Danbala La Flambo

Serpent of fire, Petro force

Danbala La Flambo is the Petro face of Damballa Wedo, the primordial serpent of Haitian Vodou. The principle is common in the cult: a single lwa can be served in the Rada rite, in its gentle form, and in the Petro rite, in its hot form, without there being two distinct spirits. The Rada Damballa is the white serpent that glides in silence, associated with water, wisdom and the patience of origins. La Flambo is that same serpent when it becomes fire: the creative power that no longer waits. He is served in circumstances where slowness is no longer a virtue. His servants mark the difference through colours, offerings and the rhythm of the drums, and one does not pass from one form to the other without knowing it. This duality sheds more light than anything else on what Vodou means by rite: not two religions or two camps, but two temperatures of a single force.