Dan
Fon · deity · primordial · Recorded classification
Fon cosmic rainbow-serpent who bore the creator and supports the world.
Parentage
- parent: Mawu-Lisa
Domains
- serpent cosmic order
- rainbow wealth
Powers
- Coils beneath and upholds the created world
- carries the creator Mawu-Lisa in his mouth while the earth is shaped
- revolves about the earth and moves the heavenly bodies
Epithets
- Dan Ayidohwɛdo The rainbow-serpent Dan, who coils round and supports the earthHerskovits, Melville J. Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom. J.J. Augustin, 1938, vol. II, on Da/Dan. (ethnography)
- Dangbe the sacred (python) serpent of the Dan/Aido-Hwedo complexMythlok, 'Temple of Pythons' (secondary)
Relations
- equated with: Rainbow-Serpent that Girdles the WorldThe 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)
- sibling: GuFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Mawu-Lisa) per the figures' cited genealogy.
- sibling: LegbaFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Mawu-Lisa) per the figures' cited genealogy.
- sibling: SakpataFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Mawu-Lisa) per the figures' cited genealogy.
- sibling: SogboFull sibling — shares the same attested parentage (Mawu-Lisa) per the figures' cited genealogy.
Sources
- existence: Mythopedia, Vodun Religion; Herskovits, Dahomey (1938) (secondary)