The Sign of the Loa

The loa,or lwa,according to George Eaton Simpson, is the most prominent figure in Vodun's realm of the sacred. "Many of the loas," writes Simpson, "are African deities who have been inherited through succeeding generations by the descendants of those who brought them to Haiti. Some of the loas are indigenous to Haiti, the result of the deification of powerful ancestors."¹ The word vèvè refers to the symbolic design representing the attribute of a loa. These drawings (see figure 1), traced by the oungan, or Vodun priest, around the poteau mitan or central axis of the prayer ground, with maize flour, ash, coffee grounds, or brick dust, reveal the presence of the god in recognizable symbolic form. The vèvè consecrate the ground area they cover to the loa they represent. The artistry involved in the making of vèvè eluded the eyes of the early scholars who were drawn to study various aspects of Haitian culture and belief systems, although many did comment on the significance of the vèvè in the ritual of Vodun.² If one looks closely at the vèvè surrounding the poteau mitan in figure 1, one will see that the making of these drawings would have required a steady hand, sure eye, knowledge of the symbol, memory for detail, and, finally, artistic skill, in order to apply with precision the powdery or granular material being used.

In this article I look at the Vodun ritual and practice of vèvè execution as a primary fount from which aesthetic production in Haitian culture emerged, and its role in creating a space from which an artistic community and later art economy emerges. I explore the social significance of the Haitian relationship between creativity and religious rituals by focusing primarily on the vèvè, supporting the view by Selden Rodman and others³ that the transmission of the skills of executing the vèvè over generations of Vodun practitioners was itself an informal school for art and artistic sensibilities. I argue, however, that despite the contemporary commercial popularity of the arts of Haitian Vodun, the hidden messages and belief system of Vodun and the underlying symbolism represented by the scripted vèvè remain hidden from prurient eyes. I propose that this capacity to remain unmapped and to resist decoding, yet be a continuous fountain of creativity of one sort or another, is itself the sign of the loa. In attempting to read a still-guarded religion, there is room for generalizations and misinterpretations. Because I am, admittedly, unfamiliar with the lived practices of Vodun and also come from outside of Haitian society, this article must be read as a metaphoric appraisal of the objects I have encountered. I am preoccupied with the social significance of ritual art practices of Vodun, in particular the painterly memory evident in the executions of the vèvè. This article is not a commentary on theology or a history and critique of Haitian art production past or present.

Groundings

Vodunhas no formal theology or creed, no strictly defined organizational structure, and no credentialed clergy or ecclesiastical hierarchy. Because of this absence, there are some variations in beliefs and rituals from region to region and from temple to temple within Haiti. But one common feature, despite regional variations, is the significance of the vèvè. Vèvè are the signatures of the Haitian loas. The vèvè are drawn to invite and propitiate the god or gods being invoked at a particular ceremony. Alfred Métraux,⁴ who studied Vodun in the 1950s, compared the functions fulfilled by the vèvè to the roles of statues and images in other religions. The messages of Christianity, for instance, are continuously