Terms and Spirit Listing
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Bade

(DL) The loa of wind. He is the inseparable companion of Sogbo, god of lightning. He also shares his functions with Agau, another storm spirit.

Bagi

(V.ENC) Several separate chambers called bagi are found inside the larger hounforts, each room consecrated to a single loa. Smaller hounforts contain only one or two rooms that hold several altars, one for each of the major members of the vodou pantheon.

Bakulu (Bakulu-baka)

(DL) He drags chains behind him and is such a terrible spirit that no one dares to invoke him. His habitat is in the woods where offerings are taken to him. He himself possesses no one. Since no one wants to call on him, people simply take any offerings that go to him and leave them in the woods.

Balance

(V.ENC) In vodou, everything is balanced: there cannot be light without dark, good without evil, or white magic without black. That is why the dark loa, the Petro, are revered as the Rada - without the one, the other could not exist. That is also why so many load have both a good and a dark aspect; each one is necessary for the balance of all the cosmic forces.

Baptême (batêm)

(V.ENC) A ritual ceremony in which objects used in the hounfort are baptized, or consecrated to the loa.

Baron Cimetière (Baron Cimeterre, Baron Cimetié)

(V.ENC) One of the family of Guédé, the loa who represents the cemetary.

Baron-La-Croix (Baron Crois)

Baron Samedi (Baron Sanmdi)

(V.ENC) The most powerful member of the Guédé family, and the loa who represents death. Baron Samedi controls passage between the world of the living and the world of the dead, and he provides information about the dead. His symbols are the cross, coffin, and phallus, and his color is black. When he possesses devotees, he tells lewd jokes, makes obscene gestures, wears dark glasses and a top hat, smokes cigarettes, eats voraciously, and drinks rum in which 21 hot peppers have been steeped.

(DL) Baron Samedi represents the death side of Ghede (Guede). He talks through his nose, is cynical, jovial, and tells broad jokes. His language is full of the unexpected. His tools are the pick, the hoe, and the spade. He is the power behind the magic that kills. He controls the souls of those who have met death as a result of magic. When he appears (mounting someone at an invoking ceremony), he wears a pair of dark glasses, from which he knocks out the right lens: for with his right eye he watches those present, lest anyone steal his food.

Barque d'Agoué (barque d'Agwé, bato Agoue)

(V.ENC) A specially constructed raft that is filled with offerings to Agoué and set adrift upon the sea.

Barriè (bayé)

(V.ENC) An entranceway or gate, particularly between the material world and the world of the loa.

Baton (baton-Legba)

(V.ENC) A long stick or crutch used by Legba.

Battérie (batri)

(V.ENC) The vodou orchestra, which usually consists of three drums and an ogan.

Battérie maconnique (batri maconik)

(V.ENC) A rhythmic beat produced by clapping the hands and beating the drum that symbolizes rapping on the door to the world of the loa.

Bizango

(V.ENC) A secret society of black magicians that supposedly practices zombification.

Black magic

(V.ENC) All houngans and mambos are also black magicians. That is, they understand and know how to perform black magic, even if they do not literally practice it. A houngan must know evil in order to combat it. In this way, the houngan balances the forces of the universe, a very important function in vodou belief. However, honest priests will have nothing to do with any practices designed to bring harm to others or to defraud people. Real vodou is always used for good ends, to promote the good health and good fortune of members of the community, to cure sickness and solve problems, and to commune with the spiritual world.

Bokor (bocor, bòkò)

(V.ENC) Houngans who actually practice black magic are called "those who serve the loa with both hands," or bokors. Unlike the open religious rituals practiced by a reputable vodou priest, the bokor works in secret, primarily to protect his recipes for various potions and poisons, but also to avoid the censure of the true devotees to vodou. The bokor has no hounfort and does not lead any société; rather, he sells his services to whoever is willing to pay.

Bosou Koblamin

(DL) Violent petro loa. Bosou is a violent loa capable of defeating his enemies. He is very popular during times of war. He protects his followers when they travel at night. Bosou's appearance is that of a man with three horns; each horn has a meaning-strength, wildness, and violence. Sometimes Bosou comes to the help of his followers but he is not a very reliable loa. When a serivce is held, Bosou appears by breaking chains that he is restrained. Immediately upon appearing he is given a pig, his favorite food. The ceremony in honor of Bosou always pleases a congregation because it allows them to eat. Usually a good number of people attend such a service.

Boucan (boukan)

(V.ENC) The bonfire that is lit during a vodou ritual.

Boula (bula)

(V.ENC) The smallest of the three drums used in Rada ceremonies.

Boule zen (boulez-zain)

(V.ENC) After death, the houngan can burn the govi containing the dead person's soul, or ti-bon-ange, in a ritual called boule zen. This burning of the jars releases the spirit to the land of the dead.

Brigitte

(V.ENC) The loa who represents money and who has special influence over black magic and ill-gotten fortune. She is also the wife of Baron Samedi and is analogous to the Catholic St. Brigid. Brigitte lives in a tree in the cemetary and dresses in purple. Black chickens are sacrificed to her.

Brise

(DL) Brise is a loa of the hills. He is boss of the woods. Brise is very fierce in appearance. He is very black and has very large proportions. Brise is actually a gentle soul and likes children. Brise lives in the chardette tree and sometimes assumes the form of an owl. Bris is a protectorate. He is strong and demanding and accepts speckled hens as sacrifices.

Brulé-zin

(V.ENC) After the ordeal of the canzo initiation, the initiate has been resurrected into the religion of vodou and is ready to undergo the final test, the brulé-zin. Draped in a white sheet so that no part of the head or body is visible, the initiate takes a handful of boiling cornmeal that the houngan himself has seized directly from the pot. The initiate returns the hot cornmeal to the pot while his feet pass directly over the flame beneath, but he isn't burned. The entire canzo initiation ritual has adequately prepared him for this final "trial by fire."