Legba

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Legba , also Papa Legba , is a spirit or saint ( loa ) in the African and Caribbean religion of voodoo and plays a central role in the rituals of voodoo. The cult originally comes from West Africa, but then spread more in South America and the Caribbean than in Africa itself. In recent years it has experienced a renaissance there.

Veve from Papa Legba

function

Modern interpretation by Cyprien Tokoudagba, Benin. Legba (center) is sitting in court.

Legba is the keeper of the crossroads . During a person's lifetime, it gives them the opportunity to come into contact with the world of spirits (Loa) or the dead. At the time of death, it paves man's path to loa.

The Veve (Voodoo symbol) by Papa Legba is therefore always represented as an equilateral cross, which, with numerous complex decorations, also resembles a kind of key. The vertical bar of the cross describes the way from above (God) down to the Loa. The horizontal bar describes the human path. In the middle of the cross, man and loa meet. Furthermore, a walking stick is shown on the horizontal bar, which is due to the fact that Papa Legba is walking these paths . Often the symbol of lightning is added on the right side .

Parallels to other religions

Christianity

St. Peter

In the course of the Christianization in the distribution area of ​​Voodoo, the Christian belief in saints mixed with the old belief in the spirit world of the Loa. This resulted in a superposition of some loas with Christian saints, who were assigned a similar field of activity.

Since that time Papa Legba has been strongly associated with Peter , who in the Christian faith is also the guardian of the way to God , i.e. the gate to heaven. A particularly strong parallel is the Veve, which, as mentioned above, strongly resembles a key, which is also an attribute of St. Peter. Since then, images and statues of St. Peter have also been used very often in voodoo rituals as the embodiment of Legba. Peter adorns almost every voodoo altar with it, and he has a central role in the rituals (see below).

Other religions

Papa Legba is also known in Voodoo as the opponent of Loa Kalfu (French: Carrefour = crossing, probably also alludes to the intermediary function), and in Candomblé and Umbanda under the name Eshu .

Meaning in ritual

As the guardian of the crossroads or the gate of heaven, Papa Legba is responsible for establishing connections, i.e. contacts between the world of humans and the world of spirits, that is, to pave the way for a spirit into the reality of humans (necromancy, obsession ), or the spirit of a human being to grant into the spirit world (prophecy, vision ).

Papa Legba is involved in almost all voodoo rituals, is the first to invoke the loa and serves as a mediator.

In contrast to many other spirits and deities of Voodoo, no living beings or blood are sacrificed to him , but only grain and luxury items such as coffee, rum, tobacco or cigars. He is considered to be very frugal and for the presentation of these gifts he frankly offers his mediating services to people.

In the incantations of such rituals, he is almost always asked to “open the gate”. What is meant is the crossroads to the spirit world or the Christian gate to heaven. From a modern psychological perspective one would speak of an access to the subconscious.

See also

Web links