Lwa
Lwa, also called loa, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou and Dominican Vudú.
[a] Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deities venerated in the traditional religions of West Africa, especially those of the Fon and Yoruba.
In Haitian Vodou, the lwa serve as intermediaries between humanity and Bondye, a transcendent creator divinity.
According to Vodou belief, the lwa communicate with humans through dreams and divination, and in turn are given offerings, including sacrificed animals.
Through possessing an individual, Vodouists believe, the lwa can communicate with other humans, offering advice, admonishment, or healing.
Modern linguists trace the etymology of lwa to a family of Yoruba language words which include olúwa (god) and babalawo (diviner or priest).
[5] The early 20th-century writer Jean Price-Mars pondered if the term lwa, used in reference to Vodou spirits, emerged from their popular identification with the laws of the Roman Catholic Church.
[2] In the early 21st century, the historian Kate Ramsey agreed that the phonetic similarity between the terms for the law and the Vodou spirits may not be "mere linguistic coincidence" but could reflect the complex interactions of African and French colonial cultures in Haiti.
[2] During that century, writers like the American anthropologist Melville Herskovits favored the spelling loa,[2] although in 2008 the historian Jeffrey E. Anderson wrote that the spelling loa was typically found in older works on the topic, having fallen out of favor with scholarly writers.
[19] When angered, the lwa are believed to remove their protection from their devotees, or to inflict misfortune, illness, or madness on an individual.
[31] Damballa, who is a serpent, is often equated with Saint Patrick, who is traditionally depicted in a scene with snakes; alternatively he is often associated with Moses.
[43] The Rada lwa are generally regarded as righteous, whereas their Petwo counterparts are thought of as being more morally ambiguous, associated with issues like money.
[38] Many lwa exist andezo or en deux eaux, meaning that they are "in two waters" and are served in both Rada and Petwo rituals.
[54] An oungan (priest) or manbo (priestess) will also organize an annual feast for their congregation in which animal sacrifices to various lwa will be made.
[54] A mange sèc (dry meal) is an offering of grains, fruit, and vegetables that often precedes a simple ceremony; it takes its name from the absence of blood.
[64] His devotees sometimes sail out to Trois Ilets, drumming and singing, where they throw a white sheep overboard as a sacrifice to him.
[68] It lies the heart of many of its rituals;[8] these typically take place in a temple called an ounfò,[69] specifically in a room termed the peristil or peristyle.
[78] Vodouists believe that during this process, the lwa enters the head of the chwal and displaces their gwo bon anj,[79] which is one of the two halves of a person's soul.
[80] This displacement is believed to cause the chwal to tremble and convulse;[81] Maya Deren described a look of "anguish, ordeal and blind terror" on the faces of those as they became possessed.
[82] The chwal will typically bow before the officiating priest or priestess and prostrate before the poto mitan, a central pillar within the temple.
[76] Those believing themselves possessed by the serpent Damballa, for instance, often slither on the floor, dart out their tongue, and climb the posts of the peristil.
[91] Those possessed by Zaka, lwa of agriculture, will dress as a peasant in a straw hat with a clay pipe and will often speak in a rustic accent.
[88] Sometimes the lwa, through the chwal, will engage in financial transactions with members of the congregation, for instance by selling them food that has been given as an offering or lending them money.
[95] In some instances, practitioners have reported being possessed at other times of ordinary life, such as when someone is in the middle of the market,[96] or when they are asleep.
[97] During the closing decades of the 20th century, attempts were made to revive Louisiana Voodoo, often by individuals drawing heavily on Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería in doing so.
[99] Another initiate of Haitian Vodou, the Ukrainian-Jewish American Sallie Ann Glassman, launched an alternative group, La Source Ancienne, in the city's Bywater neighborhood.
[102] The large number of lwas found in Vodou contrasts with the Cuban religion of Santería, where only 15 orichas (spirits) have gained prominence among its followers.
