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Loa are the spirits of Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo. They are also referred to as "mystères" and "the invisibles" and are intermediaries between Bondye — the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world — and humanity. Unlike saints or angels, however, they are not simply prayed to, they are served. They are each distinct beings with their own personal likes and dislikes, distinct sacred rhythms, songs, dances, ritual symbols, and special modes of service. Contrary to popular belief, the loa are not deities in and of themselves; they are intermediaries for, and dependent on, a distant Bondye.
Ayida-Weddo is a loa of fertility, rainbows, wind, water, fire, and snakes in Vodou, especially in Benin and Haiti. Ayida-Weddo is known as the "Rainbow Serpent". Variants of Ayida-Weddo's name include Aida-Weddo, Ayida-Wedo, Aido Quedo, and Aido Hwedo.
Damballa, also spelled Damballah, Dambala, Dambalah, among other variations, is one of the most important of all loa, spirits in Haitian Vodou and Louisiana Voodoo traditions. He is portrayed as a great white serpent, originating in the city of Wedo in modern-day Benin. Damballa is said to be the Sky Father and the primordial creator of all life, or the first thing created by Gran Met. In those Vodou societies that view Damballa as the primordial creator, he created the cosmos by using his 7,000 coils to form the stars and the planets in the heavens and to shape the hills and valleys on earth. In others, being the first thing created by God, creation was undertaken through him. By shedding the serpent skin, Damballa created all the waters on the earth. As a serpent, he moves between land and water, generating life, and through the earth, uniting the land with the waters below. Damballa is usually syncretized with either Saint Patrick or Moses. He is counted among the Rada loa.
Ayizan is the loa of the marketplace and commerce in Vodou, especially in Haiti.
Baron Samedi, also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the loa of Haitian Vodou. Samedi is a loa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix and Baron Kriminel. He is syncretized with Saint Martin de Porres.
Papa Legba is a loa in Haitian Vodou, who serves as the intermediary between the loa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages. In Haiti, he is the great elocutioner. Legba facilitates communication, speech, and understanding. He is commonly associated with dogs.
Bugid Y Aiba is a loa of war in Vodou, especially in Haiti and Puerto Rico.
Haitian Vodou is a syncretic mixture of Roman Catholic rituals developed during the French colonial period, based on traditional African beliefs, with roots in Dahomey, Kongo and Yoruba traditions, and folkloric influence from the indigenous Taino peoples of Haiti. The Loa, or spirits with whom Vodouisants work and practice, are not gods but servants of the Supreme Creator Bondye. In keeping with the French-Catholic influence of the faith, vodousaints are for the most part monotheists, believing that the Loa are great and powerful forces in the world with whom humans interact and vice versa, resulting in a symbiotic relationship intended to bring both humans and the Loa back to Bondye. "Vodou is a religious practice, a faith that points toward an intimate knowledge of God, and offers its practitioners a means to come into communion with the Divine, through an ever evolving paradigm of dance, song and prayers."
Houngan or oungan is the term for a male priest in Haitian Vodou. The term is derived from the Fon word hounnongan. Houngans are also known as makandals.
Homosexuality in Haitian Vodou is religiously acceptable and homosexuals are allowed to participate in all religious activities. However, in countries with large Vodou populations, some Christian influence may have given homosexuality a social stigma, at least on some levels of society.
A bokor (male) or caplata (female) is a Vodou witch for hire who is said to serve the loa "with both hands", practicing for both good and evil. Their black magic includes the creation of zombies and the creation of 'ouangas', talismans that house spirits.
Arará people are an Afro-Cuban ethnoreligious group descendant from the Dahomey kingdom of West Africa, and retain a separate identity, religion, and culture than other Afro-Cuban people. Although Arará people have historically staunchly retained a separate identity and religion, overtime this identity has become more blurred and harder to retain, but still exists.
Petro, sometimes as Pethro, is a family of loa (spirits) in Haitian Vodou religion. The story is that they originated in Haiti, under the harsh conditions of slavery. The term petro can also refer to a drum used in the music of Haiti. "Petro" loas are often considered to be "angry" or demon loa, used in "black magic". They are the "newer" loa that can relate to the harsh, traumatic conditions that slaves had to endure.
A mambo is a priestess in the Haitian Vodou religion. Haitian Vodou's conceptions of priesthood stem from the religious traditions of enslaved people from Dahomey, in what is today Benin. For instance, the term mambo derives from the Fon word nanbo. Like its West African counterpart, Haitian mambos are female leaders in Vodou temples who perform healing work and guide others during complex rituals. This form of female leadership is prevalent in urban centers such as Port-au-Prince. Typically, there is no hierarchy among mambos and houngans. These priestesses and priests serve as the heads of autonomous religious groups and exert their authority over the devotees or spiritual servants in their hounfo (temples). Mambos and houngans are called into power via spirit possession or the revelations in a dream. They become qualified after completing several initiation rituals and technical training exercises where they learn the Vodou spirits by their names, attributes, and symbols. The first step in initiation is lave tèt, which is aimed at the spirits housed in an individual's head. The second step is known as kouche, which is when the initiate enters a period of seclusion. Typically, the final step is the possession of the ason, which enables the mambo or houngan to begin their work. One of the main goals of Vodou initiation ceremonies is to strengthen the mambo's konesans—knowledge that determines priestly power.
Haitian Vodou is an African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional religions of West Africa and Roman Catholicism. Adherents are known as Vodouists or "servants of the spirits".
Vodou drumming and associated ceremonies are folk ritual faith system of henotheistic religion of Haitian Vodou originated and inextricable part of Haitian culture.
Saut-d'Eau is a commune in the Mirebalais Arrondissement, in the Centre department of Haiti. It has 34,885 inhabitants.
Christian-Vodou relations have been marked by syncretism and conflicts, especially in Haiti, but less so in Louisiana and elsewhere.
Dominican Vudú, also known as Las 21 Divisiones, is a syncretic religion of Caribbean origin which developed on the island of Hispaniola.
The Potomitan is an essential structural feature of the hounfour (temple) in Haitian vodou. Occupying the central position in the peristyle, the potomitan takes the form of a decorated wooden post by means of which, it is believed, the loa descend to earth to inhabit, for a time, the bodies of the faithful through spirit possession. ] The structure consists usually of the whole trunk of a palm tree, being fixed to the ground by a masonry pedestal commonly known as a socle and attached at the top to the roof of the temple. A potomitan is often painted with designs in bright colours, featuring usually the motif of two intertwined serpents, symbolizing the primordial male and female divine couple Damballa and Ayida Weddo who, according to the cosmogony of the Haitian religion, support the sky, preventing it from crumbling and falling to earth. Taken its entirety, however, the ritual post represents the deity Papa Legba, the gatekeeper or messenger of the loa, without whose intercession communication with the realm of the divine would be impossible. Sacrifices are carried out regularly to sanctify the structure / honour the deity, either at the foot of the potomitan itself or at the base of the socle - most notably prior to voodoo ceremonies proper - in order to keep it a fit conduit for the transmission of the divine powers. The potomitan constitutes a ritual representation, in a specifically Haitian context, of the axis mundi and, more specifically the world tree.
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