Trickster-Linguist of the Crossroads

The youngest son of Mawu-Lisa: trickster-linguist, messenger, gatekeeper of the crossroads and carrier of speech between humans and the vodu. The descriptive title leads name.primary; the Gbe name Legba, the Anlo form Alegba and the trickster by-name Aflakete stand in alt/etymology. Typed deity. Documented for the Ewe by Ellis (1890) and (in Anlo practice) Rosenthal (1998), and for the cognate Fon by Herskovits (1938).

Parentage

• Twofold Creator Pair

Domains

• messengers and divine speech
• thresholds and crossroads
• trickery and chance

Powers

• Carry and translate speech between the vodu and humankind, knowing every tongue
• Guard the threshold and open or close the way between the worlds
• Trick, confuse and overturn — the play of the crossroads

Epithets

• Aflakete

Relations

• sibling: Earth Lord of Smallpox
• sibling: Vodu of Iron and War
• sibling: Vodu of the Bush and the Hunt
• sibling: Thunder God of the Storm
• associate of: Vodu of Divination and Destiny
• equated with: Legba
• equated with: Eshu

Sources

• M. J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938), vol. 2, Legba the linguist.
• A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (1890), the phallic guardian-god of doorways and crossroads.
• J. Rosenthal, Possession, Ecstasy, and Law in Ewe Voodoo (1998), Alegba in Anlo-Ewe practice.