Trickster-Linguist of the Crossroads
Ewe · deity · primordial · deity
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
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.