ERZULIE FREDA

Love, beauty, luxury

Erzulie Freda is the lwa of love, beauty and luxury in Haitian Vodou. Her full name, Erzulie Freda Dahomey, recalls her roots in the old kingdom of Dahomey, present-day Benin. Honoured in the Rada rite, she embodies romantic love, refinement, gentleness and the dream of a beautiful life. She is represented as an elegant, adorned woman, covered in jewels, lace and perfumes. She wears three wedding rings, for her three divine husbands: Damballa Wedo, Agwe and Ogoun. Her vèvè is a chequered heart; her colours are pink, pale blue, white and gold. She is offered perfumes, jewels, sweet cakes, champagne and gentle liqueurs. During possessions she often ends in tears, weeping over the gap between the dream of a perfect love and the world's limits — a trait that Maya Deren described with finesse. Catholic imagery associated her with the Mater Dolorosa, a bejewelled virgin with a pierced heart. She is distinct from Erzulie Dantor, the fierce protective mother served in the Petro rite. Her kinship with the Yoruba orisha Oshun illustrates the continuity of the great feminine figures of love across the Atlantic, from the Gulf of Benin to the Caribbean.