OSEL-MENSAH ASORAMPAE JJames A. The Athans Suter Pade New York: Netton, ays “Akan Slave Rebellians ap the Bush Canbhean,” §, Schuler, Monies. (ayyol S31 oMyalism and the Atacan Relaieus Tradition in famaea “In ies, 5 dhe Carihbeun, Phe Losses Lick Ed Margaret E. Graham and W. Knight. Balrumsre: Johns 1. Hapkens University Press, 1yty. 6-7, Stewart, Robert |, Religron upd Socte ts 2 Posc-Benametpatiun famatoa Row", University of Tennessee [ress fave * Warren, Dennis M. [he fecfus ser Ghar An Ethnugrap Suciciy Dubuque, laws: Kendall Mant 1075 Wilks, Ivor. “The Mosstand Akan Sates, tsot- 1900. In Hint . Vol 1 Ed) A. Anaveandl Michael Cruywder, New York: Columba Usien yas =n att Press, 1972FETE RANDY P, CONNER 8 Rainbow’s Children: Diversity of Gender and Sexuality in African- Diasporic Spiritual Traditions When speaking of sexual diversity and gender diversity in Afri- can-Diasporie spiritual traditions, it is crucial to acknowledge that the use olwestern terms such as “transvestitism,” “transgender,” “bisexuality,” “homosexuality,” “lesbianism,” and so on may aid as well as hinder our aploration of similar phenomena in African-based spiritual traditions isimportant to acknowledge that practices such as cross-dressing may rotalways or only infer gender diversity nor, by association or extension, sexual diversity." It is equally important, however, to acknowledge that such practices may indced signify manifestations of gender and sexual diversity. Metaphors of sexuality pervade the initiatory process where the reverence of the Yoruba orisha (deity! Shang6 is concerned, The orisha atts as “husband” and the initiand as “bride” or “wife,” whether the initiate be male or female, suggesting a process whereby the male initiate might experience, if only metaphorically, a union with the orisha that embmaces gender and sexual diversity. Moreover, in numerous African cultuses and African and African-Diasporic spiritual traditions, same-sex imimacy and transgendered behavior or identity have been linked to stititual role, Gender and sexual diversity may be discovered in sacred images and tales relating to divine beings. They have alse occasionally been expressed within ritual contexts for a limited duration, as 1n the Phenomenon of temporary “possession” by, or embodiment of & deity or spirit, or by the ashé (divine energy} of that entity. In other instances, 3 Gee —"—eeRANDY P. CONNER 144 they have formed part of an individual's character and ma betnati. throughout that person’ lifetime in various ways, inching asap priestess, or other leader or servant of a spiritual tradition, j For a number of reasons, however, exploring gender and seu! versity within African and African-Diasporic spiritual tradition i, easy. To begin with, those participating in these spiritual tadtims i, tended to focus on spiritual role rather than on exotic or gendered beh, or identity. Among numerous African and African-Diaspotc cums erotic relations are considered a private matter. Since African andjens of African heritage have begun to practice Christianity and Islam, cy have been greatly influenced by the predominantly negative atituds. Christians and Muslims toward African-based spiritual traditicns gender and sexual diversity. Euro-American culture, heavily infuene! by Christianity, continues to vilify spiritual traditions rootedin Ais. well as many expressions of gender and sexual diversity, More can porary influences, such as those of western psychology, Manism. 1: nationalism, have also played negative roles where the acknowleignss or acceptance of these traditions and behaviors are concerned. Thest ir fluences have ted many to disparage African-based spiritual teins and to deny or denigrate the expression of transgenderism and sams intimacy within them. Others, however, while respectful of Africar-hisé traditions, nevertheless deny or denigrate expressions of sexual genic diversity within them, The argument is often advanced that expressots of gender and sexual diversity represent corruption of the traditions tr Europeans and/or Euro-Americans. This claim rests upon the belief hs: gender and sexual diversity were unknown in Africa prior to coloniztet by Europeans. Somewhat ironically, African American scholars, ic thcorists, and other academics may have aided in the obfuscation oth historical presence of transgendered and/or same-sex-inclined pers of African heritage, including those who have served spiritually, via ployment of postmodern theory (especially in terms ofits insistence “difference” at the expense of observations of cross-cultural comm alties and historical continuities, reiterations, or transformations! via employment of social constructionist theory (nurtured by Mich: Foucault, whose examination of same-sex intimacy was limited 0 * western expression and was based upon a reductionist equation of ones! several Greek models of its expression, man-hoy love, to “homosexual as a whole], Nevertheless, when we employ them together with insti= gleaned from cross-cultural studies, multicultural studies, and com’ tive religion, these theoretical approaches may aid usin our quest 0 cover sexual and gender diversity in African-based spiritual traditions —SGender and Sexuality in Spiritual Traditions 14s snapite of various obstacles placed in one’s path, one eventually finds sans sexual and gender diversity in African and African-Diasporic cul- ares a8 spiritual traditions. Scattered references to gender and sexual versity abound in documents relating to African-Diasporic spiritual vpaisios, The expression of sexual and gender diversity within these anual eaten is also evidenced by terms provided by Lydia Cabrera, Olga Gudolle Cacciatore, and others. A number of these terms appear to el Yorubs origin; most refer to homoerotically or bi-erotically inclined rnales and/or to transgendered male-born persons, A number of these wrong, it should be noted, appear to be derogatory. These terms include: “ye adelant6, ado. adods, adofir6, afofo. agbere, akenkén, asokobo, bax ye, banivé, didnkune, elenumeyi. eron kibd, obinii-ndia. obini-téyo, ‘unitévo, obodi, oho OKO (obo: vagina/women; oko: testicles, phallus, rman}, okobo, oKunidini, terelago, and wassicinds, Terms referring to ieshian of bi-erotically inclined females and/or to transgendered female porn persons include: alabua, alakuata, monokd, obinilogun, okdbiri ioko: male, phallus, testicles; biri: female, vagina), oremi, and pancha- ave Evidence that the Fon/Dahomean-diasporic spiritual tradition of Vodou acknowledges sexual and gender diversity within its community issimilarly evidenced by terms, including desikole, madoda, makomé, mesisi, and nan metye, all used to refer to homoerotically or bi-erotically inclined males and/or to transgendered male-born persons; and madivin and zami (or zami, zanmi}, used to refer to lesbian or bi-erotically inclined females and/or to transgendered female-born persons.* When one commences to piece together the scattered references wo deities and spirits of African-Diasporic spiritual traditions who are associated with gender and sexual diversity, one realizes that this phe- nomenon is among the most cardinal and widespread clements found in these traditions, especially in the Fon/Dahomean-influenced tradition of Yodou, with divine beings referred to as Iwas |also, fous}, and in Yoruba- influenced traditions, including Candomblé, Candomblé Caboclo, and Luccmi/Santeria, with divine beings referred to as orishas. In Vodou, Iwas assvciated with gender and sexual diversity include Ayizan, Mawu-Lisa, Nanan-houclow, Silibo-Gweto, Legha, Ayida Wedo, Damballah, Ezili, 1a Sicénn, Labalén, Ogou Sen Jak Majé and Ogou Ferraille, the Gedes lincluding Gede Masaka, Gede Oussou, and Gede Nibol, and the Barons Limba, Lundy, Oua Oua, and Samdi# Of these, Legba (Eshu, Elleggtia) serves as an intercessory between the hivas, living human beings, and the dead. As a ruler of crossroads or intersections, Legha represents a place beyond duality, a realm of parade, “lboth-and” or “all-at-once” rather than vejther-or.” Existing beyondRANDY P. CONNER 146 duality, Legba is also thought to be androgynous or transgendered. Thx Yoruba scholar Ayodele Ogundipe says that Legha is "certainly rot x. stricted ta human distinctions of gender or sex; he is at once both mal and female," This androgynous quality, Leslie G. Desmangles explains The Faces of the Gods, is reflected both in his véve (Vodou sacred desgy and in the design of the Vodou temple, the ounfo, While the “potomita, jeentral pole]... . symbolizes his phallus .... the open space around. is hig womb.”? It is because he {or perhaps he/she} exists beyond duality that Legha chooses the number three as his/her magic number. Ezili or, Erzulie, signified in Catholic iconography as Ous Lady oi Sorrows) Freda is the Iwa of love and sensuality, patron of all those who seek to achieve aesthetic beauty, including artists, musicians, actors, models, fashion designers, interior decorators, and perfumers. Huben Fichte observes that she is the “patron of gay men.” Mambo Racine Sans Bout adds, “Homosexual men are considered almost by definition to be under the patronage of Ezili Freda. . ., Homosexual men, especially initiates, are frequently possessed by . . . Ezili Freda.”” In other mani- jestations, as with Ezili Taurcau, the wa is perceived as gynandrous. In these aspects, she may express both antimale sentiments and lesbian desire. According to Mama Lola, Mambo Racine Sans Bout, and others, Ezili’s particular manifestation as Ezili Dantd (or Dantor] also embraces transgendered and pansexual qualities, Whereas Ezili Freda is typically depicted as a light-skinned woman whose chief concerns are beauty and aesthetics and who cither belongs to or courts the upper class, Ezili Danto (in Catholic iconography, Our Lady of Czestochowa or Our Lady of Mount Carmel} is portrayed as a dark-skinned single mother, an 2 vocate of and warrior for the poor and the oppressed who fought for her people during the Haitian Revolution. Karen McCarthy Brown relates that women are among those who join with Danto in mystical martiage: “[PJeople in Alourdes's [a.k.a. Mama Lola’s) community admit that some of these marriages are with women. Thus the portrait emerges of a independent, childbearing woman with an unconventional sexuality that, on several counts, flouts the authority of the patriarchal family." Mambo Racine Sans Bout notes, “Homosexual women are considered very often to be under the patronage of Ezili Danto, who, while hetero: sexual in the sense that she has a child, is a fierce and strong female image. Many people think of Danto herself as a lesbian woman.” In? 1993 interview with Marilyn Houlberg, the Port-au-Prince practitione? Georges René remarked, “Dantd is so tough. ... And there’s one thing you should know. Dantd, she’s a lesbian.” When Houtherg inquired as to how René had been mystically married to Danto, suggesting thatGender and Sexuality in Spiritual Traditions 147 might be more appropriate to describe the Iwa as bisexual, René replied, She loves men, yeah, but she’s lesbian, . .. She’s marrying me, but she sleeps with women.”"” In April 1998, speaking at Botanica Eleggua in Oakland, California, Mama Lola described Ezili Dantd as “a woman, a ran, straight, gay, bisexual. She loves everybody.” . Thave recently learned that in some lineages of Vodou, the great warrior Iwa Ogou Sen Jak Majé has a homoerotic manifestation. While gow Sen Jak Maié and Ogou Ferraille, also a great warrior, are frequently jused, or confused, some practitioners maintain that these are distinct Ogous whose pairing or coupling signifies a homoerotic relationship. As acouple, Ogou Sen Jak Maié and Ogou Ferraifle are “seen oftentimes as lovers," although “many Haitians who know this to be true will deny 4" While ede is occasionally depicted as a single Iwa of the dead, the Gedes are most often depicted as a family of such Iwas, They oversee the transition from life through death to the afterlife or rebirth; as such, they are said to dwell at the crossroads as well as in cemeteries. They are associated with ancestor worship and magic. A smaller but very powerful subfamily within the Gede family is that of the Barons. Gede Nibo is the son of Baron Sanmdi and Maman Brijit and, following them, leader oi the Gedes. Nibo dresses in black, often wearing old trousers, a riding coat, a crooked hat, and a black scarf around his neck; occasionally he appears in mixed feminine and masculine attire. He is described as being extremely effeminate and phallic at once. He is commonly portrayed as awitty, campy dandy and trickster. In Divine Horsemen, Deren depicts Nibo as the “Lord of Eroticism” who “embarrasses men with his lascivi- ous gestures,” confounding “sex with scx, dressing women as men and men as women," while Fichte portrays him as the “phallic god of the dead, who is homosexual.” He is, however, also a great healer and magi- cian—in some respects, the archetypal oungan. Songs and dances to Geule Nibo suggest his homoerotic, pansexual, and transgendered aspects."* A popular praise-song to Nibo alludes to his enjoyment of anal croti- cism: “Gede Nibo has a cinnamon anus! Just look at how Gede walks." Describing a Camival celebration in Port-au-Prince in t991, Donald 1. Cosentino writes, “With Gede everything enters Carnival. Even AIDS, the viral crossroads of both his domains [that is, sex and death]. Marchers in Troupe Kontra SIDA (Against AIDS} marked their unflinching lynies with the banda, Gede’s bump and grind. . .. One young reveler waltzed around with a rubber dildo on his head. Another was waving @ wooden 7020 |phallus] from a Gede shrine with a condom rolled over it. ‘The Brazilian actor and gay activist Joao Ferreira asserts that the orixs the Brazilian Portuguese spelling of the term for the Yoruba deity,RANDY P, CONNER 14s spirit, or “saint,” which in Spanish is orishd} in general, and certain f them in particular, “defend their sons and daughters against ... sexual prejudice.’ Orixds/orishds who are considered patrons of such persons include Abbatd, Inlé, Logunedé, Obatala, Olokun, Osanyin, Oshumar Oshun, Oya, Pomba Gira, Yemay4, and Yewa." Orishas who demonstiaty contlicting attitudes toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered par. sons include Ogan, Shang6, Eleggia, and OrGnmila.” An orisha whohs recently hecome associated with HIV/AIDS and thus also with gay anl bisexual men is Babaluayé {in Catholic iconography, Saint Lazarus], There are many versions of sacred tales or patakis, and while one version cia porticnlar tale may mention gender and/or sexual diversity, another may not. It should also be acknowledged that patak:s that do speak of these matters ave not the fanciful creations of young lesbian and gay activist they have been told by many people who do not fit this description, and they have been told for many years. In Lucum(/Santeria, a patakt is told of how the orishas Abbati end Inle (or Enrilé, a patron of healers and fishers) came to patronize per sons associated with sexual and gender diversity. The orisha of the sea, Yemaya, was devastated upon being seduced by one of her sons, Shangt Because Yemaya was so greatly humiliated by this action, she sent tve of her other sons, Inlé and Abbatd, who had witnessed the act, to liveat the bottom of the sca. $he cut out Inlé’s tongue so he could not speak of the event and caused Abbatd to become deaf so he could not hear anycnt asking him about what had transpired. Inlé and Abbaté were, however, able to communicate with cach other empathically. In their loneliness and perhaps also their suffering, they became passionately drawn to esth other and ultimately became lovers, according to one variant of this tale." In another version of this pataké, Yemaya is the lover of Inlé, during which time she instructs him in the art of divination. When Inlé abandons het, however, she decides to cut out his tongue so he will not be able to shate with others the divinatory art. Although Yemayé regrets her action, she cannot or will not restore Inlé’s power to speak; thus, he must comme nicate through Yemayé. In this association, Inlé is sometimes enviseze! as merging with Yemayd. Migene Gonzélez-Wippler writes, “He is a" androgynous deity of uncarthly beauty and a symbol of cosmic duality [al heautifal young man dressed in blue and yellow robes, ornamented with cowry shells. ... In some traditions he is said to be the protectit of homosexuals, perhaps because of his androgynous nature." In ths manifestation, Inlé is also considered to be a patron of lesbian wom” bisexuals, and transgendered persons. In prerevolutionary Cuba, theres a socicty of lesbian daughters of Inlé, For many years, lesbian, gay, a *Gender and Sexuality in Spiritual Traditions Ly. presumably bisexual and transgendered children of Inlé would gather on ‘crober 24 to pay homage to the orisha. Their festive procession included cnc lighting of a fish made of straw and filled with firecrackers.’ As the thilg o Inlé and Oshitn, the orisha Logunede is linked to transgender, jamand same-sex intimacy, He is believed to spend half of each year asa jnale hunter who lives in the forest” and the other half as a “beautiful, «ain and honey-tongued nymph who lives in rivers and feeds on fish." the openly bisexual Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil, allegedly a son of Logunedé, has written a song celebrating the orisha’s androgynous character. Gil celebrates the deity as a potent blend of the “asttcia de gacador” (the artfulness of the hunter) and the “paciéncia de pescador” ithe patience of the fisher}, Logunedé is depicted as the heautifal, tender Mimo de Oxum (Oshun!, the fondling of his/her mother, who appears to have come into being primarily to be adored, desired, or embraced * Obaralé, the demiurge, lawgiver, and peacemaker of the orishas, is commonly described as an androgynous being with long white hair and ‘white garments. In Candomble, lines from praise-songs to Obatal include “Qxald, king and mother of the gods,” and “Oxal4, motherly father." According te one pataki, to bring about human reproduction, Obatala divides him/herself into a male-female pair, Oddudtia and Yemmmu. As the original androgyne, he/she is called Odddaremu or (I/¥okt-[I}Yekut. This aspect or “road” \caumino} of Obatala, Odddaremu has been linked by Cabrera, Trevisan, and others to transgenderism and same-sex intimacy. As Oddiaremu, the orisha is sometimes depicted as an adodi, a homo- crotically inclined male, who has fallen in love with another adodi, with whom he dwells in the shade of a cotton plant.” Sometimes identified as an aspect of the orisha Yemay4, Olokun is, in the Yoruba-diasporic pantheon, the androgynous ruler of the depths of the sea. He/she is not only transgendered but also a hybrid human-fish [or sea serpent|; as such, he/she is linked to both gender and theriomorphic transformation. Legend has it that Olokun once fell in love with Orisha-Oko, a phallic god of the earth and agriculture. At first, Olokun was afraid to tell Ori- sha-Oko of his/her love, But Oko also loved Olokun, Olokun became concerned that if their love for each other were made public, they might sulle ridicule. He/she finally confided in Obatalé, who said to Olokun, "Stop worrying, After all, both you and Orisha-Oko are greatly respected by che gods and humankind. What is more, you are the perfect couple, since Oko is the earth and you are the sea.” Osbumaré, the rainbow serpent of the Yoruba-diasporic pantheon, is the ruler of cyel rain and tought, winter and summer, and poverty and wealth (especially invoked to win prizes and the lottery}. Like the orisha Oshan, Oshumare 182 Pa