#notably yon sue is identified with agassou... but in Haiti St. Anthony was reportedly associated with Papa Legba...

[the-girl-who-didnt-smile]

With regards to "Sir Duke"

The character “Sir Duke” is based on the spirit from New Orleans Voodoo, called “Blanc Dani”. 

Previously, I equated Blanc Dani with Damballah, but this is dubious. Probably, inaccurate. Rather, Damballah is the Haitian equivalent to Blanc Dani, as both can trace their origin to the Fon/Ewe serpent deity Da (also called “Dan” or “Vodu Da”)

Key passage from Carolyn Morrow Long’s A New Orleans Voudou Priestess:

“Some of the LWP interviewees spoke of Papa Limba or La Bas, Daniel Blanc, and Yon Sue. Josephine McDuffy, born in 1853, told her interviewer that “Papa Limba was supposed to be St. Peter.” Mary Washington, born in 1863, said she was trained in the arts of Voudou by Marie Laveau. She remembered a song that was sung at the weekly ceremonies: “St. Peter, St. Peter open the door; I am callin’ you, come to me; St. Peter, St. Peter open the door.” Mrs. Washington explained that “St. Peter was called La Bas, St. Michael was Daniel Blanc, and Yon Sue was St. Anthony.” She also mentioned a spirit called Onzancaire.”

Compare with Melville Jean Herskovits’ Life in a Haitian valley:

“With one exception, Legba was held the equivalent of St. Anthony; in this other instance his similarity to St. Peter was stressed…St. Patrick, on whose image serpents appear, is correlated with Damballah Wedo Tokan, or simply the rainbow serpent Damballa Wedo, while Moses, because of the miracle he performed before Pharoah, is held to be the father of Damballa.”

There is continuity between the American “Papa Lebat” (Papa Limba, or La Bas) and the Haitian Papa Legba. Similar songs were sung for them to “open the door” (gate), and they were both associated with St. Peter. It might also be relevant that the Hoodoo Spirit at the Crossroads is often described as an old beggar, or a “old big Black man”. This is similar to the appearance of the Haitian Papa Legba (old man), and different from West African Legba (young man, who always has his fucking dick out…)

(Notably, “The Broken Prophet” denies an association between the Spirit at the Crossroads and Papa Legba of Haitian Vodou. I do not dispute this, but I hypothesize that he is Papa Lebat (“Papa La Bas”, or “Papa Limba”) of New Orleans Voodoo)

“Blanc Dani” was also called “Daniel Blanc”. The phonetic similarity between his name and “Damballah” (Danbala) is apparent. Not to mention, he was also syncretized with a Catholic Saint, as the lwa were syncretized with Catholic Saints in Haiti. However, Daniel Blanc was syncretized with St. Michael, not St. Patrick. The continuity is less clear.

Additionally, there is a historical reference to a “Monsieur D’Embarras” who was worshiped in New Orleans. Maybe “Monsieur d’Embarass” was brought to New Orleans by Haitians, while “Blanc Dani” was there before the Haitian Revolution.

As far as I understand, it is inaccurate to equate “Blanc Dani” with Damballah. Rather, he is the American version of Da (Dan or Vodu Da), while Damballah is his Haitian counterpart.

See Jeffrey E. Anderson’s Voodoo: An African American Religion for further reading.