Rainbow-Serpent that Girdles the World

The rainbow-serpent who girdles and upholds the world, coiled in the sea — the principle of motion and wealth. The descriptive title leads name.primary; the Gbe name Da/Dã, the world-serpent name Aido-Hwedo and the Ewe rainbow-serpent name Anyi-eʋo stand in alt/etymology. Sex recorded 'dual': the serpent-power is paired/androgynous in the tradition (the Fon couple it as Aido-Hwedo and its female counterpart). Pre-existent cosmic serpent, NOT a begotten child of Mawu-Lisa — see SOLITARY flag. Typed deity. Documented for the Ewe by Ellis (1890) and for the cognate Fon by Herskovits (1938); compare the corpus figure fon_dan.

Domains

• cosmic serpent and world support
• the rainbow
• motion water and wealth

Powers

• Carry the creator through the cosmos and shape the contours of the land
• Coil beneath and around the world and uphold it in the sea
• Arch across the sky as the rainbow and draw up the waters

Epithets

• Aido-Hwedo Fon · Aido-Hwedo · cultthe cosmic rainbow-serpent that upholds the worldHerskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938) (secondary)

Relations

• equated with: DanThe same West African deity under its Gbe/Yoruba reflex (Da/Dan).West African vodun/òrìṣà cognates: the same deity across the Gbe (Ewe, Fon) and Yoruba traditions (M. Herskovits, Dahomey, 1938; G. Parrinder, West African Religion, 1961; P. Verger, Notes sur le culte des Orisa et Vodun, 1957) (secondary)

Sources

• Da/Dã (the world-serpent Aido-Hwedo; the Ewe rainbow-serpent Anyi-eʋo) is the great primordial snake who bears the creator through the cosmos, shapes the land, and then coils beneath and around the world to uphold it, resting in the sea; his arc in the sky is the rainbow, and he embodies motion and wealth.: M. J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938), vol. 2, Aido-Hwedo the cosmic serpent. (secondary); A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (1890), the Ewe rainbow-serpent Anyi-eʋo. (secondary)