At the outset of Vodou ceremonies in the tem-
ple (ounfò), devotees make contact with the lwas
in Vilokan by invoking Legba (or Elegua) through
the medium of the priest or his assistant.
Vodouists believe that Legba holds the keys that
open the gates through which the lwas pass to
“visit” their devotees. Moreover, the lwas are said
not to speak the same languages as their devotees;
Legba is the polyglot who translates the supplica-
tions of the devotees to the respective lwas in
Vilokan. In short, he is the mediator between
Vilokan and the profane world.
Moreover, Vodouists believe that Vilokan is the
inverse of the profane world. This symbolism makes
it clear that Vilokan is not a vague and mystical
place, but a cosmic mirror that reflects the images of
the profane world, but reverses them. This mirrored
image is symbolized by a number of ritual obser-
vances. First, the lwas are referred to as reflecting the
deportment and personalities of the living by bearing
names like Loko-Miwa (“Loko in the Mirror”) or
Agasou-Do-Miwa (“Agasou in the Back of the
Mirror”). Second, when a possessed devotee greets
another, the two bow while facing each other, reflect-
ing the inverse movement of the other, and then they
perform a number of clockwise and counterclock-
wise turns to represent the mirrored sites of the
profane world. Third, the community performs the
ritual dances by revolving in a counterclockwise
motion around a central pole (potomitan) in the
temple. This pole is analogous to the vertical arm of
the cosmic cross described earlier.
The principle of inversion is fundamental to
Vodou’s worldview, theology, and rituals. The rela-
tionship between Vilokan and the profane world
takes the cosmographic image of a cross that divides
the four quarters of cosmic space, symbolizes the
fact of communication between Vilokan and
the profane world, and expresses the nature of the
difference between these worlds’ modes of reality.
Leslie DesmanglesSeealsoAfterlife; Ancestors; Lwa; Vodou in Haiti
Further Readings
Bellegarde-Smith, P. (Ed.). (2007).Fragments of Bone:
Neo-African Religions in the New World. Urbana:
University of Illinois Press.
Deren, M. (1972).Divine Horsemen:The Voodoo Gods
of Haiti. New York: Delta Publishing Co.
Desmangles, L. (1990). The Maroon Republics and
Religious Diversity in Colonial Haiti.Anthropos, 58 ,
474–482.
Desmangles, L. (1992).The Faces of the Gods:Vodou
and Roman Catholicism in Haiti. Chapel Hill:
University of North Carolina Press.
Desmangles, L., & Cardeña, E. (1994).Trance
Possession and Vodou Ritual in Haiti. Jahrbuch für
Transkulturelle Medizin und Psychotherapie.
Internationalen Instituts für Kulturvergleichende
Therapieforshung, Universität Koblenz/Landau, 6.
Fleurant, G. (1996).Dancing Spirits:Rhythms and
Rituals of Haitian Vodun,the Rada Rite. Westport,
CT: Greenwood Press.
McAlister, E. (2002).Rara!Vodou,Power and
Performance in Haiti and Its Diaspora. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
McCarthy Brown, K. (1991).Mama Lola:A Vodou
Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkeley: University of
California Press.
Mercier, P. (1968). The Fon of Dahomey. In D. Forde
(Ed.),African Worlds,Studies in Cosmological and
Social Values of African Peoples(pp. 210–234).
New York: Oxford University Press.
Métraux, A. (1978).Voodoo in Haiti. New York:
Shocken Press.
Michel, C. (2007). Le Vodou haitien, est-il humanisme?
Journal of Haitian Studies, 12 (1), 166–186.
Michel, C., & Bellegarde-Smith, P. (Eds.). (2006).Vodou
in Haitian Life and Culture:Invisible Powers.
New York: Palgrave Macmillan.VODOU AND THE HAITIAN
REVOLUTIONThe events of 1791 to 1804 on the western third
of the island of Hispaniola have been demarcated
as the Haitian Revolution, the most dramatic rev-
olutionary transformation to occur in modern his-
tory. Fundamental to understanding this historical
transformation of a slave-based plantation colony,
dedicated solely to the profit of European capital-
ist investors, is the role of Vodou. Vodou, the reli-
gion that Africans brought with them to the
French colonial territory of Saint Domingue,
became the driving force of resistance in the daily
lives of the enslaved Africans. Indeed, VodouVodou and the Haitian Revolution 689