feeding of several lwa at the same time, the vèvè
drawn will include the ritual emblems of all the
lwa to be involved in the ritual. As one may
expect, the final vèvè may be quite complex and
cover a large area of the peristyle. At the begin-
ning of a Vodu ceremony, vèvè will be conse-
crated with the sprinkling of dried foodstuffs, a
libation (done three times) of rum, water, or
some other appropriate drink, and the lighting
of a white candle.
The drawing of vèvè in Haiti is a tradition of
African origin. The wordvèvèderives from the
ancient Fon word for palm oil. The latter was
indeed used to draw on the ground certain geo-
metrical figures, such as rectangles and squares in
Dahomey, known today as Benin. The practice of
drawing ritual emblems on the ground, however,
is attested not only in West Africa, but also in
Central Africa, and the practice of drawing vèvè
in Haiti may owe its origin to a West and Central
African cultural convergence. Some scholars have
also pointed to the existence of a similar practice
among the Taino and Arawak people with whom
the Africans came in contact in Haiti.
Ama MazamaSeealsoLwa; Rituals; Vodou in Haiti
Further Readings
Deren, M. (1993).Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods
of Haiti. London & New York: Thames & Hudson.
Desmangles, L. (1992).The Faces of the Gods: Vodou
and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Farris Thompson, R. (1984).Flash of the Spirit.
New York: Vintage Books.
Métraux, A. (1972).Voodoo in Haiti. New York:
Schocken Books.
VILOKAN
Vilokandesignates the mythological abode of the
Vodou spirits (lwas). An African-derived religion,
Vodou was brought to Haiti during the coloniza-
tion period (1492–1804) and has maintained
many West African religious traditions; among
them are those of Benin (formerly Dahomey),
Kongo, Nigeria, and Guinea. Vodouists believe
that Vilokan is in Africa, and they conceive of it
as a city in Ginen (or Guinea) on an island
below the sea.
Vilokan features prominently in Vodou’s
worldview and ritual observances. Vodou’s
mythology conceives of the cosmos as a sphere
made of two inverted halves of a gourd whose
edges match perfectly. Inside this sphere are two
mutually perpendicular and intersecting planes
that, perceived in a cross-section of the sphere,
represent the arms of a cross. The plane along
which the two halves of the sphere are conjoined
constitutes the horizon. The perpendicular line of
the cross that transects the horizontal plane forms
the second arm of the cross and joins the top
to the bottom of the sphere. Both planes provide
the framework and supporting axes of the cosmic
sphere. Moreover, Haitian and Beninese mytholo-
gies conceive of the Earth as floating on water
and stretching flat along the plane of the horizon
in the center of the sphere. Far beneath the Earth
is Vilokan. The vertical arm of the cross that
conjoins the top to the bottom of the sphere is said
to pierce through the center of the Earth to plunge
into the waters of the abyss to the subtelluric city
of Vilokan.
This vertical arm serves as the point of contact
between Vilokan and the world of the living
because during a ceremony, the priest (houngan)
or his assistant (laplas) invokes a lwa by drawing
its geometric cabbala-like tracing (vèvè). As the
community intones the appropriate song, the offi-
ciant traces the vèvè on the floor of the temple by
sifting cornflower between his thumb and index
fingers. Vodouists believe that these auditory and
visual media summon a lwa to the temple, and, at
the appropriate moment during a ritual, the lwa
leaves Vilokan and climbs on the vertical arm of
the cross to manifest itself in the body of a devo-
tee in spirit possession. Spirit possession is an
altered state of consciousness, in which a spirit is
believed to mount a devotee like a horse. Through
this medium, a lwa is given a voice with which to
impart its sacred wisdom to a community and
conversely ears to listen to its concerns. Spirit
possession, then, is a nonmaterial attainment by
which a believer experiences a direct engagement
with the spirit world.688 Vilokan