Figures

who it looks to — gods, spirits, ancestors; some rooms are empty on principle Part of Belief →

The ultimate — what this line takes as final

B Bondye. He made everything, including the lwa, and then delegated. No temple, no offering, no song, no drum, no possession. Haitians will explain without embarrassment that Bondye is too great to be troubled about a specific person's rent, and that this is precisely why there are lwa. Domain Everything, at a distanceStanding He receives no offering, no drum, no dance and no shrine. Vodouwizan describe him as too great to trouble with a particular person's problems, which is not impiety but the reason the lwa exist Meet them — context →

Gods & powers — the presences it names and addresses

P Papa Legba — the gate. Old man of the crossroads: without his leave no lwa passes, so every ceremony begins by asking him to open the way. Domain The gate between worldsStanding Saluted first: he opens the gate for every other lwa Meet them — context →

D Danbala. The great white serpent, the oldest and coolest of the Rada, whose wife Ayida is the rainbow. When he comes into a body the person drops to the ground, cannot speak, and hisses; they are given a raw egg on a mound of flour and take it with their mouth. His colour is white and he does not tolerate disorder. Domain The serpent, the source, the ancient calm at the root of everythingStanding When he mounts someone the person cannot speak, only hiss and move on the ground, and is given an egg. Older than the Haitian language, older than Haiti Meet them — context →

E Erzulie — love, twice. Freda, love's luxury and its tears; Dantor, the fierce single mother with a dagger — love's two true faces, served separately. Domain Love and luxury; fierce motherhoodStanding Two faces of love — courted and feared accordingly Meet them — context →

O Ogou. Iron, war, machetes, rum, cigars and politics. He is the lwa of the revolution and of every Haitian government that followed it, and when he mounts someone he is furious and frequently correct — Ogou arrives to say who has betrayed whom, and Haitians take that seriously as political commentary. Domain Iron, war, politics, and the will to fightStanding He is the lwa of the revolution and of every Haitian government since. When he arrives he is furious, articulate and usually correct about who has betrayed whom Meet them — context →

B Baron Samedi — death, laughing. The dandy of the cemetery: obscene, hilarious, and final — and therefore the healer of last resort, since death must consent to every cure. Domain Death, and the jokes told at its expenseStanding Master of the dead; the last resort healer, since he decides who dies Meet them — context →

E Ezili Freda. She arrives beautiful, is washed and perfumed and dressed in pink, is given cake, champagne and jewellery, flirts with everyone, and then begins to weep because nothing is sufficient and never will be. Every service she attends ends the same way, and it is understood as an accurate account of a certain kind of longing. Domain Beauty, luxury, romantic love and the impossibility of being satisfiedStanding She arrives, is delighted, is given everything, and then weeps because it is not enough — every time. The service ends with her crying and being led away Meet them — context →

E Ezili Dantò. The other Ezili: dark, scarred, a working mother with a daughter, a knife, and no capacity for speech — the sound she makes is ke-ke-ke, because her tongue was cut. She is served with fried pork and unsweetened black coffee. Where Freda wants to be adored, Dantò defends, and she is the lwa of women who are managing alone. Domain Mothers, single mothers, working women, and knivesStanding She cannot speak — when she mounts someone the sound is ke-ke-ke. She is the lwa of women who have to manage alone, and she does not console Meet them — context →

Ancestors & spirits — the dead, the local, the household

T The Gede. The dead as a crowd — Bawon Samdi in his top hat, Manman Brijit, and dozens of others. They arrive filthy and obscene, wear dark glasses with a lens missing, drink raw rum steeped with the hottest peppers available, dance the banda, and insult everyone present. They are also the lwa most often asked to save a sick child. Domain Death, the cemetery, and sex — as one subjectStanding They arrive filthy, obscene and extremely funny, drink raw rum steeped with hot peppers, and are the only lwa who mock everybody present including the priest Meet them — context →

L Lemò — your own dead. Served before the lwa in most households, by name, with a candle and a glass of water. A dead relative who has not been fed is understood to cause exactly the sort of trouble a living one would, and the obligation is ordinary rather than solemn. Domain The family, and the obligations that outlast a deathStanding An ancestor left unserved is held to cause exactly the kind of trouble a neglected relative would. In Vodou the dead are the first thing you owe, not the last Meet them — context →

Adversaries — named in order to be refused

T The one who works with both hands. Vodou has no devil, so wrongdoing has to be attributed to people. A bòkò is a practitioner who will take money to do harm — and the distinction between the oungan who serves with the right hand and the bòkò who uses both is drawn by practitioners themselves, argued about, and not always clear from outside. ⚖ contested within Domain Harm sent deliberately; the zonbi; the bòkò who works with both handsStanding Vodou has no Satan. What it has is the recognition that the same knowledge cures and kills, and a vocabulary — maji, ekspedisyon — for what happens when someone pays for the second Meet them — context →