veve

plural veves · alternative vévé · alternative vèvè · alternative vever

1. voodooAny of various symbols, like line diagrams, that have religious significance in voodoo, serving as a representation of the loa.First known use 20th c.

   The vever, as a cabbala-like method of invoking the gods, was included as a primary ceremonial device in Rada.

   1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 69

   2 more examples

   The vèvè for Simbi, lord of healing, bristles with all sorts of allusions to the Kongo medicines of God, leaves, horns, water, and stars.

   1995, Robert Farris Thompson, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 103

   The indigenous practice of sand painting was preserved in the practice of creating vévés, intricate drawings in cornmeal that were used to call various spirits.

   2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 15