Ogou, King of the Angels
There’s a beautiful song used for calling Ogou, and it has the most haunting melody and words. I will share the lyrics in full as it is a very important song.
Ogou O, wa de zanj
Ogou O, King of the Angels
Le m sonje pitit an mwen chwal an mwe
I miss my child, my horse
Chwal an mwe parenn Ogou chwal an mwe
My horse, godfather Ogou, my horse
Le m sonje pitit an mwen chwal an mwe
I miss my child, my horse
Ogou O, djab-la di lap manje mwen si sre vre?
Ogou O, the djab says he’ll eat me, is this true?
Pa fout vre
It’s not true
Ogou O, djab-la di lap manje mwen si sre vre?
Ogou O, the djab says he’ll eat me, is this true?
Men gen Bondje O gen lesen-yo
But we have God, Oh we have the Saints
Djab-la di lap manje mwen se pa vre
The djab says he’ll eat me, it’s not true
Se pa vre ti moun-yo se pa vre
It’s not true, children, it’s not true
Sa se jwet ti moun-yo sa se blag
That’s a game, children, that’s a joke
Now, there are some people out there who call themselves Vodouisants whose primary concern is to harm others. And quite often they are not very good at it. The spirits play tricks on fools who play around. As Ogou might say, that’s a joke, sa se blag!
I have also seen people who use the kudos of Vodou as an excuse to send hate messages, as if being racist or homophobic or sexist is justified by serving the Lwa. Believe me, it’s not! I even read one inane comment on a forum where someone said that since the name of the country Haiti means “full of hate”, Vodou itself is hateful. (Actually, Ayiti, ‘land of high mountains’, was the indigenous Taíno name for the Western part of the island – clearly, someone needs to go back to school.)
Such people are quite pathetic and have very little power to do actual harm. But the gullible can be frightened, and the whole thing gives Vodou a bad name. Luckily, these people are getting rarer as Vodou becomes better understood. (Even the media has started to treat us with a bit more respect – who knows, perhaps one day Hollywood will even follow suit).
The traditional sacred song to the Warrior Spirit, Ogou, shared above, shows the truth that Vodou is a religion! And it’s a religion where God (Bondje) and all the the Saints (lesen-yo) are very important, they can even help to protect you from the negative spirits (djab). Without some recognition of God (in whatever form – it doesn’t have to be Catholic), what you are doing is not Vodou, but something else.
The Lwa gain their power from God. Ogou is described both as a Lwa and as King of the Angels! And believe me, when you have Ogou on your side you don’t need to be afraid of anything the fools may threaten you with. With Papa Ogou, their magick can’t touch you. Nor need you fear the djab or the people who serve them, if you’ve got Ogou, God and the Saints on your side.
Awoche Nago!
