Xɛvioso
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Xɛvioso (Maxi Xɛ̀vioso, Fon variously Xɛviosò, Xɛviesò or Xɛbiosò, Ewe Xebiosocode: ewe promoted to code: ee, borrowed into Yoruba as Xεbiosòcode: yor promoted to code: yo; variously rendered Xevioso, Xewioso, Hevioso, Hèvioso, Heviosso and Hebioso) is a god of thunder in Ewe and Dahomean religion.
Overview
Xɛvioso is an African voodoo deity of thunder, worshipped in West Africa. He is the god of thunder, lightning and rain. Known to populations of southern Benin. Xɛvioso is a righteous God. He chastises liars, thieves and villains by smiting them. In certain places the bas-reliefs of the temples of Xɛvioso represent this God in the form of a man who slaughtered at these feet a living being with an ax. He is the twin brother of Gun, and is one of the children of Mawu and Lisa.
Divinity
Xɛvioso forms a large family of smaller voduns and belongs to the category of so-called heavenly voduns (ji-vodun). Death by lightning is considered a punishment in West Africa. Xɛvioso is just, he punishes without mercy. People killed by lightning cannot have a normal burial. The remains of a person killed by lightning are ritually burned, the bones are kept. In some regions of Benin, the body is displayed in front of a temple dedicated to Xɛvioso. An event in which a person survives being struck by lightning is understood quite differently. This marks him as the spiritually chosen one and is considered the direct incarnation of vodun Xɛvioso. Xɛvioso cooperates significantly with the earth vodun Sakpata (Sopona in Yoruba religion), to whom he sends beneficial rain. Xɛvioso and Sakpata are supposed to be brothers, both of a very violent nature; when they quarrel and argue with each other, it causes long periods of drought, crop failure, but also infertility for women.
If Xɛvioso's lightning strikes a house and it catches fire, people must not put it out, they must call a priest of the Xɛvioso cult, and the building must not be reconstructed before the rite of atonement, otherwise the deity's wrath might spread to other people. Priests on the spot investigate the causes using the divination system fa. A storm rich in lightning always brings with it some form of victim; proof is the black sokpe stones that people look for after a storm. According to the believers, they fall during the rampage of the thunder lord Xɛvioso. Sokpe stones contain divine power called àzě (aṣẹ).
In Benin, in connection with the Xɛvioso cult, ritual axes can be seen with one or more crescent-shaped blades attached to each other. The shape of these blades is also a symbol used on items that refer to the vodun Xɛvioso. The ax is acquired by an initiated member of the cult and used in ceremonies and religious celebrations.
This divinity is also known as Jivodun, that is, Vodun of the rain in Fon.