The Lwa of Haitian Vodou

This group gathers the lwa (loa), the spirits served in Haitian Vodou, a living religion that took shape among enslaved West and Central Africans in colonial Saint-Domingue, blending Fon, Yoruba, Kongo and other traditions with Catholicism. The lwa are intermediaries between humanity and the distant creator Bondye, and are served through ritual, offering and possession.

The browser will find the lwa organised into nations and families, Rada spirits of coolness and Petwo spirits of heat, including Papa Legba who opens the way, Erzulie, Ogou, Damballa and the Gede of the dead. The atlas treats Vodou as a coherent religion, not the sensationalised caricature of popular film, and notes each spirit's Catholic-saint associations where they exist.