so profound that his name was used to refer to a
group of Africans who today worship Lwa bearing
his name. Indeed, many of the Rada Loas have a
Petro counterpart, as if their images were reflected
in a mirror, thus inverting their personalities to
match that of the Petwo Nanchon. The Petwo Lwa
have earned a reputation of being aggressive and
violent, whereas the Rada counterparts are said to
be gentle. These distinctions, however, are not
absolute because the Rada Loas can be quite
vindictive when offended, whereas the Petwo Lwa
can be quite protective and generous.
Garvey F. LundySee alsoBois Caiman; Boukman; Ezili Dantò; Mambo;
Petwo; Vodou and the Haitian Revolution
Further Readings
Carolyn, F. E. (1990).The Making of Haiti:The Saint
Domingue Revolution From Below.Knoxville:
University of Tennessee Press.
Geggus, D. P. (2002).Haitian Revolutionary Studies
(Blacks in the Diaspora). Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.
James, C. L. R. (1989).The Black Jacobins. Toussaint
L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution
(2nd rev. ed.). New York: Vintage Press.
FERTILITY
Fertility is of the utmost importance to African
people in general and thus occupies a central
place in African religion. This is the case because
fertility refers to the perpetuation and regenera-
tion of life, a matter of great significance for
African people. Indeed, the latter believe in a life
force that permeates all that is—human beings,
animals, plants, minerals, objects, and phenom-
ena. That shared life force, which is responsible
for the world’s ontological unity, ultimately
derives from God, the Supreme Being, and is
therefore sacred. It is human beings’ incumbent
and sacred duty, as well as best interest, to appre-
ciate and protect the harmonious flow of life, and
this, in the end, is obviously predicated on the
occurrence of fertility. This entry looks at the role
of fertility in society, its relationship to the gods
and the ancestors, and related ritual expressions.Social Importance
Fertility, as Africans understand it, given the com-
mon spiritual essence of all that exists, includes not
only human fertility, but also animal and land fer-
tility. Fertility manifests itself primarily through the
birth of many children, the birth of many domesti-
cated and game animals, the growing of medicinal
plants, and the flourishing of generous crops. Many
children born to a family mean that its lineage will
continue and expand, whereas the names of the
parents and other relatives will be spoken after they
have made their transition to the ancestral realm,
thus preventing them from being forgotten and
from dying socially. Rituals will be conducted on
their behalf, ensuring that they remain properly
connected with the world of the living.
In contrast, a large thriving cattle herd and
plentiful crops and healing plants most obviously
mean prosperity and peace for the living.
Likewise, the presence of numerous animals in the
forest will assure hunters of successful and gener-
ous hunts, that is, adequate feeding for all.
For fertility to occur, the union of the male and
the female is indispensable. In the case of human
beings and most other animals, it goes without say-
ing that only through the sexual encounter of males
and females of the same species can young ones be
born, thus maintaining and regenerating life.
However, in the case of land fertility, the same prin-
ciple of sexual complementarity applies. Indeed,
African people commonly associate the sky with
the male creative power, whereas the Earth stands
for the female creative power. In that context, the
sky, while releasing rain (i.e., life-bringing and sus-
taining water), fertilizes the earth, thus allowing
plants to grow and life in general to thrive.
Rain, in the African spiritual and religious con-
text, acts as cosmic sperm or fertilizer. The same
observation could be made about water in general,
whose intimate relationship with creation and fertil-
ity has often been stressed in African religion from
ancient times. In Kemet (ancient Egypt), for exam-
ple, at the beginning stood the primeval waters,
Nun, from which arose Ra, the supreme deity. From
Ra’s eyes came the tears that were to give birth toFertility 263