Ayida Wedo

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Ayida Wedo
rainbows, snakes; water, benevolence (fertility, wealth)
Veve of Ayida Wedo and Damballa, always depicted together.[a]
Other namesRainbow Serpent
Venerated inVodou, Folk Catholicism
Attributesrainbow, white color
Equivalents
YorubaOshumare
KongoMbumba Luangu
Zuluumnyama

Ayida Wedo,[1][2][3][5] Aida Wedo[6][7][8] (also known as Aida Hwedo,[9] Ayida-Weddo, Aido Quedo, Ayida,[10][11] Agida) is a powerful loa spirit in Haiti vodoo,[6] revered in regions across Africa (including the former Dahomey kingdom/Benin) and the Caribbean, a part of the African diaspora religions.

Ayida has Danbala[11][12] (Damballa,[13] Damballah,[14] "(Papa) Dambala",[15]) as her male counterpart[11] and sometimes the two divinities have been construed as a married couple,[17][18][19][20][b] but it is often seen as a dual spirit[22] with both male and female aspects[24][25][27][28] The dual god may be collectively called Damballa-Ayida suggestive of both genders combined[30] (cf. § Dual spirit names below). The twain are regarded among the most ancient[31][33] and significant loa.[34]

General description

Damballah La Flambeau (c. 1945–48)
―Painting by Hector Hyppolite

Also known as a "Rainbow Serpent",[35][2] they are at once a rainbow and a serpent god,[14][2][22][36][c] and associated (especially) with water,[22][32][8][3] as she is said to reside in springs and rivers,[37] or sharing the abode with Dambala at the waterfall of Saut-d'Eau[d] She is more broadly associated with other of the four elements: air/wind, fire,[8][3] and earth[3]). Connection is also made to thunder[4] or thunderbolt[40]/lightning.[41] The deity is also tied to wisdom.[22][3] and fertility[22] (cf. benevolent force, below).

In a more cosmic mythical context, the deities are thought to have existed before the Earth, Ayida Wedo assisted the creator goddess Mawu-Lisa in the formation of the world,[42][43] (cf. § Creation myth) and is responsible for holding together the Earth and heavens (cf. § World-bearing animal myth) .

Danballa is further described as a "life force" over the "cycle of life and death"[11] or "source of all that is dynamic" that resists the forces of "stagnation and death".[44][11]

Ayida Wedo is a benevolent force,[8] as is Dambala.[31][45][e] They are thus believed to bestow material wealth upon the faithful,[4] or those who manage to capture the rainbow spirit[1] (see § Treasure-jewel myth which elaborates on this). It is prescribed that Damballa be provided offerings of white food (milk, eggs, etc.), usually on Thursday,[13] (Cf. § Color symbols, service, and offerings for further details). Ayida Wedo also bestows love to her followers[13] and "teaches integration of the mind, body, and spirit".[8]

One source describes the presence of a Petwo/Petro lwa "avatar" called "Damballa la Flambeau" (cf. image right). The babalawo chant associates this being with "fire down below", and Dorsey observes parallel with the kundalini serpent of Hinduism.[13]

Ayida Wedo is syncretized in Haitian Vodou with the Catholic figure of Our Lady of Immaculate Conception for her association with serpents and rainbow-colored cherubs.[46][47] Likesise, conflation has occurred between Danballa and the Irish Catholic Saint Patrick,[48][49] famed for driving out snakes.

Nomenclature

As for the African roots, the Haitian loa (lwa) Ayida Wedo was originally the West African vodun Aida Wedo (Aido Hwedo,[42][51] Ayido Hwedo,[52]) of the Fon people of Benin[53] (or formerly Dahomey).[1][52]

Around Wydah (Ouidah) and Porto-Novo in the south edge of Benin, the name was transcribed as Aydo-whe-do by Burton[56] and Aïdo-wedo or Aïdo-Khouédo by French missionaries.[57][58]

The snake is known to the Ewe people (of nearby southern Togo, speaking a related language[59]) as Anyi-ewo[60] or Anyiewo[61] (Ewe: Anyi-eẃo,[62] anyieẃo[63][64]). Regionally, Anyi-eẃe is used among the western Ewe; Aida Wedo among the eastern Ewe[65]). (Cf. § Weather myth and § Snake messenger lore for a piece of Ewe folk belief).

Etymology

The term Aida Wedo is perhaps a corruption of Aïdó-ewo-dò (in the Ewe language), composed of aï ('earth', or 'under-part'), dó ('edge'), ewo ('large snake'), and dò ('large'), which together combined means "The great snake of the under-edge/earth's edge".[57][66]

Or, the first half of Ayida Wedo denotes a terrestrial connection, while the latter half hints at the sky,[67] or more precisely, we (houé) being the "sun".[68]).

The deity is broadly referred to as dañhdañh[69] (danh[70]) in West Africa (including Dahomey[70]), but dañh (eastern Ewe) or dà (western Ewe) means any ordinary snake.[57][70] The rainbow spirit may be referred to simply as "Dan" by some of the Fon people.[71]

It has also been suggested that the "da" (in "Damballa") might signify "life essence",[72] "life force" or fecundity.[74]

The latter part of "Danbala" perhaps derives from "Allada (Ardra)", name of a Dahomey kingdom.[12]

Dual spirit names

Other names reflecting the nature of the twin spirit are Dan Ayido Hwedo,[75] Dan Aida Wedo[2] (also Dã Aido Wedo,[f] Dambala-Wedo may be used to refer to the dual spirit,[22] rather than Damballa Wedo for just the husband).[77][29]

Another alternate spelling Dan-Akidôhouêdo was given by Julien Alapini.[78]

Color symbols, service, and offerings

Dambala flag from Haiti
—Collection of Africa Museum, Netherlands

Both Damballa and Ayida Wedo are associated with white color. Damballa is connected to white, representing his purity.[12][2] Ayida Wedo is associated with blue and white, the colors of the sky and cloud.[79][3][g] Appropriate offerings to her include white chickens, white eggs, rice, milk, etc., decorated in rainbow colors.[32][13] Damballa is likewise offerings of white cake and liquor of white color.[2]

Ayida Wedo's day is Thursday,[79] or rather perhaps Damballa's service day is Thursday[48][47] while Ayida Wedo's days of service lie on Monday and Tuesday,[81][47] and she is honored on December 8 with festivals for her blessings.[81] Through prayer and ritual, she grants peace, love, prosperity, joy, and understanding to her devotees.[82][13]

The medium of the Ayida Wedo during a spirit possession ritual dons white cloth and a jeweled headdress, and embodies the serpent by slithering upon the ground.[83][84]

Haitian Vodou employs the veve symbol of the Ayida Wedo (she is portrayed alongside Damballa as one of two dancing or intertwined serpents, cf. image top[a]) in its rites.

Danbala is one of the three major lwa depicted on the drapo sèvis (drapo servis, ceremonial embroidered flag, sewn with sequins or beads, cf. image right).[86][87]

African traditions

A special piece of pottery is dedicated to the Anyi-eẃo by the Ewe people (as it is the general practice to make offerings of such pottery to various deities across the Slave Coast of West Africa). The piece is made with a crude model of a clay snake coiled around a shallow earthenware pot or a calabash, with small red feathers stuck on the snake to represent horns. This vessel is whitewashed and usually placed at the base of a silk-cotton tree (Ceiba pentandra[h]).[89][55][i] It is also said that Ayida Wedo's favored plant is the silk tree or cotton tree (cotton plant[46]).[79]

18th century rites

Earthenware pottery with snake decor, used in Haitian vodou.[91]
―"Kunst und Kult aus Haiti" exhibit, Ethnological Museum of Berlin, 2010

According to 18th century descriptions given by Moreau de Saint-Méry of Haitian vodou ceremonies, snake cult practices involved the use of caged live snakes, presumably representing Damballa.[65] An initiation ceremony was presided over by a "king and queen", and according to Moreau de Saint-Méry, an initiate to the cult received a packet containing herbs, hair, and other substances, which in today's terms would be called a paquet congo.[92]

Creation myth

The Fon people of Benin believe the rainbow serpent Ayida Wedo was a servant of Mawu-Lisa (Mawu/Mahu the moon goddess, Lisa the male sun god[71]) and existed before the Earth was made.[94] As Mawu-Lisa created the world, the serpent carried the goddess in its mouth as she shaped the Earth with her creations.[42] As they went across the land, the rainbow serpent's body left behind the canyons, rivers, valleys, and mountains.[42][95] It is also said that wherever the Ayida Wedo/Hwedo spent the night, a mountain formed out of its excrement,[76][43] hence dã mi ("serpent dung") has become a term for minerals and stones mined from underground.[43]

Another version explains that during creation, "a divine snake coiled itself round the earth to bring it together... and gave men a place in which to live"[97] The coils holds terra firma in place, by binding the soil together and not allowing it to crumble off. "It is said that there are 3,500 snake coils above the and 3,500 below".[96] Of the 7000 coils it is also said:

"In the beginning there was a vast serpent, whose body formed seven thousand coils beneath the earth, protecting it from descent into the abysmal sea. Then the titanic snake began to move and heave its massive form from the earth to envelop the sky. It scattered stars in the firmament and wound its taut flesh down the mountains to create riverbeds. It shot thunderbolts to the earth to create the sacred thunderstones. From its deepest core it released the sacred waters to fill the earth with life. As the first rains fell, a rainbow encompassed the sky and Danbala took her, Ayida Wedo, as his wife. The spiritual nectar that they created reproduces through all men and women as milk and semen. The serpent and the rainbow taught humankind the link between blood and life, between menstruation and birth, and the ultimate Vodou sacrament of blood sacrifice".[98]

In Haiti, Ayida Wedo is said to have crossed the ocean with her husband Damballa to take the ancient knowledge and traditions of Vodou from Africa to the Caribbean. As Damballa slithered under the ocean, Ayida Wedo flew across the sky in the form of the rainbow until the two loa reunited in Haiti, bringing Vodou to the Americas.[81]

World-bearing animal myth

As noted the above quote,[99] it is clear that a part of the creation myth describes "Damballah holding the universe together", and some parallels to this are seen with Ancient Egyptian myth.[100] The dual deities together held up the Earth and the heavens.[37] Asked by Mawu-Lisa to help support the weight of her creations on the Earth, the rainbow serpent's male half coiled its body underneath the world to prevent its collapse. But whenever it writhes from exertion under the world's weight (or stirs only slightly from feeling uncomfortable[76]), the serpent causes earthquakes in the land.[9][50]

There is a more elaborate version of this myth by the Fon people where the Ayida Wedo acted as a sort of World Serpent propping up the sky; it set up pillars in the four cardinal direction to support the firmament, but also twisted itself around the pillars (and hence around the earth[101]) in tri-colored braid (of black, white, and red).[43]

It is also stated that Ayida Wedo's rainbow body encircling the earth and seas secures the link between Heaven and earth.[8] Likewise, the Haitians say that Dambala and Ayida Wedo secure a link between thunder (sky) and the sea.[4] Or, it is said, the female half was said to arc thunderbolts and rainbows across the sky with its body, and lived among the clouds, trees, springs, and rivers.[37]

Eschatology

According to Dahomey eschatological myth, the serpent Aido Hwedo feeds on iron bars which the Creator instructed red monkeys from the sea to forge, but when this ore runs out, serpent will devour its own tail (cf. ouroboros motif under § Iconography); when this happens, it will ultimately cause the Earth, overburdened with the exploded human population, to "slip into the sea".[76][93][75][75][j]

Weather myth

It is said that the Anyi-eẃo of the Ewe people only appears when it becomes thirsty, and while resting its tail on the earth, it rears its head into the sky above the clouds where the Mawu deity keep store of water, and devour the water. The spilled moisture during this guzzling turns into rainfall.[103] Another version asserts that the Anyi-ewo of the Ewe, "when thirsty, comes forth from the sea, stands on its tail at one side of the earth, and bends its head over to drink at the other side".[104][106] Yet a third version explains that the true physical Anyi-eẃo resides in earthen mounds deep in the forest, but emerges in order to graze on grass, or to drink water in the clouds. The rainbow that appears in the clouds is the serpent's reflection, as the missionary explains it.[107][108][k] But the native myth is that when the Anyi-eẃo emerges, its soul first ascends to high heaven (to frolic with mighty celestial spirits) but eventually descends into the clouds, and then is seen as a rainbow.[107][109] The intelligence gathered from the hunters (of the Ho tribe of the Ewe) is that the snake burrows inside termite mounds, and as the snake was believed to devour humans, the hunters feared the snake as well as the mounds.[63][109][110]

Occurrences of double rainbow will prompt a native to say that the rainbow serpent has descended with his consort (wife).[63]

Some source suggest the Dambala Wedo (or Aido Hwedo[111]) is blamed for causing floods.[112]

Treasure-jewel myth

There is a notion among the Ewe people that the Anyi-eẃo excretes popo beads (called aggry beads in Ghana) as droppings, and somehow by eating grains of maize, converts them to jewelry.[89][113] These beads are explained as items whose manufacturing methods are now lost, so must be excavated.[61] A somewhat differing version of the myth is that precious "pearls" (such as unearthed in the city of Weda, i.e. Ouidah) are believed hidden inside the Anyi-eẃo, and if someone with the wisdom to hunt it shoots it down while it "fares merrily along",[l] then the person may be able to retrieve the "pearls" from the snake's decomposing cadaver.[63] Yet another telling is that whoever finds the spot where the rainbow touches the earth will discover a cache of the beads.[114]}

A plausible explanation was given by Alexander Merensky that when hoards of the beads are discovered buried in earth, all strung up together, they could resemble the vertebrae remains of a huge dead snake.[115]

Folklore

Snake messenger lore

A certain smaller species of boa (called Wo[116]) may be regarded as a messenger of the Anyi-eẃo by the Ewe people; an individual snake designated as such a messenger has its lair scattered about with palm-leaves, to indicate the sanctity of the snake and warning it must remain harmed.[89][70][m]

Similar lore is found among the Fon people, where the dangbé (not the deity Dangbé but the common species Python regius is regarded as the emissary of the rainbow serpent Aidohouèdo,[116] while the Oshumare of the Yoruba (cf. § Parallels) commissions the large python Eré as it envoy.[116]

Iconography

In religious art and veves, the Ayida Wedo and Danbala Wedo are commonly represented as a pair of snakes intertwined around each other.[1]

Also the vodun symbol for Damballah is the circular serpent devouring its own tail (commonly called ouroboros).[3][23][50] The snake is depicted with this tail-swallowing serpent consuming its own tail in various works of art[j] and craft, e.g., appliqué work, for example.[118][119] The motif has also been found on altars venerating Ayida Wedo dating from the Dahomey kingdom period.[120] Temples to the Anyi-eẃo built by the (western) Ewe people are painted with rainbow-colored stripes,[89][70] also featuring a rude drawing of a snake in the midst of the prismatic colours.[89] A bas-relief depicts the serpent catching its own tail at a Dahomey palace.[122]

The Fon still paint the rainbow serpent, sometimes depicted with a serpent's head and a "pot of gold at the base of his tail, a sign of the wealth he can bring".[123]

Parallels

In West African mythology, Ayida Wedo is often equated to the Yoruba rainbow serpent Oshumare, with whom she shares many aspects.[124][42][125][126][128] The aspect of the serpent devouring its own tail is also seen in the Oshumare.[129] Just as the rainbow seems to span heaven and earth, both the Ayida Wedo and the Oshmare are considered to embody an umbilical connection between living humans/terrestrial and motherhood/procreation/ancestral world/primordial creation of the world.[130]

As to the of myth of the drinking rainbow among the Ewe people (§ Weather myth), The Zulu people have a similar notion that the rainbow is a snake (i.e., a rainbow serpent called umnyama[131]), and when they touch the earth they have come to drink water.[57]

The Aida-Wedo and Danbala may have been a borrowing of the concept of the rainbow serpent named ndamba as held in belief by the Kongo people of West Central Africa, or so Wyatt MacGaffey and Robert Farris Thompson have hypothesized.[85][1] The ndamba is characterized by their male and female mating by coiling themselves interweavingly around a palm tree.[42] At the least, one can establish there is a parallel between this ndamba and the Danbala deity.[132]

In Suriname's native Winti religion, there are many numbers of snake deities (cf. Snake worship § Suriname) recognized as gods (wɩnti or winti), but Hei̯-grɔ̨ is the one in particular corresponding to Ayida Hwedo.[133] The Hei̯-grɔ̨, which lurks in mountainous terrain, is believed to result when a Yɔrka ("spirit of the dead") enters the Aboma ("boa constrictor") and starts catching human beings.[134][n] The Dahomey Ayida Hwedo is also known to dwell and the mountains and believed to be "a manifestation of the spirit of an ancient ancestor", justifying this identification.[135]

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. Compare the veve of the dual deities drawn on ground, Port-au-Prince, 20th century, printed by Thompson (1984)[85] Cf. also the illustration labeled "Dam-balah" in. Owusu (2002)[32]
  2. A source claims Erzulie Freda to be Damballa's concubine on the side,[21] but no such explanation is given elsewhere.[11]
  3. As in "identified with the rainbow and is symbolized as a snake",[29] various writers speak of symbolism rather than straightforward attribution. The lwa is depicted as serpent in veve line art, and other instances of § Iconography.
  4. Waterfall called Sodo/Saut-d’Eau, near Ville-Bonheur, Haiti.[38]
  5. In the vodou scheme, benevolent lwa is regarded as Rada (var. arada[12]), malevolent ones as Petwo.[11]
  6. "Dã" approximates shorthand for "Dan" in Herskovits (1937); the transcription "Dą" is used by Herskovits (1938) for the Dahomey vodᶙ (vodun) and counter part of Aido Wedo.[76]
  7. Additional colors come into play: the rainbow serpent had a twin personality whose red half was male, and whose blue half was female.[9][80]
  8. The "silk-cotton tree" (Ceiba pentandra[73]) is the tree which is the preferred dwelling place of Loco, the lwa of plants and vegetation.[73][88]
  9. Commentary is made on the clan pots made by the Ewe people of Kpandu (Kpando, Ghana), that they usually exhibit the motif of "ladder of death", but also often feature a python coiled around, which might be an allusion to the "rainbow of death". The authors suggest pottery at Kpandu to be of possibly based on "Akan model".[90]
  10. Cf. fig. of a photograph of clay figurine ring depicting a tail-devouring serpent, with caption explaining the doomsday scenario.[102]
  11. anyieẃo is the spelling in Schlegel's lexicon (1857),[64] also used here by Spieth.
  12. German: Lustfahrt
  13. A girdle of palm-tree around certain trees marks it to be sacred and not to be cut down.[117]
  14. Cf. the termite mound-dwelling maneater myth under § Weather myth.

References

Citrations

  1. Anderson, Jeffrey E. (2015). "Ayida Wedo". In Anderson, Jeffrey E. (ed.). The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 1993–1995. ISBN 978-1-61069-208-3. OCLC 900016740.
  2. Alcide Saint-Lot, Marie-Jose (2003). Vodou, a Sacred Theatre: The African Heritage in Haiti. Educa Vision. p. 150. ISBN 1-58432-177-6. OCLC 1130907883.
  3. Delices, Patrick (2016). "5. The African Origin of Haitian Vodous: From the Nile Valley to the Haitian Valleys". In Joseph, Celucien L.; Hoffmann-Nixon S. Cleophat, Ama a (eds.). Vodou in the Haitian Experience: A Black Atlantic Perspective. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 106–107. ISBN 9798881882105.
  4. Hurbon, Laënnec (1995). Discoveries: Voodoo. Search for the Spirit. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 17. ISBN 9780810928572. Dambala Wèdo and Ayida Wèdo, both symbolized by the rainbow/snake form a couple responsible for ensuring the link between thunder (sky) and the sea and or helping the faithful secure prestige and material wealth
  5. "Dambala Wèdo and Ayida Wèdo"[4]
  6. Teish, Luisah (1985). Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals. Harper Sanfrancisco. pp. x, 58, 106. ISBN 978-0-06-250859-1. OCLC 1261277604.
  7. Herskovits (1937), pp. 152, 314.
  8. Auset, Brandi (2009). "Aida Wedo". The Goddess Guide. Llewellyn Publications. p. 2. ISBN 978-0-7387-1551-3. OCLC 286420995.
  9. Coleman, Will (2000). Tribal Talk: Black Theology, Hermeneutics, and African/American Ways of "Telling the Story". Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 12–14. ISBN 0-271-01944-1. OCLC 40631697.
  10. Coulter & Turner (2013) Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities s.v. "Ayida (Haiti)"
  11. Watkins, Angela (2015). "Lwa". In Anderson, Jeffrey E. (ed.). The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion. ABC-CLIO. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-61069-208-3. OCLC 900016740.
  12. Brown, Jovan A. (2008). "Danbala Wedo". In Asante, Molefi Kete; Mazama, Ama (eds.). Encyclopedia of African Religion. Singapore: SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781506317861.
  13. Dorsey, Lilith (2005). "I. 2. Haitian Vodou. §Damballa and Aida Wedo". Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism. Citadel Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 0-8065-2714-5.
  14. Scalora, Sal (March 1993). "A Salute to the Spirits: Vodun Flag Artists Pay Tribute to the Traditional Gods of Haiti". Americas. 45 (2): 32.
  15. Nicholas, Alice L. (2015). "Vodu/Voduun". In Shujaa, Kenya J.; Shuja, Mwalimu J. (eds.). The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America. Singapore: SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781506331690.
  16. Légitime, François Denys (1892). La vérité sur le vaudoux. Port-au-Prince: n.n. p. 40.
  17. "Dambala Ouedo, la force et la bonté. Lui et sa femme, Aida Oueddo".[16]
  18. "Danbala Wèdo... his wife, Ayida Wedo".[2]
  19. "Aiyda Wedo is depicted infrequently without Damballah, her consort".[3]
  20. "Damballah and his consort, Ayida Wedo"[14]
  21. Gordon (1985), p. 62.
  22. Maki, Jenny (1 September 2008). "Dambala-Wedo" "Vodou Riche: Contemporary Haitian Art". African Arts. 41 (3): 88–89. doi:10.1162/afar.2008.41.3.88. ISSN 0001-9933. Dambala-Wedo (the Vodou husband-and-wife dual spirit of the serpent and the rainbow, associated with water, wisdom, and fertility)
  23. Lawal, Babatunde (1 March 2008). "Èjìwàpò: The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and Culture". African Arts. 41 (1): 27. doi:10.1162/afar.2008.41.1.24. ISSN 0001-9933. S2CID 57564389.
  24. "two aspects"[23]
  25. "Aida Hwedo.. is both female and male.."[9]
  26. Bellegarde-Smith & Michel (2013), p. 461.
  27. "dyad of female and male".[26]
  28. "not as couple, but as one entity".[2]
  29. Brathwaite, Edward Kamau (1911). "Gods of the Middle Passage". Caribbean Review. 11 (4): 43.
  30. "merged into Damballa-Ayida".[29]
  31. "ancient, benevolent father".[11]
  32. Owusu, Heike (2002). "Damballah or Aida-Wedo". Voodoo Rituals. New York: Sterling. pp. 43–44. ISBN 1-4027-0035-0. OCLC 52194154.
  33. "Early original god".[32]
  34. "Danbala Wèdo, one of he most important and popular.. of the vodou pantheon".[2]
  35. Herskovits (1937), p. 234.
  36. Cf. also Anderson[1]
  37. Gordon (1985), p. 60.
  38. Rey, Terry (2005). "Toward an ethnohistory of Haitian pilgrimage". Journal de la Société des américanistes. 91 (1): 168. doi:10.4000/jsa.2889. (google)
  39. van der Sluijs, Marinus Anthony; Peratt, Anthony L. (2009). "The Ourobóros as an Auroral Phenomenon". Journal of Folklore Research. 46 (1): 15–16. doi:10.2979/jfr.2009.46.1.3. ISSN 0737-7037. S2CID 162226473.
  40. ".. in Benin Dã Ayidohwedo is intimately connected to the thunderbolt".[39]
  41. Métraux, Alfred (2016). "3. The Supernatural World. III. The Voodoo Pantheon". Voodoo in Haiti. Translated by Charteris, Hugo. Lit. ISBN 9781787201668.
  42. Washington, Teresa N. (2005). Our Mothers, Our Powers, Our Texts: Manifestations of Ajé in Africana Literature. Indiana University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-253-00319-5. OCLC 646474714.
  43. Mercier, Paul [in French]; et al. (International African Institute) (1999). "The Fon of Dahomey". In Forde, Daryll (ed.). African Worlds: Studies in the Cosmological Ideas and Social Values of African Peoples. Lit. p. 221. ISBN 9780852552810.
  44. Coleman (2000), p. 12.
  45. "Generosity is Danbala's main trait".[2]
  46. Gordon (1985), pp. 50–51.
  47. Scheu, Patricia (2015). "Danbala". In Anderson, Jeffrey E. (ed.). The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion. ABC-CLIO. pp. 69–70. ISBN 978-1-61069-208-3. OCLC 900016740.
  48. Herskovits (1937), p. 319.
  49. Alcide Saint-Lot (2003), caption to Fig. 4.19[2]
  50. Hazel, Robert (2019). Snakes, People, and Spirits, Volume One: Traditional Eastern Africa in Its Broader Context. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 234. ISBN 978-1-5275-4292-1. OCLC 1132394622.
  51. Hazel[50] citing Merlo & Vidaud (1966b).
  52. Thompson (1984), p. 176, quoted by Hoover.[54]
  53. Rush, Dana (Winter 2001). "Contemporary Vodun Arts of Ouidah, Benin". African Arts. 34 (4). Nanzan University: 45. doi:10.2307/3337805. JSTOR 3337805.
  54. Hoover, Paul (2004). Fables of Representation: Essays. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. pp. 45–46. ISBN 978-0-472-09856-9.
  55. Burton, Richard Francis (1864). A mission to Gelele, King to Dahome. Vol. 2. London: Tinsley Brothers. p. 148.
  56. Ellis (1890), p. 48 referencing Burton[55]
  57. Ellis (1890), p. 48.
  58. The Abbé Pierre Bouche, quoted in Cortambert (1874) "Géographie et Voyagé", Revue de France 10: 594
  59. Hazel (2019), p. 235.
  60. Frobenius (1898b), p. 82.
  61. Werner, Alice (1916). "African mythology: Nature myths". The Mythology of all races. Vol. 7. Boston: Marshall Jones Company. pp. 234–235.
  62. Ellis (1890), pp. 48–49.
  63. Spieth, Jakob [in German] (1906). Die Ewe-Stämme: Material zur Kunde des Ewe-Volkes in Deutsch-Togo. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen). pp. 553–554.
  64. Schlegel, J. B. [in German], ed. (c. 1857). "anyieẃo". Schlüssel zur Ewe Sprache dargeboten in den grammatischen Grundzüge des Anlo Dialekts (in Ewe and German). Bremen: W. Vallet & Co. p. 174.
  65. Anderson, Jeffrey E. (2015). "Snakes". In Anderson, Jeffrey E. (ed.). The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-208-3. OCLC 900016740.
  66. Also given more or less the same as "Grosse Schlange (ewo) eine grosse Schlange) der Unterwelt (anji = Untere Teil oder Unterwelt)" (in German) as given by Frobenius,[60] who is dependent on Ellis as source.
  67. Merlo & Vidaud (1966b), p. 312 apud Hazel.[50]
  68. Merlo & Vidaud (1966a), p. 76 also cited by Hazel.[50]
  69. Ellis (1890), pp. 48, 54.
  70. Frobenius (1898b), p. 83.
  71. Cranston, Edwin A.; Paudrat, Jean-Louis (1978). "Togo (Ewe people)/Benin (Fon people)". The Dance, Art, and Ritual of Africa. Pantheon Books. p. 29.
  72. Deren, Maya (1983) [1953]. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. McPherson. p. 115. ISBN 9780914232643.
  73. Morris, Brian (2006). Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 196. ISBN 9780521852418.
  74. Deren (1953), p. 113 apud Morris.[73]
  75. Rose, Carol (2001). "Aida Wedo / Aida Hwedo, Dan Ayido Hwedo". Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore Legend and Myth. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 9. ISBN 0-393-32211-4.
  76. Herskovits, Melville Jean (1938). Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. Vol. 2. New York: J.J. Augustin. pp. 249–250, 279.
  77. Herskovits (1937), p. 29.
  78. Alapini, Julien (1962), "Le Culte de Vodoun et de Oricha chez les Fon et les Nago du Dahomey", Colloque sur les religions Colloque sur les religions, p. 93
  79. Michel, Claudine; Daniels, Kyrah Malika (2008). "Aida Wedo". In Asante, Molefi Kete; Mazama, Ama (eds.). Encyclopedia of African Religion. Singapore: SAGE Publications. ISBN 9781506317861.
  80. Wilkinson, Philip (1998). Illustrated Dictionary of Mythology. Dorling Kindersley. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-7894-3413-5.
  81. Dorsey (2005), p. 55.
  82. Conner, Randy P.; Sparks, David Hatfield (2004). Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas. Harrington Park Press. p. 57. ISBN 1-56023-350-8.
  83. Monaghan, Patricia (2014). "Aida Wedo". Encyclopedia of Goddesses and Heroines. New World Library. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-60868-218-8. OCLC 969000530.
  84. Coulter, Charles Russell; Turner, Patricia (4 July 2013). "Damballah". Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. Routledge. p. 141. ISBN 978-1-135-96397-2.
  85. Thompson, Robert Farris (1984). Flash of the spirit : African and Afro-American art and philosophy. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 177–178. ISBN 0-394-72369-4. (copy at Iarchives, limited preview-word search enabled)
  86. Polk, Patrick Arthur (1997). Haitian Vodou Flags. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 16–18. ISBN 9781578060245.
  87. Cf. Kansonai (2010). Vodou - Kunst und Kultur aus Haiti image 135 (cf. 120, 121) and explanation on flags, image 187.
  88. Ellis (1890), pp. 49–52.
  89. Ellis (1890), p. 49.
  90. Cole, Herbert M.; Ross, Doran H. (1977). The Arts of Ghana: Exhibition Dates : Frederick S. Wight Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles, California, October 11 to December 11, 1977 : Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, February 11 to March 26, 1978 : Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas, May 3 to July 2, 1978. Museum of Cultural History, University of California. p. 120.
  91. Cf. Kansonai (2010) Vodou - Kunst und Kultur aus Haiti, image 30 and 41 of 211. (cf. 116, 144, 149, 164, 165, 167, 171) and explanation of lwa, image 201, 204.
  92. Geggus, David (1991). "Haitian Voodoo in the Eighteenth Century: Language, Culture, Resistance". Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas [Anuario de historia del estado, la economía y la sociedad en América Latina]. 28 (1): 32.
  93. Philip, Neil (2007). Myths & Legends Explained. DK Publishing. pp. 88–89. ISBN 978-0-7566-2871-0. OCLC 148756966. (cf. Philp (2007) Eyewitness Companions: Mythology, s.v. "The Rainbow Serpent")
  94. In some stories, Ayida Wedo descends from the heavens with Adanhu and Yewa, the first humans created by Mawu.[93]
  95. Rose, Carol (2001). "Rainbow Serpent, Rainbow Snake, Rainbow Monster". Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 305–306. ISBN 0-393-32211-4. OCLC 48798119.
  96. Parrinder, Geoffrey (1968). African Mythology. London: Paul Hamlyn. pp. 22, 42.
  97. Parrinder (1968),[96] latter also quoted by Hazel.[50]
  98. Gordon (1985), p. 60 requoted in Delices (2016), pp. 105–106.
  99. "In the beginning..a vast serpent.. formed.. coils beneath the earth, protecting it", etc.,[98]
  100. Delices (2016), p. 108.
  101. "the coils made by Dã around the earth are not stationary 'Dã Ayido Hwedo revolves round the earth'",[43] requoted by Van der Slujs & Peratt (2009).[39]
  102. Philip, Neil (2011). "End of the World". DK Eyewitness Books: Mythology. DK Publishing. p. 56. ISBN 9780756688172. (also "Rainbow Serpent", pp. 44, 50)
  103. Ellis (1890), pp. 47–48.
  104. Mockler-Ferryman, Augustus F. (1928). "Negroes and W. Africa". In Hastings, James; Selbie, John Alexander; Gray, Louis Herbert (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 9. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 275.
  105. Voegelin, Erminie Wheeler (EWV); Métraux, Alfred (AM); Luomala, Katharine (KL) (1950). "Rainbow". In Leach, Maria (ed.). Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore Mythology and Legend. Funk and Wagnalls. pp. 922–923.
  106. Voegelin (EWV)'s portion of "Rainbow" Leach ed. (1950), Funk and Wagnalls Dict. of Folklore.[105]
  107. Schlegel, Johann Bernhard (1858) apud Spieth.[63]
  108. Werner, Myth. of All Races 7: ,[61] citing Spieth.
  109. Spieth, Jakob [in German] (2011). The Ewe People: A Study of the Ewe People in German Togo. Translated by Emmanuel F. Tsaku; Marcedllinus Edorh; Raphael Avornyo; Mary Esther Kropp Dakubu. Accra, Ghana: Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. p. 17. ISBN 9789988647902.
  110. Werner also, though she gives "anthills".[61]
  111. Andrews, Tamra (2007) [1998]. "Rainbow Snakes". Dictionary of Nature Myths: Legends of the Earth, Sea, and Sky. Oxford University Press. p. 160. ISBN 9780195136777.
  112. Murrell, Nathaniel Samuel (2010). Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions. Temple University Press. p. 79. ISBN 9781439901755.
  113. Cf. Burton.[55]
  114. Werner[61] (source unclear) Cf. Dahse (1911), p. 44: "Man erzählt sich in Atakpame, dass die schönen blauen Perlen, die man in der Erde fände, die Exkremente der Regenbogenschlange seien, die zur Erde fallen, wenn die Regenbogenschlange sich zum Himmel aufbäumt (In Atakpame, the story goes that the beautiful blue beads found in the ground are the excrement of the rainbow serpent, falling to earth when the serpent rears up toward the sky)".
  115. Dahse (1911), pp. 48–49.
  116. Merlo & Vidaud (1966a), p. 75.
  117. Ellis (1890), p. 50.
  118. Luomala (KL)'s portion of "Rainbow" Leach ed. (1950), Funk and Wagnalls Dict. of Folklore[105]
  119. Cf. Herskovits & Herskovits (1938). Frontispiece: "Aido Hwedo, with cult-objects used in the worship of Dᶏ, as represented in appliqué-cloth"
  120. Merlo & Vidaud (1966b), pp. 302, 304, 306 apud Hazel.[50]
  121. Roberts, Allen F. (April 1992). "Chance Encounters, Ironic Collage". African Arts. 25 (2): 54–63, 97–98. doi:10.2307/3337060. JSTOR 3337060.
  122. Bay (1985), p. 19 apud Roberts[121]
  123. Galembo, Phyllis (1998). Vodou: Visions and Voices of Haiti. Ten Speed Press. p. 29. ISBN 9780898159899.
  124. Hazel (2019), p. 238.
  125. Rose, Carol (2001). "oshumare". Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 282. ISBN 0-393-32211-4. OCLC 48798119.
  126. Bay (1985), p. 18 apud Roberts[121]
  127. Mockler-Ferryman (1928), p. 280.
  128. "Oshumare, the [Yoruba] rainbow-god is identical with Anyi-Ewo [of the Ewe people]"[127]
  129. Washington (2005), p. 43.
  130. Bay (1985), p. 18 cited by Roberts, who writes: "a horned snake called Dan Aido-huedo by Fon-speakers and Oshumare by Yoruba is believed to produce the rainbow and is associated with continuity [with] ancestors [and] procreation.. umbilicus.. to one's mother [and] creation of the world".[121]
  131. Frobenius (1898b), p. 83, n14., citing Haarhoff (1890), which in turn cites Callaway (1868) Nursery Tales, Traditions, and Histories of the Zulus, in Their Own Words, pp. 293–294
  132. Thompson (1984),[85] also cited by Hoover[54]
  133. Herskovits, Melville Jean; Herskovits, Frances Shapiro (1936). "11. Gods and Familiar Spirits". Suriname Folk-lore. Columbia University Press. pp. 61–64. (google)
  134. Herskovits & Herskovits (1936), p. 64.
  135. Herskovits & Herskovits (1936), p. 64, n2.

Bibliography