Voodoo Dragons (Re-blog)

I’m off at Lake City Comicon, but I’m still excited about Nalo Hopkinson’s Voodoo-rich House of Whispers, so here’s another post from 2017 about dragons in the Voodoo religion.

We’ve all heard of Voodoo, that mysterious, wicked form of magic where curses are bestowed by sticking pins into dolls and the dead rise as zombies. Pop culture offers a sensational and even scandalous view of Voodoo in movies, books and on TV.

In reality, Voodoo/Vodou is a folk religion practiced in the Caribbean, especially Haiti. It is thought to be a fusion of West African, Native American, and Catholic religions. Vodou has spread all over the world, wherever Caribbean immigrants have traveled. Without a central authority or holy writings, it’s hard to know how many people practice Vodou today.

Every religion has its deities. In the case of Vodou, the supreme deity is Bondye but scores of nature spirits called loa serve as his intermediaries. And the loa just happen to include a few dragons. Damballah-Wedo and Ayida-Wedo are leaders of the Rada pantheon. Both take the form of gigantic rainbow serpents who give shape to the world.

Damballah, the father figure,  sired most of the pantheon. His relationship with humans is said to be remote, but fond. A lord of rivers and streams, he was honored in special pools where he could come to bathe. He also enjoyed forests with many trees. Whenever he came to Earth, his body would carve the land into canyons and valleys. At sea, his swimming provoked great waves.

His wife, Ayida, is a goddess of rain, and consequently fertility. It is said when she milks her cows, the rains fall onto the Earth. She can most often be seen as a rainbow arched over the land. Not surprisingly, Ayida is a popular deity compared to the more distant Damballah.

Together,  Damballah and Ayida are a perfect team, loving and devoted. Earth and sky shape each other. Without one, the other has no meaning. Decorative items often show them twining together. Their stable and affectionate relationship is an example to their earthly followers.

And you thought Voodoo was just about casting curses!

Wyrmflight: A Hoard of Dragon Lore — $4.99 e-book or $17.99 trade paperback. Available at Amazon or Draft2Digital.