Papa Legba

Guardian of The Crossroads

Vodou Yoruba African Spirituality

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History and Legends

Source: https://www.learnreligions.com/papa-legba-4771384

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Legba has his origins with the Fon people of Dahomey (Benin) Africa and is said to be the guardian and trickster of the crossroads and entrances. He is widely worshiped and similar spirits are found all over the world. Papa Legba is one of the most loved and revered loa.

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Believed to have originated in the kingdom of Dahomey, now Benin, Papa Legba is one of the best known figures in African spirituality. The practices of Vodun come from an indigenous belief system found in West Africa. When the people of Africa were captured, enslaved, and brought to North America, they brought with them many of their gods and spirits, including Legba. Because slave owners were worried about potential rebellion, they often separated enslaved people from the same area.

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By mixing people from different regions and language groups, they could use the communication barrier to discourage or even prevent revolt. However, many of the deities were similar, and so enslaved people from different parts of Africa soon found commonalities in their spiritual beliefs and practices, which they were forced to keep hidden.

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Papa Legba soon found a home in the religious structures of enslaved people in Haiti and the Caribbean, as well as in the American colonies. Author Denise Alvarado says Legba:

...stands at a spiritual crossroads and grants or denies permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages. He is always the first, and the 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 to the spirit world.

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Over time, after African syncretic practices blended with Catholicism in the new world, Legba became associated with several saints, including Saint Peter, Saint Anthony, and Saint Lazarus.

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In the Haitian religion of Vodou, Legba is seen as the intermediary between mortal men and the loa, or lwa. The loa are a group of spirits responsible for various aspects of daily life, and they are the children of a supreme creator, Bondye. They are divided into families, such as the Ghede and Ogou, and practitioners develop relationships with them through offerings, petitions, and prayers. Often, Papa Legba is the one who carries these prayers to the loa.

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Legba has evolved in numerous ways from his origins in Africa, where he is sometimes viewed as a fertility god or a trickster; he many be depicted as both male and female, sometimes with a large erect phallus. In other areas, he is a protector of children or a healer, and can grant forgiveness for crimes against others. Variants of Legba exist in many places including Brazil, Trinidad, and Cuba.

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Papa Legba appears in many forms in New Orleans Voodoo and Haitian Vodou. He is typically depicted as an older man, sometimes wearing a straw hat or old tattered clothing, walking with a cane, and accompanied by a dog. He's associated with the colors black and red.

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Legba is strongly associated with crossroads magic, and is referenced in a number of early twentieth-century blues tunes from the area of the Mississippi Delta. Famed bluesman Robert Johnson is said to have met a spirit at the crossroads, and offered him his soul in exchange for musical success. Although eventually the story was twisted to say Johnson met the Devil, musical folklorists believe that tale is rooted in racist ideology; instead, Johnson met Legba at the crossroads, where he had gone seeking guidance and wisdom.

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Papa Legba is a master communicator, who is said to speak the languages of all human beings; he then translates petitions and delivers them to the loa. He is a teacher and warrior, but also a trickster deity. Legba is a remover of obstacles, and can be consulted to help find new, positive opportunities, thanks to his ability to open doors and new roads.

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If you have problems moving forward with your life — you're stuck at the crossroads — Legba is the one to reach out to. He does expect payment, however, in exchange for his assistance. Typical offerings might include candy, such as chocolate and other candy, alcohol — particularly dark rum, and pipe tobacco or cigars.

Legba, like the other loa, is represented by a veve, a symbol that includes a number of interlocked keys and a cane. He can be summoned with proper offerings and a chant; one of the most popular is:

Papa Legba, open the gate for me,
Papa Legba open the gate for me,
Open the gate for me, Papa Legba,
that I may pass,
When I return I will thank the loa.

Most people who work with Legba are those who have been initiated into New Orleans Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, Santeria, or one of the many other African diasporic traditional religions. There are very specific ways of contacting Legba, many of which are initiatory traditions with protocol that must be followed. By working under the tutelage of a houngan or mambo, a devotee participates in ceremonies and rituals to form a relationship with Legba and the loa. Some practitioners of Hoodoo and other African traditional religions develop these connections via personal devotion with dedicated altars and appropriate offerings to the spirits.

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Papa Legba has made many appearances in pop culture. He shows up briefly in Neil Gaiman's American Gods, and plays a part in Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad. He is a recurring character in the television series American Horror Story, where he is inaccurately portrayed as demanding the sacrifice of a human infant.

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Papa Legba

Source:  https://pathofthegnostic.com/2019/04/02/papa-legba-vodun-voodoo/ 

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The history of Voodoo does not start, as many people believe around 1500 CE in Haiti, but about 15,000 years BCE in Africa. Thus, the real source of Voodoo is the Egyptian culture. These people would later come to be called “Yoruba.” They were slaves to the Pharaohs and Kings of Egypt, but eventually these people were released however they never forgot the things that they saw and experienced in Egypt. They had a profound admiration for God and an equally profound desire to have an intimate relationship with what that meant to them.

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At that time, the Yoruba people crossed from Egypt into Africa, using a route which crossed over into Africa from the Nile and into Niger. In this area of today’s Nigeria, at that time, dwelled a culture called the ‘Nok’. Between 200 and 500 BCE, the Yoruba met the Nok and the two cultures slowly began to merge. Under the leadership of the Yoruba King Oduduwa, the people of Yoruba settled down in the city of Ile-Ife, which was considered a holy and sacred city by the natives. Descendants of this nation conquered large areas and laid the foundation of the Yoruba kingdom and spread Voodoo throughout all of the conquered lands.

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In 1492 CE, Columbus “discovered” the island known today as Haiti, which he named “Hispaniola”. Very quickly, the settlers discovered the sugar cane and tobacco, as well as the benefits of cotton, and agricultural wealth of Haiti. The original inhabitants of Haiti proved to be poor slaves and very susceptible to illness and disease. So King Charles V of Spain ordered the deportation of thousands of blacks from Africa to meet the demands of the Spanish colonists in Haiti. The black slaves of the Yoruba soon began to merge cultures and religions and laid the foundation for what we know today as Voodoo.

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From the 16th to 19th century nearly twelve million people were deported from Africa. Of the survivors, a little bit more than forty percent went to the Caribbean (Haiti, Cuba and Jamaica), Brazil, North America and the remaining in Spanish, French and Dutch South America. Therefore, Haitian Voodoo developed, the Cuban variation of Voodoo Santeria as well as the Brazilian variations of Voodoo Candomble and Umbanda.

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In 1996, Voodoo became recognized as an official religion in Benin, Africa. On April 4th, 2003, Voodoo was officially recognized as the religion of Haiti. As a result, Priests and Priestesses are now able to perform baptisms, funerals and marriages. After Voodoo came into prominence, even the Pope recognized Voodoo as a separate religion due to Voodoo Priests having allegedly healed so many people and it’s notoriety spreading far and wide.

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We have all heard of Voodoo being associated with the Bayou region of Louisiana. At the time it was introduced, it was actually owned by the French and called “French Louisiana,” before the Louisiana Purchase. The Fon and Yoruba people, as well as the Bambara, Mandinga, Wolof, Ewe, Fulbe, Chamba, Congo, Ibo, Ado, Hausa, and Sango of Africa arrived from 1719 to 1731 and brought their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit and ancestral worship. All of the groups were responsible for the development of Louisiana Voodoo.

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Heaven and hell do not exist in Voodooism. Why? In Voodoo, they believe in reincarnation. Someone who has been a good, honest and faithful person has the chance to ascend to Loa or higher form. Thus they are given not only the power and influence but the opportunity to shape the world using their divine gifts. If the person was misbehaven or had an angry or ill temperment, they will be again be born as a human and begin a new life cycle. They again will have every opportunity, but all the temptations from before will still threaten to ensnare them.

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The belief of Voodoo involves primarily light punishment for offenses. However, serious offenses are believed to be punished with misfortune or illness, or rebirth as an animal. If the person was particularly bad, they can be reborn as a Diab, a demonic creature that only aspires to harm the living. Voodoo believers believe that Loa as well as Diab are omnipresent (everywhere at the same time), and therefore both take part in ones everyday life and are informed about all actions and misdeeds of believers.

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He appears as either a child or a hunched old man with a crutch. You can actually see the crutch represented in the veve shown (Image below in red, crutch is by the right side). A veve is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of Vodun (Voodoo), such as Haitian Vodou (Voodoo). The veve acts as a beacon for the god, and will serve as the god’s representation during rituals.

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In Haiti Voodoo, Papa Legba is worshipped in two different forms: as a child or as a hunch-backed, fragile, old man with a cane, straw hat and pipe. Both of these forms express his speed, wit and unpredictable behaviour. He is sometimes seen as a cheater but also as a messenger of destiny. He is a rebellious and unruly child and a wise man at the same time. In some myths, Papa Legba is a thief, as he has stolen the secrets of gods and given them to his people.

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Every ritual starts with invoking him using the veve or symbol (below) and ends by saying goodbye to him. This is because he is the guardian of the door, therefore the contact with him enables better communication with other gods. During the ritual, he is acting as a messenger of gods as he is translating the words of gods, ghosts or spirits into human language. Those who died can return back to the world of living people if they obtain Legba’s blessing, of which he can also deny.

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The American culture and Christian religion have demonized Legba or his likeness (which can be seen in movies like Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog,” where he is known as Dr. Facilier) as a representation of the devil looking to make a deal. But that view simply comes from ignorance and a lack of actual research into this fascinating myth with its origins in Egypt. In blues lyrics and lore, Legba has also been referred to or identified as “the Devil”, further cementing his image with something dark and evil in the U.S.

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So much of our current world religions got their start in Egypt, but you won’t know that unless you research real history. Not what’s spouted in school classrooms, but reading peer-reviewed scholars like Richard Carrier and the like is where you gain historical wisdom.

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He’s not “evil” at all but a keeper of the keys, which are used to open new pathways for you, for your good, not for your demise. His veve above interests me greatly. I have seen references to four keys intersecting, and of course, you can see his cane represented in the area to the far right, near the three “stars”.

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What I see are the four cardinal directions, North, South, East and West. And I find it most peculiar that the cane and three stars are associated with the East. The number 3 in mysticism represents “new life, resurrection or rebirth”, and the East is always symbolic of your higher, spiritual nature. When the mighty wind blew to part the Red Sea in the Moses narrative, it was an “easterly” wind. The Garden of Eden was planted “East of Eden”. The Tribe of Judah in the Book of Numbers camped at the “right side” or “east” toward the rising sun. The right side is always East because when you face true North, East is always on the right side or right hand, which is where Jesus sat.

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The cane being shown in the East or right side says to me that the East can assist you in your spiritual journey, or simply, if you choose to dwell in your higher nature, life will be much easier and your life will be blessed. Anyway, that’s my take on Papa Legba and the ancient Voodoo religion. Thanks for stopping by.