Danballa Wedo

The great serpent, named Danballa Wedo or Odan in Vodou is considered to be one of the most ancient spirit, a royalty in pure essence, the father of the mysteries and creator of life itself. A very wise and most intelligent Lwa (spirit) that does not speak; however his mere existence and presence vibrates on such high level that surpass the understanding of what even words can't begin to describe. Wile Legba is the door opener to the mysteries, Danballa in a sense acts more as a "connector" and amplifies the connection between the invisible and visible world. He can lead you on path to achieve great things in life and connect you on deeper levels of understanding the world, yourself and the spirit world.

Odan is married to a female spirit called Ayida Wedo (The rainbow spirit) and we use Saint Patrick as an Catholic image for his representation. We usually put up big ceremonies for Damballa, Ayida Wedo together with Papa Loko (Loko Atisou) in March. He is also the lover to Erulie Freda.
He is served with white foods, an raw egg mounted on a plate of white flour (Usually two, one for Damballa and one for Ayida), pompeia perfume, milk, syrop d’orgeat, white/green cakes and white rooster.

When Danballa comes down (meaning mounting a person) We immediately cover the person with white sheets; and the person hisses and crawls like a serpent would do. We do this to keep the spirit cool, while we sprinkle Pompeia perfume on the sheets and sing his sacred songs.

Danballa belongs to the Rada escort, the primary spiritual nation of what we call "root Lwa" and as he is associated with the pure essence of life; his colors are naturally white, and green is also used, as a association with the Python. He is also sometimes depicted on the poto mitan (the center pole we use symbolically in Vodou- as the "center-point of the world", -where the spirits come down-) crawling his way up the pole.

Houngan Kris
Labelle Deesse Vodou temple
http://www.houngankris.com
http://www.vodou.no
http://www.labelledeesse.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCei1-ZdsalxJkwWzBJWEqzA