Konstitisyon se papye, bayonet se fè
(“The Constitution is paper,
but bayonets are steel”)
—Haitian proverb
The Petro (Petwo) Lwa
The division of Lwa we call Petro (sometimes spelled Petwo, after the way it is pronounced in Kreyòl) is a diverse and very large group of spirits. From the small inland tribes of Africans enslaved by their coastal neighbors to those taken by force in slave raids to the semi-divinized spirits of Haiti’s revolutionary heroes to various warlike, vengeful, or “hot” aspects of some of the Lwa of the stately and “cool” Rada nation, the Petro nation comprises that part of Vodou’s spirit world that does not look backward to Ginen or pre-Columbian Ayiti. Instead, the Petro as a group represent the history of the island from the moment of first contact, the “unity that makes strength” written on the Haitian flag.
In addition to being the spirits who listened to the cries of Saint-Domingue’s enslaved masses, the Petro Lwa record the history of change. Where the Rada preserve and celebrate a peaceful memory of life before slavery, the Petro live in everyday Haiti from 1492 to today—a world often filled with violence, poverty, war, and pain. Within the Petro division are the spirits of warrior tribes like the Ibo and the Kongo. The powerful magician-spirits of the Kikongo and Bakongo people are represented in Petro as well, along with Haiti’s fiercest protectors and spiritual guardians. Because the Nago nation was from Ginen, it is honored at the close of the Rada ceremony, but it provides a warlike, forceful introduction into the Petro rite, and many Nago Lwa have Petro aspects. Descriptive names and titles given to Petro Lwa also reflect their emphasis on strength, violence, and force: names like Ezili Je Wouj (“Red Eyed Ezili”) and Linglessou Basin Sang (“Linglessou Bucket of Blood”).
The evocative, forceful Petro ceremony—with its bright colors and flashing red headscarves, abundant fire, waving machetes, and loud, angry Lwa—was easily misunderstood by outsiders as the part of the ceremony for invoking “evil spirits.” This is especially easy to see when Petro rites are put in comparison to the mostly lyrical, quiet, white and pastel-colored Rada ceremony. Some have suggested that Petro service is equivalent to Satanism or devil worship. Unfortunately this is not helped by the nickname, djab (pronounced job) or “devil,” that is given to some of the hotter Petro spirits, but neither Satan nor any diabolic spirit is honored in Haitian Vodou. Strong warrior spirits do not equal evil spirits in any way.
What those who demonize the Petro do not understand is that Haiti, and Haitian Vodou, occupy both a world of peace and a world of violence, a world of calm and a world of righteous anger, at the same time. They always have. The Rada and the Petro divisions represent two parts of the Haitian experience, neither of which are accurately described as “good” or “evil.” If the Rada represents that part of Haitian life worth celebrating and preserving, the Petro represents the passion, strength, and sheer guts Haitians have had to use to keep the Rada part of their world intact. Even though many of the Petro Lwa are African in origin, the rite itself is uniquely Haitian, and in many ways uniquely American—it is a ritual celebration of the reality of life in the New World and the necessity of uniting for survival.
The Order of Petro Service
We serve Petro spirits with the tcha-tcha, the gourd rattle that was once used both in Kongo rites and by Haiti’s indigenous people, instead of the beaded-net gourd-and-bell asson (ah-SONE) instrument used to call the Rada spirits. Petro songs, dances, and drumbeats are hotter, faster, and less stately than Rada songs, dances, and drumbeats. The songs talk about the force of the Petro Lwa and how they can be dangerous and should be respected. Petro dances are stiffer, faster, and considerably less fluid than Rada dances (except for the boisterous, joyous patterns danced on behalf of the Kongo Lwa). Petro drumbeats are lower and more insistent, played with hands directly against the animal skins, rather than with drumsticks. During a Vodou ceremony, the Petro service generally follows the Rada service; in many houses one gets a sense that this is the portion of the ceremony where the pleasantries have been exchanged, and now it is time to get down to work. Many houses take a short break between serving Rada and Petro, and participants change their dress from white to red, or from white to multicolored.
Petro Lwa themselves come differently in possession than do their Rada counterparts. They are faster, more animated, shouting and screaming, as opposed to singing and dancing or sitting quietly and dispensing wisdom. Some play with fire, others perform feats such as eating flaming coals, spitting up blood, or stabbing themselves with knives, though their horses remain unharmed. (If you are interested in reading more about possession, please see the relevant section in Chapter 3.) Participants in the Vodou ceremony may strike the poto mitan or the ground with machetes or sticks, or swing them around and bash them against each other in time to the drumming. A mambo or houngan may blow a whistle—the loud, insistent sound of a slave owner telling his slaves it was time to get back to work. Cracking whips, roaring bonfires, gunfire, and small gunpowder explosions punctuate the night, calling the spirits to aid their children who are in need. To step into a Petro ceremony is to relive Bwa Kayiman, to be present when suffering people say enough is enough and ask for spiritual help to destroy the evil in their lives. It is a time of great power and promise, looking not to the past but to the present and a future unified for strength—a future that will only happen if we have the courage to stay together and make it happen.
Just like with the Rada Lwa, there is an order to how we call the Petro spirits in Vodou. The order represents their hierarchy or relative importance to each other as well as to Vodou, and—far more than the Rada order—the Petro règleman seems to be divided along tribal lines, with various Petro spirits being served in sets with distinct drum rhythms, songs, and dances. This may simply be because there are many more nanchons under the Petro umbrella than there are in the Rada in most lineages, or it may be the result of the manner in which our lineages partitioned the order of service when they established the règleman.
The sample order of service given here for the Petro follows the order of Petro service observed in Sosyete Fòs Fè Yo Wè. Not every Lwa we honor is given here, but all the major Petro Lwa appear. Following this order, a short description for each Lwa is given.
Aprè Rada (“after Rada” … )
• Legba Petro
• Marassa Petro
• Mèt Kafou
• Simbi-Dlo
• Gran Bwa
• Ezili Danto
• Ti-Jean
• Simbi-Andezo
Legba Petro
Just as the Rada ritual begins by asking Legba (leg-BA) to open the gate to the other Lwa, we invoke Legba again, to open the door to Petro. Whereas Legba in the Rada rite is an old man, Legba Petro is generally depicted as a younger man, controlling the crossroads between the spiritual world and the physical world. Instead of Saint Lazarus, the Petro version of Legba is most often depicted by Saint Peter, dressed in red and holding two keys next to a crowing rooster.
Marassa Petro
The Marassa (ma-ra-SA) in Petro are not two, but three. Their image is that of the Three Graces, sometimes called the Three Ladies of Egypt, depending on what part of Haiti the lineage is from. Petro Marassa are even more fickle and hard to impress than the Rada Marassa. In addition to the toys, candies, and sweets given to the Rada Marassa, the Petro Marassa eat meat—specifically, the meat of black pigs.
Mèt Kafou
Whereas Papa Legba controls the crossroads (kafou) in both Rada and Petro rites, Mèt Kafou (MET ka-FOO) is the embodiment of the crossroads itself. This Lwa opens the way to all Petro magic, knowing the secrets of the universe and being able to control them and channel them into the right places. Some lineages consider Kafou to be an unpredictable and somewhat dangerous aspect of Legba; others consider him completely separate. All agree that he should only be approached with great care, and only if he invites you to do so first. Kafou is not given a saint in many lineages.
Simbi-Dlo
Simbi (sim-BEE), like Ogou, is a title of a group or family of Lwa. The first Simbi to be called in a Petro service, Simbi-Dlo (sim-BEE duh-LO, with dlo pronounced as one syllable, “water Simbi”) may initially seem quiet and peaceful for a Petro Lwa … but don’t let appearances fool you. This Kongo spirit, believed to favor the form of a snake, is said to lurk in small pools along freshwater rivers and streams, dragging small children and the unwary either to an early grave or, if they are considered worthy, to a place where they are taught special kinds of magic. Simbi-Dlo is a powerful magician, and persons possessed by Simbi will douse themselves in water, wriggle along the ground, or sometimes leap upward without warning. I have personally observed more than one Simbi climb a tree without using the horse’s hands, or suddenly jump straight up to dangle from the rafters of a peristil in the midst of its random, sinuous dance. Many houses use images of John the Baptist (either as a child or an adult baptizing Christ) to represent Simbi-Dlo. Others use an image of Moses lifting a snake in the wilderness; still others use an image of the Three Wise Men to indicate three common Simbi spirits (Dlo, Andezo, and Makaya) together.
Gran Bwa
Gran Bwa (gran buh-WAH, with bwa pronounced as one syllable, “Big Woods”) is a very old, immense Kongo spirit, the spirit of all the leaves, all the trees, and all the wild forest and herbs and undergrowth of Haiti. Sometimes, he is depicted using a veve derived from an analogous Taino zemi; this veve resembles a blocky human figure with a heart-shaped face. Other lineages use other veves for Gran Bwa, but all of them recall leaves and trees and the power of herbal magic. In possession he is fast and forceful, coming only to do herbal work and then disappearing almost before anyone notices. Sometimes he sends various healing spirits of the forest in his stead. A complex dance using crossed wooden sticks, also called bwa, is used as part of Gran Bwa’s service in southern Haiti. Gran Bwa’s saint image is Sebastian, a youth tied to a tree and impaled with wooden arrows.
Ezili Danto
Ezili Danto (eh-ZEE-lee don-TOE), often called Mami Danto by her children, is one of the most famous and universally honored Lwa in Haitian Vodou. Like the Rada Ezilis, Danto is also depicted with an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but in Danto’s case, it is a always a Madonna figure: the Mater Salvatoris, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, or Our Lady of Czechostowa, depending on what part of Haiti the lineage is in. Danto is always shown with a child, who in this case is not a boy like the baby Jesus, but a little girl named Anaïs (on-eye-EES). Motherhood, and the life of a mother, is a crucial part of Danto’s identity. She is a single mother, a Haitian peasant who has mouths to feed, and is not going to wait for a man to handle things for her. Unlike Freda, she has no need for frills or coquetry; she drinks crème de cacao, kleren (raw rum), and black coffee, and she smokes a pipe and eats spicy food like griot (see Chapter 8).
Unlike Freda, Ezili Danto does not speak in perfect, musical French: in fact, Danto cannot speak at all. Instead she makes a sort of strangled, staccato sound, as if trying to get out a warning but is unable to. In some lineages, it is said that Danto was originally a slave who had her tongue cut out when she tried to warn other slaves of danger. In other lineages, they say Freda was jealous of Danto’s child and the two Lwa fought. Freda ripped out Danto’s tongue and scratched her face (several of the Mary images used for Danto bear three distinct scars on the Virgin’s cheek). Danto favors daggers, and a set of them will usually be kept on her altar for her to hold (and swing around wildly to punctuate her attempts to speak) when she comes in possession.
Despite the initially harsh and sometimes terrifying appearance of Ezili Danto, both in iconography and in possession, she is a deeply caring, strong, fiercely dedicated Lwa that everyone who joins a Vodou house will come to know and love. Danto loves her children unconditionally and will fight for them to succeed and help them whenever they ask. She loves children in general and is a fierce guardian and protector for orphans, sick youngsters, or children who have been abused. I have never had a faster reaction to a petition of a Lwa than I did the day I asked Mami Danto to help locate a man who had murdered a woman’s child and run away from the police. Quite literally, the moment I lit a candle on her altar, the phone in the next room began to ring with the news that he had been arrested.
Ti-Jean
In some lineages, Ti-Jean (tee-ZHAN, “Little John”) is Mami Danto’s husband; in others, he is her son; in still others there are several Ti-Jean to serve various relationships. All over Haiti, however, Ti-Jean as a specific Lwa is invoked as a powerful exorcist, healer, and magician. His possessions are extraordinary and often involve dances and other feats involving fire and burning coals. Some of the most skeptical observers to Vodou ceremonies change their minds about the reality of spirit possession after observing Ti-Jean. I have seen a Ti-Jean eat flaming logs as if they were corn on the cob, while a second Ti-Jean set the first’s hair aflame. In another ceremony at another house, I watched a Ti-Jean take a bit of gasoline into his mouth, only to light it and blow flames all over a man’s injured knee (the man was not burned or even singed). Then the Lwa drank the rest of the gasoline in the container, as if it were water. A first-time observer, assuming this was some sort of a staged stunt, asked Ti-Jean for the bottle, took a sip, and spent the rest of his evening outside the peristil vomiting. Ti-Jean is boisterous: shouting and singing, waving around logs, flares, or machetes soaked in kleren and set alight. But, like Danto, he is fiercely loving and takes good care of his children. Ti-Jean is usually depicted with an image of John the Baptist as a child, clutching a fluffy white lamb.
Simbi-Andezo
Andezo, or “in two waters,” is the phrase describing a tidal pool—a body of water consisting of neither fresh nor salt water, but mixing both equally. It is also a metaphorical concept in Vodou, designating a thing that partakes of more than one nature or state of being, a state required for magic to be successful. Simbi-Andezo (sim-BEE on-day-ZO) is a powerful magical Lwa, even more so than his (or her, or its—some lineages believe Dlo and Andezo are interchangeably male or female) sibling Simbi-Dlo. As befits Andezo’s position between the watery Simbi-Dlo and the fiery Simbi-Makaya (who is himself not often served in Vodou houses), Simbi-Andezo is usually served with the colors of both red and green, or red and teal, or red and blue, to note the mixing of those two elements in his nature. If he is given his own saint, it is usually the adult John the Baptist pouring water over Jesus Christ, or an image of Moses holding up the snake in the wilderness.