6 Haitian Voodoo Voudon Mini Pinback Buttons - Flair

Description

A set of 6 Haitian Voudon - Voodoo Veve pins - 1" diameter
Your pins will ship in a padded envelope to ensure they arrive safely.
If buying multiple buttons, please use the "Add to Cart" feature until you've ordered everything you want, and then hit the "Request Total from Seller" button.  If you buy them individually you will most likely be charged too much for shipping.
The top button displays the veve for Erzulie -  who has 2 main aspects – Rada & Petwo.
Erzulie Freda, the Rada aspect of Erzulie, is the spirit of love, beauty, jewellery, dancing, luxury, and flowers. She wears three wedding rings, one for each husband - Damballa, Agwe and Ogoun. She is often envisioned as a beautiful mulatto woman of great wealth, wearing excessive amounts of jewellery  Her symbol is a heart, her colours are pink, blue, white and gold, and her favourite sacrifices include jewellery, perfume, sweet cakes and liqueurs. Coquettish and very fond of beauty and finery, Erzulie Freda is femininity and compassion embodied, yet she also has a darker side; she is seen as jealous and spoiled and within some vodoun circles is considered to be lazy. When she mounts a serviteur she flirts with all the men, and treats all the women as rivals. In Christian iconography she is often identified with the Mater Dolorosa. She is conceived of as never able to attain her heart's most fervent desire. For this reason she always leaves a service in tears.
In her Petro nation aspect as Erzulie Dantor she is often depicted as a scarred and buxom black woman, holding a child protectively in one hand and a knife in the other. She is a warrior and a particularly fierce protector of women and children. Her colours are red, gold and navy blue, her symbols are a pierced heart, knives, and her favourite sacrifices include black pigs, fried pork (griot) and rum. She is often identified with lesbian women. It is believed that a common depiction of Erzulie Dantor has its roots in copies of the icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, brought to Haiti by Polish soldiers fighting on both sides of the Haitian Revolution from 1802 onwards.
In the two o'clock position is a button that bears the veve ( symbol ) for Ogoun.
In Haitian  Vodou and Yoruba  mythology, Ogoun (or Ogon, Ogun, Ogou, Ogum) is a loa and orisha, who presides over fire, iron, hunting, politics  and war. He is the patron of smiths and is usually displayed with his attributes: machete  or sabre, rum and tobacco. He is one of the husbands of Erzulie and is a husband of Osun and Oya and friend to Eshu in Yoruba mythology.
Ogoun is the traditional warrior and seen as a powerful deity of metal work, similar to Ares and Hephaestus in Greek mythology and Visvakarma in Hindu mythology, he is represented with Saint George in Brazil. As such Ogoun is mighty, powerful, triumphal, yet also exhibits the rage and destructiveness of the warrior whose strength and violence can turn against the community he serves. Perhaps linked to this theme is the new face he has taken on in Haiti which is not quite related to his African roots, that of a powerful political leader.
He gives strength through prophecy and magic. It is Ogoun who is said to have planted the idea, led and given power to the slaves for the Haitian Revolution of 1804. He is called now to help people obtain a government more responsive to their needs.
In the 4 o'clock position the button bears the symbol for Damballah.
In Vodou, Damballa is one of the most important of all the loa. He is both a member of the Rada family and a root, or racine Loa. He is depicted as a serpent and is closely associated with snakes. He is considered the father of all the rest of the loa and, along with his wife/companion Ayida Wedo, to be the Loa of creation.
Some of his ritual songs indicate that he "carries the ancestors" on his back to Ginen (spiritual home of the Loa, and the afterlife) His wife is the rainbow serpent Ayida Weddo (he is also married to Erzulie Freda). As a loa of the Rada nation he is associated with the color white. His offerings are very simple and he prefers an egg on a mound of flour. Some houses also serve him with anisette and corn syrup. When he presents himself in possession, he does not talk, but makes hissing noises like a snake in Rada rite.
The bottom  button depicts the veve for Papa Legba
Papa Legba is the intermediary between the loa and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives (or denies) permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages. He is always the first and last spirit invoked in any ceremony, because his permission is needed for any communication between mortals and the loa - he opens and closes the doorway. In Haiti, he is the great elocution, the voice of God, as it were. Legba facilitates communication, speech and understanding. In the Yoruba pantheon, honored in Nigeria, Cuba, Brazil, and elsewhere in the Yoruba diaspora, Ellegua is mostly associated with Papa Legba since both share the role of being the god of the crossroads. In contrast to Papa Legba, however, Eleggua is a trickster child. Legba also shares similarities to Orunmila, the orisha of prophesy who taught mankind how to use the mighty oracle Ifá.
He usually appears as an old man on a crutch or with a cane, wearing a broad brimmed straw hat and smoking a pipe, or sprinkling water. The dog is sacred to him. Because of his position as 'gate-keeper' between the worlds of the living and the mysteries he is often identified with Saint Peter who holds a comparable position in Catholic tradition. But he is also depicted in Haiti as St. Lazarus, or St. Anthony.
In the eight o'clock position the button shows the veve representing Simbi.
In Haitian  Vodou, Simbi is a large and diverse family of serpent spirits from the West Central Africa / Kongo region. Some prominent Simbi Loa include Simbi Dlo, Simbi Makaya, Simbi Andezo and Gran Simba. Traditionally in their Kongo context they are all associated with water, but in the Haitian Vodoun context they have wide ranging associations. For example Simbi Makaya is a great sorcerer, and served in particular in the Sanpwel secret societies. Simbi Anpaka is a Loa of plants, leaves, and poisons.
In the ten o'clock position - the veve for Ayizan.
In Vodou, and especially in Haiti, Ayizan (also Grande Ai-Zan, Aizan, or Ayizan Velekete) is the loa of the marketplace and commerce.
She is a racine, or root Loa, associated with Vodoun rites of initiation (called kanzo). Just as her husband Loko is the archetypal Houngan (priest), Ayizan is regarded as the first, or archetypal Mambo (priestess), and as such is also associated with priestly knowledge and mysteries, particularly those of initiation, and the natural world.
She is syncretised with the Catholic Saint Clare, her symbol is the palm frond, she drinks no alcohol, and is the wife of Loko Atisou