Ibo lwa

The Ibo are a nanchon of lwa in Haitian Vodou. They are incorporated alusi spirits from Odinani, the indigenous religion of the eponymous Igbo people of Nigeria. The Ibo are largely characterized as proud warrior spirits that were invoked during the Haitian Revolution.

Origin

The Igbo people were sold into the Atlantic slave trade by the Kingdom of Dahomey.: 242–243  Those slaves sold to the French colony of Saint-Domingue brought their indigenous religion of Odinani, which was incorporated as lwa into the nascent Haitian Vodou hybrid religion. The Igbo were a minority among Afro-Haitians in Saint-Domingue, based on the Tiburon Peninsula, but were stereotyped across the Atlantic plantations for particular opposition to the slave trade among Africans, typified as the most willing to commit suicide.: 96 : 12 

Pantheon

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Absorption into other nanchons

The Ibo lwa have long been associated with the Rada lwa, historically grouped as the 'Guinea rites' with the Nago lwa. As the Rada became a dominant rite in modern Haitian Vodou, it has largely absorbed the Ibo lwa, making it less of a distinct nanchon.: 185  The Petwo lwa nanchon has also integrated Ibo lwa, in addition to the Kongo lwa it was largely merged with.: 94–95 

Worship

Theologian Leslie Desmangles in 1992 described Ibo as one of the most well-known, if regional nanchons of contemporary Haitian Vodou.: 94–95  The veve of Haitian Vodou are descended in part from the nsibidi pictograms of the Igbo.: 298 

Ibo dance rhythms require three drummers.: 137  The Ibo dance is a two-step left to right. In Ibo songs, the Igbo language word lele ('singing') features heavily.: 242–243, 257 

The Ibo are invoked for the 'Ibo bath', a ritual purification that confers good luck. According to Milo Riguad [ht], the ingredients of the bath are "a litre of blazing alcohol: a banana, sea water collected 'at the islands;' mushrooms; crushed pineapple; seven holly leaves; a bottle of holy water taken from a holy water basin in a church; and perfume." The bath is repeated over the course of a week with the same concoction, typically using it up.: 153 

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Hebblethwaite, Benjamin (2011). Bartley, Joanne; Ballengee, Chris; Brissault, Vanessa; Felker-Kantor, Erica; Tarter, Andrew; Hansen, Quinn; Warwick, Kat (eds.). Vodou Songs in Haitian Creole and English. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 978-1-4399-0603-3.
  2. ↑ Daniels, Kyrah Malika (2023). "An Assembly of Twenty-One Spirit Nations: The Pan-African Pantheon of Haitian Vodou's African Lwa". Africa and its Historical and Contemporary Diasporas (1 ed.). The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group. doi:10.5040/9781666983227.ch4. ISBN 978-1-6669-8322-7.
  3. 1 2 3 Rigaud, Milo (1985). Secrets of Voodoo (3rd ed.). San Francisco: City Lights Books. ISBN 0-87286-171-6.
  4. ↑ Geggus, David (January 1991). "Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century: Language, Culture, Resistance". Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas. 28 (1). doi:10.7767/jbla.1991.28.1.21. ISSN 2194-3680.
  5. 1 2 3 Desmangles, Leslie (1992). The Faces of the Gods: Vodou and Roman Catholicism in Hait. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807861011.

Further reading