Introduction
The Rada Loa
The Petro Loa
A Selection of Art Depicting the Loa
The entire vodoun pantheon of loa is
enormous, with hundreds of deities. Many of these loa are simply aspects
of other loa, so that one loa may have many different names and
appearances. The pantheon can expand to include new loa in the form of
local deities and ancestral spirits.
Vodoun belief recognizes an original Supreme Being, called the Gran Maître, who made the world.
However, he is too remote for personal worship. Instead, devotees "serve the loa." They want to please the
loa and receive favors in return.
There are two major categories of loa, according to vodoun belief: the
Rada and the Petro. Many loa have manifestations that
are both Rada and Petro, but the major members of the pantheon
fall primarily to one or the other. All the loa "mount" or possess, their devotees, however.
The Rada are the benevolent, gentle loa. They originated in the Yoruba beliefs brought from West Africa,
and represent the warmth and emotional stability of Africa. Rada rites
follow more traditional African patterns and
emphasize the more positive, gentler aspects of the loa. Rada rituals
are characterized by the all-white clothing of the devotees and by a
specific type of drumming and dancing, which is always on the beat. At
Rada ceremonies, a large fire with an iron bar stuck in the flames,
representing the loa Ogou, is always present.
The Rada loa never demand a larger sacrifice than chickens or pigeons,
although sometimes goats and bulls are also sacrificed to them. They
will perform services for the devotees without any harmful consequences
to the person asking the favor, but their services are by definition not
very powerful.The three distinctive
Rada drums.
The main Rada loa are Damballah, Aida-Wedo, Ogou and
Loco Atisou.
Damballah, also called
Damballah-Wedo or the Great Serpent, is the oldest of the ancestors. He
represents the ancestral knowledge of vodoun. To worship Damballah is to
worship the beautiful, such as flowers, perfumes
and the color white. His day is Wednesday. He is symbolized by snakes
and snake eggs. Because it is the servant of Damballah, the serpent is
treated with reverence (not worshipped). Those possessed by Damballah
slither instead of walking and don't use their limbs. Damballah is fed
with pure, white foods, like cornmeal, olive oil, cake, champagne and
white wine, milk, powdered sugar and eggs. His sacrifice is a pair of
white chickens.Vévé of
Damballah.
Aida-Wedo is the wife of Damballah. She
is personified by a short, coiled snake that feeds on bananas and lives
mainly in water. She is symbolized by the rainbow, and the rainbow
colors painted on the poteau-mitan
represent her.
Vévés of
Damballah and Aida-Wedo.
Ogou is the warrior loa. He has many
different aspects in which he takes on different roles, such as the loa
of fire, the loa of lightning, the loa of the phallus and the loa of
metal-working. As Ogou Fer, for instance, he
represents stability, order and authority. His color is red, and his
sacrifice is usually a bull.Vévé of
Ogou Fer.
Loco Atisou is the Rada form of Legba. Saluted in the Legba ceremony, he is the
loa of wisdom and medicine. He gives knowledge and wisdom to the houngan, and indicates what is to be
done in troubling situations. He will also indicate a malady to the
houngan.
The Petro are the dark loa, the balance to the white forces of the Rada.
Petro rites originated in Haiti during slavery days, representing the
rage, violence and delirium that threw off slavery. The Petro loa are
more powerful and quick than the Rada. They are also more violent,
menacing, deadly and ill-tempered, and they emphasize death and
vengeance. They make big cures and do heavy work that the Rada are not
capable of. However, they will only work for someone if he or she makes
a promise of service to
them, and they will take revenge if that promise is not kept. Petro
rituals are characterized by red ceremonial clothing and off-beat, sharp
drumming. As sacrifice, they demand hogs, goats, sheep, cows, dogs and
sometimes dead bodies from tombs; the most
common sacrifice to the Petro is a pig. A Petro ritual is never held in
a hounfort.Petro drummers
at a ritual.
The main Petro loa are Legba, Erzulie, Samedi, and
Guedé.
Legba, also called Papa Legba or Legba
Ati-bon, is not only the major Petro loa, but is also the best known and
most worshipped of all the vodoun loa. He represents the sun and is the
god of the gate. Depicted as a man sprinkling water or an old man
walking with a crutch, he also personifies the ritual waters and the
consolidation of the vodoun mysteries. Through syncretization, he has
become identified with both St. Peter and Christ. Every ritual for any
reason is preceded by an invocation to Legba; without his agreement to
"open the gate" between the astral plane and the material one, no other
loa would be able to pass down to earth. Therefore, no communication of
god and worshipper can take place without Legba's approval, no other
deity may join a vodoun ceremony unless Legba has been invoked, and no
loa may act without Legba's permission. This makes Legba the most
powerful of all the loa. As another incarnation, Maître Carrefour, he guards
the crossroads and is the patron of sorcery. A sacred tree near the
hounfort is Legba's altar. He is symbolized by the lion and the white
sheep, and is fed with animal bones and marrow.Vévé of
Legba.
Erzulie is the loa of love and the
embodiment of the perfect female, and is the wife of Legba. In a pure
and virginal state, she represents the moon. In other states, she is the
ideal of the love bed, and often takes male devotees as "husbands" or
special servants. Many other aspects of Erzulie encompass not only love
and good will but also jealousy, discord and vengeance. She can often be
maliciously cruel to women and their desires. In the hounfort, she is
represented
by a model ship hanging from the ceiling. As offerings, she is given
desserts, sweet drinks, perfumes, flowers and candles.Vévé of
Erzulie.
Also called Baron Samedi, Samedi is
the loa of the dead. He controls the activities of the dead and often
sends them on missions. In ritual, he is offered black goats or
chickens. His symbols are coffins and phalluses. He enjoys possessing
devotees; when possessed by Samedi, his "horse" tells lewd jokes, wears dark
glasses, smokes cigarettes or cigars, eats voraciously and drinks
copious amounts of alcohol. The horse also dresses in shabby and
fantastic clothing, often cross-dressing.
Guedé is really a group of loa,
representing the many spirits of death and the graveyard, sexual
debauchery and buffoonery, and are worshipped by various cults. Baron Samedi is a Guedé, as are
Guedé Nimbo or Nibho and Baron Cimetière.
Guedé governs the preservation and renewal of life, and protects
children. He is also the loa of peasants and of the burlesque. Being in
charge of everyone in the regions of the dead, he sometimes opens tombs
and uses dead souls in his service. When he manifests by mounting a
devotee, he dresses in old black clothes and a top hat, and smokes
cigars. Guedé's primary mission is to expose and reveal secrets,
and he uses his horses for that purpose who can, when possessed by
Guedé, accurately see the past and future. His revelations,
speaking through the mouths of his horses, are often both accurate and
cruel.
These are just the major members of the vodoun pantheon. To see a more
complete listing of loa, look at the list of
loa.
Note: Please see Sources for the origin of
this art.
Copyright 1995 Shannon Turlington Settle disclaimer
Last revised
9/27/95