The origin of Azaka’s name is thought to be
pre-Columbian, from the indigenous Taino Indian
language stemming from zada, meaning corn, or
maza, meaning maize. Azaka is mainly depicted as
male, although some scholars say that this Loa is
also female. Similarly, Azaka is said to only exist in
a “good” form. However, it has also been exposed
as having a “fiery” (Azaka La Flambo) side.
Mainly, Loas functions in whatever gender or form
in which humans place them. Loas are neither pos-
itive nor negative. However, they have been used
by human beings for good deeds, such as renewing
balance and harmony in one’s life, or for bad
deeds, such as hurting someone who is unpro-
tected. Azaka remains a steady representation in
Vodun religion as the spiritual connection between
humanity and land, hence the titles of “Patron Loa
of Farmers” and “Minister of Agriculture.”
As the patron Loa of farmers, workers, and
laborers, Azaka functions as a reminder of a shared
inheritance—of peasant ancestry, family ties, and a
profound relationship with the Earth. Azaka, spirit
of the land, nurtures the seeds and tills the Earth. It
is from Azaka, the Loa, that one can learn about
the abundance of steady labor and its possible
fecundity. Azaka is humble in its knowledge of
Earthly possibilities and is therefore always
depicted as shy, yet representative as strongly sym-
bolic of the human spiritual and physical roots.
Loas may show their character by possessing,
riding, or mounting people who may call on them.
While being mounted by a Loa, one may find one-
self capable of participating in acts and speaking in
tones that are unusual for them in a spiritless state.
Hence, if one is ridden by Azaka La Flambo, one
may find oneself experiencing an insatiable hunger
for sex and food. Azaka La Flambo works with the
fire of creative imagination by smoking a pipe
from which figures appear within the puffs of
smoke. Azaka La Flambo handles what the Earth
gives (i.e., lava) and uses that to take from the infi-
nite darkness, the metaphysical and the unseen, to
create images and sounds that tell of the human
experience via myths and stories.
No matter the creative outcome of Azaka,
whether called on as female or male, good or
fiery, Azaka Mede, the deity of agriculture, will
answer when provided with specifics exclusive to
its character. When one is calling on Azaka, one
will wear blue (denim suit or dress) and red (neck-
erchief) and a straw hat; a sack (makout), machete,
or sickle; provide foods such as corn of various vari-
eties and forms, cassava bread, sugar cane, rice and
beans, tobacco, herbs, cereal, and rum; draw a veve’
(symbolic drawing) during a ceremony; as well as
make ritual statements on an altar with an image
representative of Azaka, such as the Catholic image
of St. Isadore. When Azaka arrives, one develops a
long appetite for food and begins to walk with a
limp, representative of carrying a large workload.
One also begins to mimic movements reflective of
hoeing and digging. It is said that the Loa Azaka
requires all of this (colors, symbols, offerings, and
image) to help those who call on it to comprehend
the honest, sincere reality of working hard to earn a
fruitful harvest in their life.
The quality of working hard to produce a fruitful
harvest is what gives Azaka, the Loa, the title of
Minister (Mede) of Agriculture, focusing on the sig-
nificance of its role in the Vodun community, partic-
ularly in Haiti. Neither Azaka nor the practice of
Vodun is exclusive to the Haitian community
because Vodun includes elements from other African
people such as Kongo, Mandingo, Ibo, Yoruba, and
Mondong, along with aspects of the religion of
the Arawaks, Freemasonry and Catholicism. Also
known as Kouzen Zaka, Azaka is identified as the
cousin or brother of the common person. Further,
Loa is referred to as fle’Vodou (flower and quintes-
sence of Vodou) and lewa (the king).
Fle’ Vodou and Lewa, Azaka, the Loa, and the
entire Vodun religion were suppressed temporarily
by people attempting to oppress practitioners in
parts of Africa, Brazil, and the Americas (North,
South, and Central). Vodun was suspect and vili-
fied by Europeans who made every attempt to
eliminate its existence and practice. Voduists were
skinned alive, hung, flogged, and imprisoned and
had their instruments of practice (drums, flags,
clothes, assons—calabash covered with special
beads with a bell tied to it) destroyed. Hence, the
association with Saints of the Catholic religion as
Voduists maintained their practice under their
guise. Azaka is identified with Saint Isador of the
Catholic religion because this is the patron saint of
farmers; he wears blue pants and a cape with a
sack slung over one shoulder as he kneels in prayer
and an angel behind him plows the land with a
pair of white oxen. Azaka, the Loa, is celebrated
and affiliated with Labor Day in Haiti (May 1).Asia Austin ColterAzaka, the Loa 83