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((Winona might do something reeeeeeeeally bold. Something that she hasn't done in eight years. ;)
Something that she wouldn't do unless she really felt like she needed to.
a-dynamite-digger? Don't be surprised if Baron Kriminel is summoned to come after Westcott's little dirt-covered butt :P ))
((If you don't think a TON of creepy voodoo stuff is going down on Halloween you are WRONG))
It's starting to get colder at night. It's only just begun.
Papa Legba help me...winter is on the horizon.
Voodou teaches us that sexuality is as important to some people as breathing. Voodou also teaches us that those who are not sexual are not inherently wrong. Sexuality is an aspect of a person that is unique. But if it is a part of a human, and it is ignored, it is quite bad for the soul. Starvation, just like any other.
...I hope Wolfgang's date goes well.
HOLY SH*T: Accidental MAJOR Parallel!
So there I was doing the dishes the other night when I realized something.
Winona is a direct parallel to Maman Brigitte.
For those of you who aren't English lit dorks like me and/or haven't done the research like I have, you might be like: "what." But seriously. Hear me out.
Maman Brigitte was either Celtic or French, depending on who you ask. Some depictions say she is white (she is often referred to as the White Loa), and some depictions she is mixed race, but the general consensus is that she is not of the typical Loa, who are black.
Maman was your average woman. She was gifted with communicating with the Loa. Eventually she fell in love with Baron Samedi, the Loa of death and member of the Ghede family. He loved her so much that he married her and thus, made her Loa.
Winona is Celtic, a practitioner of voodoo, and has fallen in love with a demon who was basically done the same thing Baron Samedi did.
Winona and Akoman are like Maman Brigitte and Baron Samedi.
I didn't even mean for that to happen.
WHAT.
Meeting Maman
She woke to someone patting a cold cloth on her already sweaty face.
Voodoo Q + A
Q: Why does Winona practice Voodoo?
A: Winona picked up the "old craft" from a family friend of hers, nicknamed "Aunt Tallulah" who took her in after her mother's death. Tallulah was a voodoo practitioner, and a lot of the kids in Winona's village used to call her a witch, and parents would tell them to leave her and her house alone, and not to go to the southern border of the village--where the swamp borders the planes/farmland--because that's where she lived.
Winona, however, was never frightened of her, and Tallulah always kept an eye out for her. She sorta became Winona's second mother figure, and my head canon is that Tallulah is searching for Winona on the other side, trying to contact Loa to bring her back home.
If Winona ever got off of the island and back home, after getting out of the sanatorium, she would want to go live back with Tallulah, who is probably the only family she's got left at this point, since both of her parents have died. She would probably learn to be a full-time practitioner, who, in the south during that time, worked as priests/priestesses and healers to those who believe in voodoo.
.
Q: But...Winona is white?
A: So? Though traditional voodoo is African, Haitian voodou comes from a mixed origin of celtic paganism and the traditional West African root, so it's got its own quirks. Also the current "voodoo queen" of New Orleans, Bloody Mary, is white! Maman Brigitte, a Loa of the Ghede family, is white! She's either Irish or French depending on who you ask, but she is usually depicted as mixed-race or white.
.
Q: Why does the mun know so much about Voodoo?
A: The mun used to have a French teacher who was from Haiti, and he actually practiced voodoo. He was horrible French teacher, but he would often teach us things about the various spirits and traditions (like drawing Xs on things). So the voodoo that Winona practices is also Haitian in nature, as the woman she learned it from was of Haitian decent.
I do not practice voodoo. I respect it, it's cultural significance, and its practice as a religion/institution, but I'm actually personally a bit frightened of it. A lot of people chock it up to superstition, but everything that I have learned while growing up in the south is that you don't mess with voodoo. Ever.
It's quite interesting to research, however, especially since a lot of their god/godess figures (Loa) are multi-faceted, and sometimes hella feminist--for every male there is an equal female Loa. They are very well characterized from the literature that I have been reading concerning the practice of Haitian voodou - and the bits and pieces I learned from my wacky French teacher. :P
So there you have it!
Winona carefully made a circle of small mounds of earth, surrounded by fringes of pine branches. It wasn't exactly right, but it was all she had.
In the center of the circle, Winona placed various foods and materials: a carrot, a handful of berries, cut grasses in replacement of wheat, and a small scrap of jerky...it wasn't much, but again, it was what she had, and what she could spare. She buried a torch halfway into the ground in the center of the circle, and lit it.
An offering.
"Ayezan, protector of doors...I ask for your protection. Your husband, Papa Legba of the Ghede can vouch for me. I need to get home. I need to cross between worlds, and to do that, I have built a door. Lend me your knowledge and protection, take these items as an offering, and give the Ghede my good will."
