Gbadu
Fon · deity · mythic · Recorded classification
Fon goddess of fate, daughter of the creator Mawu (of Mawu-Lisa) and the source and seat of Fa, the destiny-oracle. Mawu set her in a tall palm at the centre of the world with sixteen eyes ringing her head and gave her the keys to the future; the configuration of her opened eyes is the sign read in Fa divination, and to open an eye she must call upon Legba. Among the Fon she is reckoned the female counterpart and wife of Fa, the destiny-oracle (the corpus entry fon_fa notes that his wife Gbadu sources his power). Her sons or messengers carry Fa-divination down to humankind. Wired as daughter of fon_mawu_lisa and spouse of fon_fa. Her further daughter Minona is named in the Dahomean material but left unregistered as a cascade descendant.
Parentage
- mother: Mawu-LisaReciprocal-needed on fon_mawu_lisa — Gbadu is the daughter of the creator Mawu (of Mawu-Lisa), seated in the world-palm as the goddess of fate.Herskovits and Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative (1958); Gbadu daughter of Mawu, born after the elder twins (ethnography)
Domains
- fate destiny divination
Powers
- Hold the eyes of fate read in Fa divination
Epithets
- Gbadu the spirit of the sixteen eyes of fate, seat of FaHerskovits and Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative (1958) (ethnography)
Relations
- spouse: FaReciprocal-needed on fon_fa — Gbadu is the female counterpart and wife of Fa and the source of his oracular power (fon_fa notes already record that his wife Gbadu sources his power).Herskovits and Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative (1958); Gbadu as female counterpart and wife of Fa, source of his power (ethnography)
- mother: Mawu-LisaReciprocal-needed on fon_mawu_lisa — Gbadu is the daughter of the creator Mawu (of Mawu-Lisa), seated in the world-palm as the goddess of fate.Herskovits and Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative (1958); Gbadu daughter of Mawu, born after the elder twins (ethnography)
Sources
- existence: Melville J. Herskovits and Frances S. Herskovits, Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-Cultural Analysis (Northwestern University Press, 1958) (ethnography); Melville J. Herskovits, Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom (J. J. Augustin, 1938), Fa divination, pp. 201-230 (ethnography); Bernard Maupoil, La geomancie a l ancienne Cote des Esclaves (Institut d Ethnologie, 1943) (secondary)