#crossroads work

So, over on Facebook and Instagram, one of my siblings started a conversation about what priests in Haitian Vodou see over and over and over again: the internet telling people that Legba is served at the crossroads. My sister posed the question: in what part of Haiti is this traditional? What lineage holds this? Who has legitimate information about this? She wrote a great blog post about the conversation and what a lot of us have had to say about it here.

What she calls out in that post is painfully true: Sosyete Facebook (aka the information shared there and otherwise with little accuracy attached) has taken the place of actual learning in the tradition that is passed within the religion, which is having a specific teacher communicate how things are passed in a lineage that you are committed to learning from. The internet has born out this idea of a pan-Vodou practice that pulls from all different sources outside of the religion, from sources that are blatantly incorrect or misleading about the religion, and/or from people who are not empowered to speak on what they are trying to communicate. 

In truth, the idea of Legba being at the crossroads is based in other practices like Orisa religions, which Esu or Eleggua is perhaps found at a crossroads, in Southern folklore where pacts can be made with the Devil at the crossroads, or in European-based practices where you meet the Devil or the Man In Black there as well. In Haitian Vodou, we have a specific spirit who is at the crossroads and who is the literal embodiment of the crossroads. His name even means ‘crossroads’ in Kreyòl!

The crossroads are a dangerous place. My sister quoted a little bit about what I said in her blog post: In Haitian Vodou, if you are going to the crossroads and you do not have the heat in your hands and on your head (ie, you are not kanzo), you do not have the authority in both right and power to call upon Kafou (the spirit of the crossroads in Haitian Vodou) there and you cannot guarantee that, if something answers you at all, it will be him that responds. You don’t have the skill or authority to discern that, nor can you discern if it is simply something that is happy to be called Kafou (or Legba, if you really insist on trying it there..). A lot of stuff hangs out at the crossroads, and almost none of it is nice. In Haitian Vodou, you can find the wandering dead (not Gede) there, lougawou (essentially souls cursed to cause harm), and all sorts of malevolent spirits that would be happy to make a snack out of you. I mean, Kafou himself is dicey to deal with even for seasoned priests; when things are not done to Kafou’s liking, his response can range from ‘I am not going to allow this ceremony to happen’ to ‘I am going to kill you for your disrespect’. 

For vodouizan, it’s pretty clear where Legba stands: Legba, ouvre barye pou m, ago e. Legba Atibon, ouvre barye pou m, ouvre barye pou m, ouvre barye pou m pase. Legba, open the gate for me. Legba Atibon, open the gate for me, open the gate for me, open the gate for me to pass. Legba states at the gate and decides who comes and goes.

And yet, Sosyete Facebook persists. The desire to claim a narrative that does not fit or respect the religion overrules the desire to meet the religion where it is at--to meet Legba at the gate--and so people go to a crossroads with veve on paper and candy and leave trash there to the point where we have all heard at least one story of someone almost getting hit by a car or hassled by police (In Vodou, we go to the crossroads at night and do our best not to get seen...). I like the internet for a lot of things, but sometimes...