He is young and likes to play when he is not working. He is known for his gossip and “chasing girls”. His vocal style consists of almost incomprehensible sounds like those of a goat. He is usually barefoot, carries a sack with him, wears a straw hat, and has a pipe in his mouth.īy nature, he is suspicious, for-profit, lover of subtleties, and he is afraid and resentful towards citizens. It is found wherever there is countryside. Zaka is a simple and kind farmer but highly respected by the farmers because he is a hard worker. For this reason, Ghede will often enter ceremonies for Zaka and will come when Zaka has owned some servants. Zaka, Oko: it is the Loa of agriculture, but is generally seen as the brother of Ghede. It’s a powerful sigil all about its connection with death and the afterlife. It gives the person who possesses it the gift of “double vision”.
These recipes are normally the preserve of initiates and cannot be disclosed. The papabokor then went out of their way to teach their godchildren a real form about the composition of the various powders to trace vevé. As mentioned, these sigils must be traced with the appropriate powder.įor mysteries belonging to the Division Rada white wheat flour (or rice in the case of mysteries belonging to the Division Soler) is normally used, for those of the Division India white corn flour is used, for those of the Division Negra coffee mixed with ash, while for the mysteros petrò brick powder mixed with chilli. Multiple vevès are often traced, that is, several connected veves, to spiritually call more entities. Once the vevè has been traced it is sprayed with the appropriate libation and a candle is placed in the center of the same, then the papabokor activates it by ringing a bell or the tchà tchà (maraca) reciting invocations and prayers to the mystery or to the mysteries that are intended to be called. The powder is scattered by sliding it between the index, middle, and thumb of the right hand, in order to obtain regular traces. These drawings, elaborate, are traced manually to the ground before a ritual with cornflour, white flour, coffee powder, brick powder, herbs … depending on the mystery and the Division to be evoked. In fact, in addition to the symbols of the various lwàs, other elements appear which are inserted to give a meaning or dynamic action to a spiritual current.
The vevè are a spiritual and astral script, they are not stylized symbols designed to refer to a complex iconography, they are rather an alphabet that composes mystical phrases apt to summarize a metaphysical concept. In the 21 Divisions, the use of vevès, sometimes called sigils, is less frequent than in Haitian voodoo, however in recent decades, due to the constant migratory flows, it is becoming increasingly consolidated also in Santo Domingo. The Hopi and dinè Indians (Navajos) made glyphs on the ground with colored sand to call divinities.
However, the use of ritual designs can be found in many other cultures: in Hinduism, we find the kolams, used to honor the gods and to bring prosperity and well-being. The use of graphic patterns and ritual sigils comes from the African Congolese tradition and we find it in other African American religions such as the Palo Mayombe in Cuba and the Brazilian Umbanda / Quimbanda. These sigils are called vevè.Įach vevè graphically reproduces in a stylized way the attributes of an lwà and its ritual signs. In the Haitian voodoo tradition, each lwà is represented by one or more esoteric sigils traced on the ground with different powders.
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