Erzulie Freda

The drums slow down when she comes. A white basin is carried out, with a new cake of soap still in its paper, a clean towel, a comb and a bottle of perfume. The person she has taken, who may be a market woman or a grown man, sits down and washes with great care. Then she powders her face and chooses a dress, and looks over the necklaces one at a time. Nobody hurries her. Erzulie Freda takes as long as she likes, and the whole temple waits.

When she is ready she walks into the room slowly, swinging her hips, with her hands held out so the rings can be seen. She greets the men first. She gives them two fingers to kiss, leans on their arms, and talks to them in a high, soft French instead of everyday Creole. The women get a cooler welcome, sometimes only the little fingers hooked together. She asks for something sweet to drink. She hands round cake, and for a while the yard feels like a party in a rich house.

This is the spirit Haitian Vodou calls the mistress, Metrès Ezili. She is a lwa, one of the many spirits who stand between people and the distant creator, and she belongs to the Rada family, the cool, old spirits said to have come over from Africa. Her full name says as much. Freda Daome points back to Dahomey, the kingdom on the coast of what is now Benin, where so many of the people enslaved in French Saint-Domingue were taken from. Her first name is usually traced to a water spirit of that same country. Something of the water has stayed with her, since two of the husbands the songs give her are Danbala, the white serpent, and Agwe, the lord of the sea.

Colonial Saint-Domingue also had a hand in her. The woman her servants describe is not an African queen. She is light-skinned and delicate, dressed in lace, covered in gold, and used to being waited on. Writers on Haitian history have pointed out how closely she resembles the wealthy free women of colour of the old colony, and the planters’ mistresses who had everything except safety. Then the church prints arrived. Haitians looking at the cheap colour pictures of Our Lady of Sorrows, with her jewelled heart, her chains and rings and her wet eyes, recognised Freda at once. That picture stands on her altars today.

So her looks are well known, which is rare for a spirit. Pink and pale blue are her colours, with white and gold. Her sign, drawn on the ground in cornmeal before she is called, is a heart, often crossed with a lattice and trimmed with curls. She wears three wedding rings, one for each husband: Danbala, Agwe, and Ogou, the soldier spirit of iron. She keeps all three and flirts with everybody else. Many temples give her a corner or a small room of her own, where her dresses hang and her soap and comb are laid out, and nothing in it may be dirty or cheap. Perfume and flowers are what she smells of.

Men and women can both marry her. The wedding is a real ceremony with a ring and a signed paper, and it carries duties. A man married to Erzulie Freda sets aside certain nights of the week, sleeps alone on them in a clean bed, and gives those hours to her. His human wife is expected to put up with it. What the spirit offers in return is her favour, which people understand as luck in love, grace, a little money, and the feeling of being looked after by someone very grand. She is also strongly loved by the masisi, the gay and gender-crossing men of the temples, who have long counted her as their patron.

The other great Ezili is nothing like her. Ezili Dantor is dark, scarred, hard-working and a mother, and she fights for her children with a knife. Freda has no such burden. She does not work at all. Between them the two cover a great deal of what a Haitian woman’s life can be, and people who serve one usually take care not to offend the other.

Every visit from Freda ends the same way. At some point in the evening the mood turns. The gifts are not fine enough, or somebody has forgotten a promise, or one of her husbands has not come. She starts to count her wrongs. Her voice shakes and the tears begin, and soon she is crying so hard that her whole body is stiff with it. Maya Deren, who watched this in the late 1940s and wrote one of the classic accounts, said that Erzulie weeps because what she wants is more than the world can give. The people around her dry her face and tell her how much they love her. She cannot be comforted, and she is carried off still sobbing. The drums pick up again for the next spirit.

Her strength is in what she can make people feel. She brings beauty into a hard life for an evening, and those she favours find doors opening for them. She can bind a husband and turn a rival’s head, and for an hour she can make a poor yard feel rich. Her temper is real too. A servant who slights her may find love and luck going sour, and people take that risk seriously.

Her limit is plain and it is hers alone. She can have any man in the room, three divine husbands and every gift her people can afford, and she is never satisfied. She never gets the thing she most wants, and nobody can say for certain what it is. She is given no children to live for. She can only come when someone lends her a body, and she must leave it again by morning.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Erzulie Freda?

Erzulie Freda is the Haitian Vodou lwa, or spirit, of love, beauty and luxury. She belongs to the Rada family of spirits, and her full name, Ezili Freda Daome, points to an origin in the West African kingdom of Dahomey. She is pictured as a pale, richly dressed lady who loves perfume, jewellery and sweet things.

Why does Erzulie Freda cry?

Erzulie Freda cries because she can never have what she most desires. Her visits to a Vodou ceremony begin with flirting and gifts and end with her weeping over her wrongs and being carried away. Her servants comfort her, but the tears are a fixed part of every visit.

Why does Erzulie Freda wear three wedding rings?

Erzulie Freda wears three wedding rings because she has three husbands among the spirits. They are Danbala the serpent, Agwe the lord of the sea, and Ogou the warrior of iron. Human worshippers, both men and women, can also marry her in a formal ceremony.

What is the difference between Erzulie Freda and Erzulie Dantor?

Erzulie Freda is the gentle, light-skinned lady of love and luxury in the Rada family of spirits. Erzulie Dantor is a dark, scarred, hard-working mother who defends her children fiercely. They are separate spirits within the same Ezili family, and they are served in different ways.

Which Catholic saint is linked to Erzulie Freda?

Erzulie Freda is linked to Our Lady of Sorrows, the Mater Dolorosa. Haitians saw in the Catholic prints of that image, with its jewelled heart, gold chains, rings and tears, a picture of Freda. The same print is used on her altars.

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