PaPa Legba

Papa Legba plays the role of messenger between the spirits and the people of this Earth. He is at a few metaphorical points of communication between us and the spirits world. He can be “received” at the crossroads, the threshold, the cemetery, the ocean, but most importantly, and traditionally he stands at the gates. This means he is always there, paying witness to the dealings of people and spirit. The “gate” is how we represent our world and those on the other side, the place between the ancestral plane and ours. The gate that lets us through to the lakou or Bitasyon. In Haitian Vodou, the “backyard” or lakou is also a description of a family’s spiritual stronghold. It is how we describe the plane where our biological ancestors reside as they watch over us from the other side. This is also the place we call out to as we commune with our familial spirits. Before these spirits can come in though from the Bitasyon, Papa Legba is the gatekeeper that opens the path. Without him, we would have no access to the spirits and all that they do for us.

- Vodou Renaissance