Haitian Vodou

Tradition·Founded 1700 CE·several million worldwide

Haitian Vodou

Branch
E Figure of Haitian Vodou

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.

Names & titlesEzili Freda Daomen
DomainBeauty, luxury, romantic love and the impossibility of being satisfied
RelationsRada; sister and opposite of Ezili Dantò
Depicted asPink and pale blue, perfume, jewellery, three wedding rings, a comb and a mirror
StandingShe 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
Understanding it — context, not catechism: how this passage is held

Ezili Freda Daomen is the Rada lwa of beauty, luxury, romantic love and refinement. Her service is elaborate: she is washed, perfumed, dressed in pink and pale blue, given cake, champagne, sweet liqueur, jewellery and a comb and mirror, and she flirts with everyone present, distributing attention. She wears three wedding rings, being married to Danbala, Ogou and Agwe. And every appearance ends the same way: she begins to weep, because nothing she is given is sufficient and no love available to her is what she wants, and she is led away crying. Practitioners do not treat this as a defect in her character but as an accurate account of a particular condition — the tradition has a lwa whose defining attribute is that satisfaction is structurally unavailable to her, and it stages that fact publicly several times a year.

The same ground, other faiths

claims that share this one's ideas
R Radha — the one who loves him first. Hinduism Meet them →
Simcha — the joy that is commanded. Judaism · the interior Go deeper →
Kagura. Shinto · rite Go deeper →
God prefers the joyful heart to the merely correct one. Hasidism · core tenet Go deeper →
The drum knows your name. Yoruba Religion · the interior Go deeper →
Chaitanya took the chanting into the street. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness · story Read it in full →

The conversation

argument stays attached to the claim it is about All discussion →

Sign in to open the first thread. Everything here is attributed.

Built on Hatchable