A veve is the signature of a single lwa. An oungan or manbo traces it in cornmeal and wood ash on the floor of the temple before a ceremony, and the spirit is invited to descend through it. Papa Legba's veve is a cross, and it is thecrossroads rather than the crucifix - the meeting of the road of the living and the road of the spirits. The cane is his, because he walks with a limp; the keys are his, because he holds the gate. Nothing in a Vodou service happens until Legba opens it, which is why he is greeted first and released last.
Papa Legba is intermediary between humanity and other Loas. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives or denies the permission to speak with other spirits. He also opens and closes the gate to the spirit world. His veve features a walking cane, keys, and often a red and black background, representing his ability to grant passage for spirits to communicate with humans and to open or close the doorway to the spiritual world. He is the first and last spirit invoked in a ceremony to permit communication with other loa.
This piece begins as a 50-gallon steel oil drum. The artist burns out the inside with banana and sugar cane leaves, cuts the drum open and flattens it into a metal canvas roughly 3 feet by 6 feet. The design is then traced and cut entirely byhand with a hammer and chisel, and finished with a protective coating. The work is done in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti, where this tradition has been passed down since the 1950s. No two pieces are identical. Fair trade. The artist is paid directly.
