#vodun

Vodun Day, celebrated every January 10th in Benin, honors the ancestral Vodun religion, rooted in the veneration of nature, ancestors, and deities. Established in 1992, this day highlights a unique spiritual and cultural heritage through ceremonies, dances, and rituals, especially in Ouidah, the heart of Vodun. - NWE

Fèt Gede 🇭🇹💀

A sacred celebration of life, death, and ancestry in Haiti. Each November 1-2, Haitians honor the Gede (spirits of the dead) with drumming, dance, rum, and prayer. It’s a powerful reminder that our ancestors never truly leave us; they live through our laughter, music, and memory. ✨🕯️

Rituals, Possession, Sacrificial Offerings, Symbolism

from Kafou: Haitian Art and Vodou, the exhibition catalogue

Bolsas de Mandinga: Afro-Atlantic Amulets of Protection and Power

In the 18th century, Africans deported across the Portuguese Atlantic, to Madeira, Brazil, or Lisbon, created bolsas de mandinga, small amulets worn on the body. Made by ritual specialists, or those trained in exile, they combined Catholic prayers, herbs, bodily fluids, fabric, and sacred items like medals or coins.

These powerful objects served as spiritual, emotional, and physical survival tools in a world of enslavement. They were believed to stop bullets, calm the soul, protect against violent masters, or rekindle love. Bolsas circulated across Brazil, Portugal, and other colonial ports like Saint-Domingue and Cartagena.

Each bolsa turned the imposed remnants of Catholicism into a mobile, mysterious object of African-rooted power.

In the beginning, a large snake encircled the Earth to protect it from crumbling into the seas.

When the first rains began to fall, the Haitian deity, Aida Wedo, the rainbow Lwa, appeared, and the serpent (who was really the Lwa Danbala) fell in love with her, and they married.

It is said that the semen of men and the milk of women are actually the spiritual nectar of Danbala and Aida Wedo being passed through each generation.

The two Lwa taught humanity about the link between life and blood, menstruation and birth, and the ultimate power of (blood) sacrifice in Haitian Vodou.

This sort of creation story involving powerful male and female spirits is not unusual. Many world religions share similar creation myths, where contrasting yet complementary forces join together to conceive the Earth and its habitants.

Often these deities form close ties with their creations and share with them the great secrets of life in hopes that they might lead more spiritually meaningful and fulfilling lives.

These unions are so strong that it becomes difficult to separate these deities and speak solely of one without touching on the other; such is the case with Aida Wedo and Danbala.

Although Danbala is the more primary of the two, Aida Wedo holds her ground. Powerful of her own accord, she nevertheless is made even stronger through and because of her consort.

This creation tale also reveals the complexity of male and female principles in Haitian Vodou. The Lwa can be at once male and female, and this fluidity of gender pervades their sexuality as well; it is not unusual for goddesses to couple with goddesses, whether acting as female spirits or playing the role of a male deity.

During ceremonies, women are routinely mounted by male Lwa and men by female Lwa, blurring gender boundaries, as these devotees, chwal of the Lwa, take on these different gender and sexual roles with other participants.

Aida Wedo represents fertility along with Danbala, and together the two bestow luck, happiness, and wealth on those who serve them.

Aida Wedo’s colors are blue and white. Her day is Thursday. Her trees are the cotton and silk trees, and, along with her husband, worshippers offer her white foods: cauliflower, eggs, rice, hens, milk, and white corn.

She dwells in springs and rivers along with Danbala, which makes their realm water; they are both part of the Rada family. Aida Wedo’s symbols are rainbows and rainbow serpents; Danbala’s symbols are snakes and eggs, which symbolize their role in the dawn of Life.

Aida Wedo is commonly associated with fertility. The couple Aida Wedo–Danbala Wedo owes its existence to the Fon couple Aida Wedo–Danbada Wedo from the Vodou tradition of Benin, West Africa.

This comes as no surprise because many of the Africans who were taken to Haiti by force during the European slave trade came from that region of Africa.

There are many parallels—“dual deities,” male and female creator-spirits—in other religions, although in each tradition the pair of dual forces varies from brother and sister to husband and wife or even rivals.

In addition to the original Fon couple, other African creator gods and goddesses who resemble Aida Wedo and Danbala are Aido Hwedo and Mawu (Nigeria/ Yoruba), Isis and Osiris (Egypt/Egyptian), Olorun and Obatala (Nigeria/Yoruba), and Papa and Rangi (Polynesia/Maori).

Benin Version of Aido Hwedo

Aido-Hwedo, the Cosmic Serpent (Fon/Benin) Aido-Hwedo dramatizes a creative force that is primal, existing before Mawu-Lisa, the power that enabled that creator god to shape the universe.

He remains the servant of Mawu-Lisa, this creative force continuing today, sustaining the shape given to the universe by the creators.

He is mythically viewed as a serpent that carried Mawu-Lisa in its mouth as the creator passed through the universe. When the world had been created, Aido-Hwedo coiled himself around and beneath it: he continues to hold everything in its place, assuring regularity.

★ 𝐕𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐬 ★

~ Imagination

Vodun (Sylph + Witch): One who heals (through) their aspect by manipulating (through) it, or manipulates (through) their aspect by healing (through) it. Loss (Void + Hope): The intimate secrecy of faith; the belief in unknown answers to mysteries; the imagination inspired by the unknown.

Vodun of Loss: One who repairs relationships with the unknown by filling in the gaps with imagined potential. One who, through pontificating an unanswered question, ignites a sense of rejuvenation embedded in the invigoration latent in its mystery. One who, while not providing a guaranteed answer to puzzling questions, replaces the fear and uneasiness surrounding secrets with excitement by framing the unknown as a canvas to paint upon.

Prone to: acute perceptiveness, intelligent theoretical discussions, a classy air of mystique, quick wit, goth and/or macabre subcultures, dry and/or layered humor, efficiency in and enjoyment of solving puzzles, enjoying detective / murder mystery / solvable stories (and trying to solve them before the answer is revealed), fascination with the occult/cryptozoology/any sort of phenomenon regarding human obsession with the supernatural. Watch out for: red-string conspiracies, responding to tragic crimes with fascination first and sympathy second (if at all), becoming too attached to an unproven theory and potentially treating it as truth, derealization when delving too far into speculation, overthinking simple solutions, inciting suspicion/paranoia via over-questioning.

~ Chance