Petwo lwa

A religious altar with offerings upon it including fruits, drinks, flowers, and various decorative items.

Haitian Vodou altar created during a festival for the Guede spirits, Boston, MA. Top right area is offerings to Rada spirits; top left to Petwo spirits; bottom to Gede.

The Petwo (Template:Langx), also spelled PetroTemplate:Efn and alternatively known as , are a family of lwa (loa) spirits in the religion of Haitian Vodou. They are regarded as being volatile and "hot", in this contrasting with the Rada lwa, which are regarded as sweet-tempered and "cool."

Description

The Petwo are also known as the Dompete.Template:Sfn They are considered one of the ('nations') of lwa spirits in the religion.Template:Sfn Various commentators have described the Petwo as a "pantheon" of deities.Template:Sfnm Along with the Rada, they are one of the two main groups of lwa worshipped by practitioners in Port-au-Prince.Template:Sfn

The Petwo spirits are considered to be volatile and hot-tempered,Template:Sfn exhibiting bitter, aggressive, and forceful characteristics.Template:Sfn In this they contrast with the Rada lwa, who are deemed sweet-natured and dependable.Template:Sfn The Petwo lwa are kept separate from the Rada lwa, both spatially, by placing their altars in different parts of the (temple), and temporally, by invoking them at different stages in a ritual.Template:Sfn The anthropologist Karen McCarthy Brown suggested that the contrast between the Rada and the Petwo reflected that between "two archetypal social groups", namely family members and foreigners or insiders and outsiders.Template:Sfn

Due to their nature, Petwo lwa are treated carefully by Vodouists.Template:Sfn They are deemed especially effective at getting things done, particularly when it comes to matters linked to money.Template:Sfn

A common offering to the Petwo lwa is rum that has been mixed with coffee, spicy pepper, blood, and gunpowder.Template:Sfn The drum rhythms selected for Petwo rites are typified by their rapid and harsh sound.Template:Sfn Also involved in Petwo rites are small explosions of gunpowder, cracking whips, and shrieking police whistles.Template:Sfnm

History

Desmangles thought that the Petwo lwa were not deities brought to the Caribbean by enslaved Africans but rather emerged on the island of Hispaniola amid the conditions of slavery.Template:Sfn Later research instead suggested that they derived from the spirit pantheons of the Congo people of West Central Africa.Template:Sfn

As spirits associated with anger and rage, they came to be linked to the Haitian Revolution.Template:Sfn The mythology of the Petwo lwas is a uniquely Dominican-Haitian phenomenon, not something inherited from Africa.Template:Sfn

Examples

Ezili Dantò is a Petwo lwa.Template:Sfn

Ogun is a lwa who does not fit neatly into either the Petwo or Rada . Although he carries weaponry, which is associated with the Petwo, he is seen as the defender of Rada values.Template:Sfn

External links

• Ezili Danto: Single Mother with a Knife by Kevin Filan
• petwo song video Template:Webarchive

See also

• Rada loa
• Paquet congo