And Happy Birthday to You, Papa Ogou!
Fast on the heels of Ezili Dantò’s birthday on July 17 comes the July 25th birthday of Papa Ogou. Ogou is the warrior, politician, strategist, paternalistic macho-man (in a good way), and, in some manifestations, the ironsmith that recalls his original role among the Yoruba in Africa (as Gu, Ogu, or Ogun), and his manifestation as an Orisha in Santeria (Ogun).
As my godmother explained to me, each Lwa (or spirit of Haitian Vodou) is singular, but is also seven different spirits. Those seven different spirits are also twenty one different spirits, and the twenty one are also seventy seven, and the seventy seven are also one hundred and seven.
If this makes your head spin, think about the roles you play in life. Perhaps you’ve been in some position as Protector in your life. Sometimes this role may have required you to step fiercely and bravely between the vulnerable people you were protecting and a source of danger; to threaten, fight, or even destroy the danger. Sometimes it might have been your job to rig up a well-functioning fortress, or to make sure the escape vehicle was in good repair. You may have had to negotiate with the source of danger for the good of your charges. Perhaps you had to encourage the ones you protect to toughen up, to offer them opportunities to become as strong as you. Maybe you even had to force them to take medicine for their own good. But all of this came from your heart, from your desire and ability to protect those close to you.
If you had to do any of that, Ogou was with you, in a different aspect for each of those actions. All this to say, Ogou is one great, protective, powerful warrior spirit who divides into different manifestations depending on the situation.
Ogou at large is the essence of Power. This power can be technological, military, political, paternal, magical, medicinal, or even sexual, but it is all power, expressed through a typically masculine lens.
In his Yoruba form, he is an Orisha of ironworking who has the power to melt, pound, tame and transform the raw metal of the earth according to the needs of humanity. Through his heat, hard work, and engineering savvy, he gave humans the machete to clear a straight path through the chaotic tangle of the natural world. On that cleared path, he set animals with iron shoes (like the horses that the Haitian Ogou famously charge forward on), then railroad tracks bearing ponderous, puffing engines, towing loads of man-made materials to populate bustling cities with towering skyscrapers and factories with chugging machines that churn out all the technological devices that separate humanity from animals, including weapons. Hephaestus-like, this heavy, slow-moving, sweating-in-the-forge version of Ogou reminds me of my father or his father at their workbenches, eternally solving mechanical problems, tinkering, inventing, engineering, improving things, all for the love of their less-technically-inclined family members. This Ogou has made the convenience of modern life possible, the paradox of the backs on which all this technology was and still is built notwithstanding.
Though this relationship with metal echoes in the name of the Haitian lwa Ogou Feray (meaning scrap metal) and in the machete he wields, the smithing association has fallen off in favor of a more military role for most Ogou in Haiti.
Papa Ogou’s chief role is to teach that to live, one must fight. Strength, courage, pride, endurance, confidence, and commitment to justice are all essential to survival. Beyond defending oneself, using one’s strength to protect the vulnerable is of the highest value; to be their knight in shining armor is the role of the ideal warrior. As a warrior, Ogou is as hardworking and paternally loving as the ironsmith. In possession, he uses fire, rum, and slaps of his machete to strengthen the limbs of his children for life’s battles.
As with the other Lwa, and with all of us, Ogou’s power comes with a shadow side. Certain Ogou are prone to fly into rages. Some hole up and refuse to come to the party when they are feeling wronged. Others show up as drunks or womanizers, and still others appear wounded, needing support on either side like the traditional image of Christ being taken down from the cross. When certain Ogou come down in possession, they are already wide-eyed, frenzied, barking orders as if they don’t realize they’re not on a battlefield. Many of these Ogou manifestations seem to be uncanny echoes of PTSD.
The most well-known Ogou tend to be Ogou Feray and Ogou Badagri (so named for the infamous African port that was the point-of-no-return for slave ships.) These two swap roles and iconography depending on the house. Often, the image of Saint James the Greater is used to represent Feray, while an armored knight in the background of the same images is thought to be Ogou Badagri. This fits well with the idea that Feray is the uncompromising, fierce general sometimes lashes out at his underlings in frustration, while Badagris is one of his soldiers; shy, brave, loyal and prone to withdrawal when angry (the armor is a wonderful metaphor for this tendency.)
Saint George, the dragon slayer, is also commonly seen as a representation of Ogou Badagri, looping back to the armor metaphor and his attitude toward his own anger.
There is so much more to say about Ogou! We’re going to have a little celebration for Dantò and Ogou together on Thursday, July 24 at the shop (that’s 2025, in case you’re from the future.) We’ll serve both vegan and meaty Soup Joumou all day in their honor, and at 6 PM we’ll sing some songs and talk more about them. I hope y’all can attend!
UPDATE: Unfortunately I need to cancel the 6 PM event due to a family illness, but the food is here so stop by! (7/24/25)
I also encourage y’all to join the Mictlan Academy Patreon. I’ve teamed up with them to offer a once-monthly class in Haitian Vodou in which I talk about a different Lwa or group of Lwa each class. If you join at any paying level, you’ll have access to the classes, even the recorded ones from previous months.
Happy Birthday, Papa Ogou!
