Earth Lord of Smallpox

The earth- and smallpox-vodu, eldest of Mawu-Lisa's children and head of the earth-pantheon. The English descriptor leads name.primary; the Gbe name Sakpata and the Ewe earth-praise-name Anyigbato (anyigba 'earth' + -to 'lord/owner of') stand in alt and the etymology. Typed deity. Documented for the Ewe by Ellis (1890) and Parrinder (1961) and for the cognate Fon in detail by Herskovits (1938); compare the corpus figure fon_sakpata.

Parentage

• Twofold Creator Pair

Domains

• earth and soil
• smallpox and pestilence
• healing and affliction

Powers

• Hold dominion over the earth and the soil that bears mankind
• Send the smallpox and the eruptive fevers, and withdraw them from the appeased

Epithets

• Anyigbato

Relations

• sibling: Vodu of the Bush and the Hunt
• sibling: Vodu of Iron and War
• sibling: Trickster-Linguist of the Crossroads
• sibling: Thunder God of the Storm
• equated with: Sakpata
• equated with: Babalu-Aye

Sources

• M. J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (1938), vol. 2, the earth-pantheon.
• E. G. Parrinder, West African Religion (2nd ed. 1961), the earth-and-smallpox vodu.
• A. B. Ellis, The Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa (1890).