For your consideration - 3 mini pins featuring veves - symbols - for three haitian loas - who are intermediary deities who intercede with
Bondyè, the supreme god, on behalf of humans.
The top button shows the veve for Ayizan.
In Vodou, and especially in Haiti, Ayizan (also Grande Ai-Zan, Aizan, or Ayizan Velekete) is the loa of the marketplace and commerce.
She is a racine, or root Loa, associated with Vodoun rites of initiation (called kanzo). Just as her husband Loko is the archetypal Houngan (priest), Ayizan is regarded as the first, or archetypal Mambo (priestess), and as such is also associated with priestly knowledge and mysteries, particularly those of initiation, and the natural world.
She is syncretised with the Catholic Saint Clare, her symbol is the palm frond, she drinks no alcohol, and is the wife of Loko Atisou
The lower left button displays the veve for Erzulie - who has 2 main aspects – Rada & Petwo.
Erzulie Freda, the Rada aspect of Erzulie, is the spirit of love, beauty, jewellery, dancing, luxury, and flowers. She wears three wedding rings, one for each husband - Damballa, Agwe and Ogoun. She is often envisioned as a beautiful mulatto woman of great wealth, wearing excessive amounts of jewellery Her symbol is a heart, her colours are pink, blue, white and gold, and her favourite sacrifices include jewellery, perfume, sweet cakes and liqueurs. Coquettish and very fond of beauty and finery, Erzulie Freda is femininity and compassion embodied, yet she also has a darker side; she is seen as jealous and spoiled and within some vodoun circles is considered to be lazy. When she mounts a serviteur she flirts with all the men, and treats all the women as rivals. In Christian iconography she is often identified with the Mater Dolorosa. She is conceived of as never able to attain her heart's most fervent desire. For this reason she always leaves a service in tears.
In her Petro nation aspect as Erzulie Dantor she is often depicted as a scarred and buxom black woman, holding a child protectively in one hand and a knife in the other. She is a warrior and a particularly fierce protector of women and children. Her colours are red, gold and navy blue, her symbols are a pierced heart, knives, and her favourite sacrifices include black pigs, fried pork (griot) and rum. She is often identified with lesbian women. It is believed that a common depiction of Erzulie Dantor has its roots in copies of the icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, brought to Haiti by Polish soldiers fighting on both sides of the Haitian Revolution from 1802 onwards.
The lower right button depicts the veve for Papa Legba
Papa Legba is the intermediary between the loa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives (or denies) permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages. He is always the first and last spirit invoked in any ceremony, because his permission is needed for any communication between mortals and the loa - he opens and closes the doorway. In Haiti, he is the great elocution, the voice of God, as it were. Legba facilitates communication, speech and understanding. In the Yoruba pantheon, honored in Nigeria, Cuba, Brazil, and elsewhere in the Yoruba diaspora, Ellegua is mostly associated with Papa Legba since both share the role of being the god of the crossroads. In contrast to Papa Legba, however, Eleggua is a trickster child. Legba also shares similarities to Orunmila, the orisha of prophesy who taught mankind how to use the mighty oracle Ifá.
He usually appears as an old man on a crutch or with a cane, wearing a broad brimmed straw hat and smoking a pipe, or sprinkling water. The dog is sacred to him. Because of his position as 'gate-keeper' between the worlds of the living and the mysteries he is often identified with Saint Peter who holds a comparable position in Catholic tradition. But he is also depicted in Haiti as St. Lazarus, or St. Anthony.
They can be yours for just $ 2.49
Another limited edition pinback button from Atelier Bagatelle, commemorating the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama.
