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Papa Legba: Who is This Voodoo God?

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Papa Legba, or simply Legba for short, is known in the Haitian Vodou religion as an intermediary between the world of mankind and the spirit realm. His origins tie back to West Africa, where he’s still known today in some form. He’s believed to speak all languages, and as such is known as the great elocutionist and a gatekeeper between the two worlds.

Unlike many of the other figures we cover on this website, Papa Legba is alive and well today in the Haitian Vodou religion, much as similar figures in Catholicism, such as Saint Peter, still hold fast in the minds of many religious practitioners.

Origins of Papa Legba

Papa Legba’s origins are West African, believed to have come from the kingdom of Dahomey — what is now known as Benin. The fact that Legba traveled from West Africa to the Caribbean should come as no surprise, as West Africans were stolen from their homelands and brought to the Americas for slave labor in the 16th to 19th centuries.

Slavers did their best to separate those who spoke the same languages or were from the same area to prevent revolt and keep the Africans fragmented. In spite of this, West African religious practices survived, and Papa Legba along with them.

As to be expected, there are some differences between the Legba of today in Haiti and similar deities remaining in Africa. In some parts of Africa, Legba appears as a god of fertility or a trickster god. In other parts, he’s known as a protector of children, a healer, and a forgiving spirit who can offer forgiveness to those who commit crimes against their fellow humans.

However, the Papa Legba best known to the people of Haiti and the Americas is a little different from those versions in other parts of the world.

Appearance and Abilities

Papa Legba is often depicted as an old man who walks with a limp. The limp is said to signify the fact that he walks in two worlds, the world of the living and the spirit world. As such, he’s often depicted with a walking stick or a cane.

It’s common to see Papa Legba with a broad-brimmed straw hat, a beard, and tattered clothing. Sometimes he’s smoking a cigar or a pipe, or drinking water. Legba is associated with dogs, so it’s common to see him depicted with a dog nearby.

Papa Legba is able to communicate with the lwa or loa, which are the spirits that govern aspects of everyday life in Haitian Vodou. These spirits fall into different families or “nations,” including the Petwo and Rada. They’re said to be children of Bondye, the ultimate creator. This ability gives Papa Legba certain magical connotations. 

In order for a human to converse with the loa, Papa Legba must first open the way. As such, Legba is always the first and last deity invoked in religious ceremonies because his assistance is required in order to open and close the gateway between worlds. Without him, any prayer to the loa would go unheard, as Legba is the one responsible for taking those prayers across the threshold.

Although not a sinister spirit, Papa Legba still commands respect and requires simple offerings for his assistance. These offerings vary depending on the believers, but they are often little things like candy, tobacco, dark rum, or coffee.

Papa Legba Associations

Papa Legba’s associations vary depending on the region and believers. These associations include:

  • Crossroads
  • Gateways
  • Locks
  • Doors
  • Communication and Understanding
  • Speech
  • Dogs
  • Roosters

He’s also associated with the colors black, red, yellow, and sometimes purple (Papa Legba’s colors vary, but red is usually a common one).

Papa Legba Myths

Although Papa Legba is known to be the great communicator, he is sometimes known as a trickster because the messages he brings back from the loa can be confusing.

Rarely is his job of translating a message from one of the many languages the loa use an easy task. As such, they often come in the form of riddles or dreams or simply muddled messages whose meaning is lost in translation.

Speaking of lost in translation, some suggest that the famous tale as we know it of blues guitarist Robert Johnson at the crossroads may be a little off.

In the myth, Robert Johnson goes to a crossroads somewhere in the Mississippi Delta and sells his soul to the Devil to become a great guitar player. But there are some who think that the appearance of the Devil in the story is an influence of Western culture. They say that if Johnson was a believer in Vodou, it would have been Papa Legba he talked to at the crossroads, which makes sense when we consider that Papa Legba is known as a crossroads deity.

This fits with the modern beliefs of Legba. People often seek his help — and that of the spirit world — when they’re at a spiritual crossroads in their life and seeking answers. Papa Legba can help believers find new opportunities and determine which path is the best.

When looking at the story of Robert Johnson in this light, the myth takes on a different connotation — one where Johnsons is seeking guidance instead of willing to part with his soul for musical talent.

Although we’ll never know what really happened at those crossroads — whether literal or figurative — Robert Johnson’s story is a great example of what Vodou practitioners believe about Papa Legba, if you switch the Devil’s presence at the crossroads for that of Papa Legba.

Modern Worship

Most of what we’ve covered regarding the modern worship of Papa Legba is true to the Haitian Vodou religion, which is not to be confused with New Orleans Voodoo or Vodoun, which is a different branch of the Haitian Vodou religion. The two branches of Vodou share many similarities but are different enough that it’s important not to use the terms interchangeably. Neither Vodou nor Voodoo believes in an evil antagonist whose goal is to thwart the doings of their version of “God,” known as Bondye. As such, there’s really no equivalent to the Christian Devil in either religion.

Voodoo, practiced predominantly in Louisiana, is a mixture of religious practices and Southern folk magic. Again, this is not to be confused with Hoodoo, which is not a religion but a form of folk magic without any real structure or belief system, as the specific practices are passed from individual to individual and vary from practitioner to practitioner. The Hoodoo version of Papa Legba is called Papa Laba.

In fact, Hoodoo practitioners believe mainly in elements of Catholicism and African gods. Many Hoodoo “magick” spells or incantations are performed with a text from the bible. Often, this is the book of Psalms. But these practitioners don’t invoke the name of Jesus or the Christian God in their ceremonies. Depending on the spell or ritual, the Hoodoo practitioner may use herbs, roots, animal parts, crystals, and even bodily fluids in their special form of witchcraft and folk spirituality.

So, while Voodoo and Vodou may both have roots reaching back to West Africa, and share similar beliefs about Papa Legba, they’re two distinct branches of Vodou. Both are religions, whereas Hoodoo is not.

These distinctions are important to keep in mind as we look at Papa Legba’s appearances in popular culture.

Papa Legba has made many appearances in popular culture. Here are a few of the most notable.

  • Elton John released a UK B-Side in 1982 titled “Hey, Papa Legba.”
  • The Talking Heads released a song titled Papa Legba on their 1986 album True Stories. Widespread Panic later covered the song on their 1998 live album titled Light Fuse, Get Away.
  • A 1985 episode of Miami Vice titled “Tale of the Goat” features a character named Papa Legba, a Vodou priest who “controls” the gateway to the spirit world with the use of drugs.
  • Novelist William Gibson’s first novels, the Sprawl Trilogy, feature a character named Papa Legba. Specifically, in the second book titled Count Zero, Papa Legba serves as the gatekeeper to cyberspace, in keeping with the Haitian Vodou beliefs.
  • The 1986 film Crossroads, based on the legend of musician Robert Johnson, features a Mr. Legba. The story features characters Robert Johnson and Willie Brown who “sell their souls” to “The Devil.” The devil character is known in the movie as both Legba and Scratch. The latter name is another name for the Christian devil.
  • Papa Legba makes a brief appearance in Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods.
  • Papa Legba, along with other loa, Erzulie, Damballa, and Baron Samedi are mentioned or appear in Terry Pratchett’s book Witches Abroad and the comic series WildCats.
  • Lance Reddick plays a Voodoo spirit version of Papa Legba in two seasons of American Horror Story (American Horror Story: Coven and American Horror Story: Apocalypse), in which Legba is portrayed as a crossroad demon who, at one point, requests the sacrifice of an infant.
  • Musician Bruno Blum released an album in 2017 titled Culte, which features a song titled “Papa Legba.” Blum also contributed text for the Voodoo in America CD box set, where he discusses Papa Legba and his ties to Robert Johnson’s song “Crossroads.

Conclusion

Papa Legba is one of the most well-known and influential figures in the Haitian Vodou religion. As an intermediary between the human world and that of the loa, he’s generally invoked before and after any ceremony in which a person seeks to communicate with the spirit world.

Contrary to popular belief, and often thanks to confusion in popular culture, Haitian Vodou and this version of Papa Legba don’t have anything to do with the occult or “Voodoo” as it’s often depicted in movies and films. It’s helpful to think of Papa Legba as the Haitian Vodou version of St. Peter to get a better understanding of what he means to Vodou believers and practitioners.

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Author

Jason is a Mythic Fantasy Author and creator of MythBank. He loves mythology, history, and geek culture. When he's not writing, his favorite hobbies include hiking, chilling with his wife, spouting nonsense words at his baby daughter, and developing this (and other) websites.

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