Religion is a hallmark of human society. Many people define their lives through the use of religion, which is as varied as the cultures that practice them. Haitian Vodou is often misunderstood as a malevolent practice based solely on Voodoo dolls, curses and blood sacrifices. In truth, Vodou is a complex and dynamic religion that involves the use of symbols derived from African mythology, the symbiosis of imagery between Vodou and Catholicism and the use of participation, observation and possession as a way for the community to directly relate to their religious deities. Due to the similarity of the cross in Vodou and Catholicism, and the apparent reverence Haitians have for this symbol, many scholars assume the Vodou cross is borrowed from Roman Catholicism, but the symbol of the cross is derived from African mythology, one example being from the Fon mythology in Benin. According to Paul Mercier, the Fon describe the universe as a sphere intersected by two planes, caused by the Godhead, Mawu Lisa as she moved to the four cardinal points of the universe, thus creating the world (Mercier 1968, 220-21). Mawu Lisa “traveled throughout the universe, stopping at the four “quarters of space”, which correspond to the four cardinal points of the cosmos” (Desmangles, 101). Mawu traveled from west to east, then north to south, forming a cosmic cross. The symbol of the cross is not restricted to one African culture group, but is found throughout Africa, as the Bambara people also recount the movements of a cross in their creation myth. The cross, as seen in Vodou and in its original African mythology, is a symbol of reverence and has great significance for these groups. The cross is also seen as the symbol of Legba, the keeper of the gates, and as a gateway between the two worlds: That of the profane human world, and the sacred world of the laws who reside in Vilokan. In Haitian Vodou there is a symbiotic relationship between Roman Cath