Papa ‘Zaca (or Azzaca) is sometimes called brother to Guédé, but his habits are much more crude. He is characterised by a voracious appetite and is said to possess the inclinations (and vocal quality) of a goat. This agriculture loa can be identified by his peasant’s blue denim jacket and the macoute, a market sack, that he carries.

Ogoun Feraille, the patron of warriors and iron makers, is usually shown carrying a sword and a machete. He can impart strength to his followers by slapping them heartily on the back. Being both a folk hero and politician of kinds, he sometimes wears the red uniform of a Haitian revolutionary. Red is the colour associated with him and his libation is on of rum, which is set ablaze.

Petro

The Petro loa are aggressive and sometimes dangerous, but they may be helpful if handled carefully. They are generally approached out of self-interest or a need for more extreme action. Worshipped mainly by the Creole population in Haiti, they are said mainly to receive the sacrifice of pigs and have rituals typified by frenzy and occasional violence. Their fierce nature is emphasised by the use of elements such as whip cracks and gunpowder during their ceremonies. Many Petro loa are believed to have been adopted from Taino or Caribbean indigenous cultures, although they have assimilated deities from areas of Africa as well.

Petro worship itself is often considered to have been instigated by Dom Pedro, a Spanish practitioner in colonial times. However, it has been suggested that it is more likely to have come from Caribbean indigenous populations using the language of their conquerors, since many elements of indigenous spiritual practices are already present in Vodoun.⁸ Alternatively, the Petro loa may have Congo origins, as they are characteristic of that area.⁹

The most well known Petro loa is Baron Samedi, Lord of the Cemetery, the crossroads, and magic related to both. He is closely associated with the zombi and is characterised by wearing a bowler hat (or top hat) and dark glasses.

Carrefour is the shadow of Legba, being a loa of the gateway between worlds as well, but one that allows misfortune and ill luck into the world. He is the deity of between, the spaces that are neither the cardinal points nor the crossroads. Appearing young and vigorous, he presides over the daemons of the night, who can be misused by magicians. However, he can also grant protection from these very things.

Ti-Jean-Petro is pictured as a dwarf with one foot that is adept at climbing trees. Considered a snake deity and possibly related to Damballah, he is a patron of magicians and sorcerers.

Marinette, the wife of Ti-Jean-Petro and one of the main Petro loa, is considered violent and powerful, sometimes being referred to as “man-grinder”. She may be derived from a mambo of the same name that was reputed to have performed the Vodoun ritual that started the Haitian revolution.¹⁰

Many Petro loa are alternate faces of the major Rada loa. For example, Erzulie Ge-Rouge (red-eyes), hunched in anguish and frustration, tears streaming down her face, and hands clenched so tightly that her fingernails dig into and bloody her palms, she bears little resemblance other than in name to the Rada Erzulie. Likewise, Ogoun Ge-Rouge is a more aggressive and ruthless warrior than his Feraille persona. This is the nature of many of the Petro deities, as they are considered by some as the loa of the revolutionary, developed in response to the cycle of social and political oppression in Haiti.