Deity
Loa: Ayida-Weddo
Aug
AYIDA
Ayida-Weddo is a loa of fertility, rainbows, wind, water, fire, and snakes
Other names:
- Aida-Weddo, Ayida-Wedo, Aido Quedo, and Aido Hwedo.
Patronage:
- Ayida-Weddo is a loa of fertility, rainbows, wind, water, fire, and snakes in Vodou, especially in Benin and Haiti
Goals:
- Her message is one of healing and strength for the whole of the world.
“She represents continuity and strength, integration and wholeness, as the rainbow contains all the colors, split from white light. Integrity, whether physical (structural), or moral, is the natural result of integration–weaving together elements that are very different. “(4)
Magical Works:
- wisdom, money- and wealth-rituals
Family
- She is married to husband/companion Damballah-Wedo, the Sky God is also a loa of creation. The pair often manifest in the skies over Haiti as intertwined serpents.
- She shares her husband with his concubine, Erzulie Freda.
- Her daughter is Ayizan, the goddess of the marketplace and of initiation into the sacred truths, making her the head Mambo (Voodoo priestess).(1)
- Ayida-Weddo is a member of the Rada family and a root, or (Old French) racine loa
Offerings:
Her symbols are the rainbow and white paquet congo.
Her ceremonial colors are white and blue.
Her favorite offerings:
- white chickens
- white eggs
- rice
- milk
- cotton.
Veve:
Veve of Ayida-Weddo and Damballa, always depicted together.
Mythology:
Like Dambala, she lives in the sky as well as in all the trees, springs, pools, and rivers.[3) In some West African mythology, Mawu the creator sent down Adanhu and Yewa from the sky with the rainbow serpent Ayida-Weddo.
“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 taught 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.”(3)
Source:
- THE TOP ELEVEN DEITIES IN VOODOO MYTHOLOGY
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayida-Weddo
- Leah Gordon (1985), The Book of Vodou
- http://www.thaliatook.com/AMGG/aidawedo.php
Questions?
What is a Veve?
A Veve (spelled Vèvè or Vevè) is a religious symbol commonly used in different branches of voodoo throughout the African diaspora such as Voodoo and is different than the petipembas used in Palo or ponto riscados used in Quimbanda since they are all separate African religions. It acts as a “beacon” for the Loa, and will serve as a loa’s representation during rituals.
What are Rada Lwa?
Rada Loa/Lwa, or spirits who come out of the rites of the old kingdom of Dahomey (present Nigeria, Benin and Togo), generally considered to be benevolent and sweet (dous).(4)
