healing practices. In Suriname, the related word obia means spiritual power or a spiritual medicine, and it is part of the vocabulary of Winti. For an overview of how these traditions relate, see our page on African diasporic spirituality (in Dutch).

Is Winti black magic?

No. This is the most common misunderstanding, and it goes back to colonial times, when every African religion was labeled as superstition or witchcraft. Winti is a religion about balance: between people and spirits, between the living and the dead, and within a person.

Winti itself makes a clear distinction. Harmful magic, meant to hurt someone, is called wisi, and the tradition sees wisi as wrong. Much of the work of a bonuman is actually aimed at protecting people from wisi and undoing its effects. Saying that Winti is black magic is a bit like saying that a doctor causes disease because they treat it.

Winti today: Suriname, the Netherlands and the US

Winti is alive and visible today. In Suriname, it is openly practiced and increasingly recognized as cultural heritage. Many followers combine Winti with Christianity. They go to church on Sunday and also honor their ancestors and take a wasi, without seeing a contradiction.

Because Suriname was a Dutch colony until 1975, a large Surinamese community lives in the Netherlands, mostly in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. There, Winti ceremonies, wasi and luku are part of daily life for many families, and more young people are now openly exploring the tradition of their grandparents. Smaller Surinamese communities also live in the United States. Winti is getting attention in American academic circles too: Duke University includes it in its Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic project, alongside other African diasporic religions.

Can anyone practice Winti?

Winti is closely tied to family lines, ancestors and the Afro-Surinamese community. In the traditions I know, you do not join Winti the way you join a club. People usually grow into it through their family, or they come to it because a winti or an ancestor makes itself known in their life.

That does not mean that outsiders are unwelcome to learn. Respectful interest is valued, and many Surinamese people are happy to share their culture. What matters is to approach Winti with respect: learn from people within the tradition, do not copy rituals from videos without understanding them, and do not sell or perform Winti practices as a commodity. The same questions of cultural appropriation that come up around Hoodoo apply here.

Sources and further reading

• Charles J. Wooding, Winti: een Afroamerikaanse godsdienst in Suriname (1972). The classic study of Winti, in Dutch.
• Charles J. Wooding, Evolving Culture: A Cross-Cultural Study of Suriname, West Africa and the Caribbean (1981). On the African roots of Winti, in English.
• Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits, Suriname Folk-Lore (1936). Early American fieldwork in Paramaribo.
• Nationaal Archief Suriname, on the abolition of article 458 of the Surinamese penal code in 1971.
• Duke University, The Sacred Arts of the Black Atlantic: Surinamese and Dutch Winti.
• Oral tradition and 28 years of practice within the Winti tradition by the author.

Glossary

Frequently asked questions

Rachida Kacimi

Spiritual medium, clairvoyant and author with 28 years of practice within the Winti tradition. Based in Amsterdam, working with clients in the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname.