Haitian Vodou by Mambo Chita Tann

Author:Mambo Chita Tann
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Haiti, Haitian, vodou, voodoo, West Africa, tradition, magic
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2011-12-12T05:00:00+00:00

[contents]

Konstitisyon se papye, bayonet se fè

(“The Constitution is paper,

but bayonets are steel”)

—Haitian proverb

Five

The Petro (Petwo) Lwa

The division of Lwa we call Petro (sometimes spelled Petwo, after the way it is pronounced in Kreyòl) is a diverse and very large group of spirits. From the small inland tribes of Africans enslaved by their coastal neighbors to those taken by force in slave raids to the semi-divinized spirits of Haiti’s revolutionary heroes to various warlike, vengeful, or “hot” aspects of some of the Lwa of the stately and “cool” Rada nation, the Petro nation comprises that part of Vodou’s spirit world that does not look backward to Ginen or pre-Columbian Ayiti. Instead, the Petro as a group represent the history of the island from the moment of first contact, the “unity that makes strength” written on the Haitian flag.

In addition to being the spirits who listened to the cries of Saint-Domingue’s enslaved masses, the Petro Lwa record the history of change. Where the Rada preserve and celebrate a peaceful memory of life before slavery, the Petro live in everyday Haiti from 1492 to today—a world often filled with violence, poverty, war, and pain. Within the Petro division are the spirits of warrior tribes like the Ibo and the Kongo. The powerful magician-spirits of the Kikongo and Bakongo people are represented in Petro as well, along with Haiti’s fiercest protectors and spiritual guardians. Because the Nago nation was from Ginen, it is honored at the close of the Rada ceremony, but it provides a warlike, forceful introduction into the Petro rite, and many Nago Lwa have Petro aspects. Descriptive names and titles given to Petro Lwa also reflect their emphasis on strength, violence, and force: names like Ezili Je Wouj (“Red Eyed Ezili”) and Linglessou Basin Sang (“Linglessou Bucket of Blood”).

The evocative, forceful Petro ceremony—with its bright colors and flashing red headscarves, abundant fire, waving machetes, and loud, angry Lwa—was easily misunderstood by outsiders as the part of the ceremony for invoking “evil spirits.” This is especially easy to see when Petro rites are put in comparison to the mostly lyrical, quiet, white and pastel-colored Rada ceremony. Some have suggested that Petro service is equivalent to Satanism or devil worship. Unfortunately this is not helped by the nickname, djab (pronounced job) or “devil,” that is given to some of the hotter Petro spirits, but neither Satan nor any diabolic spirit is honored in Haitian Vodou. Strong warrior spirits do not equal evil spirits in any way.

What those who demonize the Petro do not understand is that Haiti, and Haitian Vodou, occupy both a world of peace and a world of violence, a world of calm and a world of righteous anger, at the same time. They always have. The Rada and the Petro divisions represent two parts of the Haitian experience, neither of which are accurately described as “good” or “evil.” If the Rada represents that part of Haitian life worth celebrating and preserving, the Petro represents the passion, strength, and sheer guts Haitians have had to use to keep the Rada part of their world intact.

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