The Marasa are the sacred twins of Vodou. In Haiti twin-ship guarantees the twin heightened magical power. As a matter of fact many people in Haiti, who would not normally be classified as ‘twins’, rely on a very specific Haitian understanding of what it means to be a twin, in order to socially procure the power associated with being a twin. All over the world, including the United States, people are born polydactyl; however in the US this is usually “corrected” by a minor surgical procedure. But in Haiti to be polydactyl is overt proof of your status as a twin. The extra digit is said to be the only remaining proofs of their twin sibling, who was destroyed and consumed by the living twin in the womb.  

Twinship isn’t the only way for power to be conferred to a child during birth. The child born after a set of twins (dosu if it’s a boy and dosa if it’s a girl) is said to embody both the power of their twin siblings and their own personal power making them ritually powerful as well. While their magic is in fact very strong it doesn’t carry with it the ability to easily “double”.  

The Marasa are great magicians! They have the ability to “double”. When using them in magic you can “double” the magic’s effectiveness or use them to “double” very explicit things such as money. While the Marasa are in fact twins they are served as if they were a single entity – but must always be served in “doubles”. You should never give the Marasa one of anything, it will only upset the other twin and cause a fight and possibly contribute to only complicating your problem instead of alleviating it.  

The Marasa in Rada are served any day of the week, except Saturday, and are most commonly associated with the image of St. Cosmos and St. Damien, while the Marasa in Petro, who are actually either seen as triplets or the Marasa plus the dosu or dosa, are normally served on Saturday and are represented by the “three virtues”.  One of the more common songs used while serving the Marasa is as follows:

 Marasa elou,

Marasa elou, elou e!

Marasa elou,

Marasa elou, elou e!

Ewa ewa Marasa elou, O elou e!

Ewa ewa Marasa elou, O elou e!

Ago, ago e!  Ago, ago.

Because children in Haiti are though to embody an angelic quality about them, the Marasa are most often served with pure white. However, I have seen some people serve them with white and a very soft pastel yellow.  

Because the Marasa are children they are often served with toys such as jacks, playing cards, balls, etc and are never served alcoholic drinks. They are frequently given drinks such as colas, water, light coffee (with lots of sugar), and occasionally a non-alcoholic drink found in Haiti called Malta. They are fed red beans and rice, cassava bread, rice pudding, corn meal pudding, and candies. It’s very important to remember, when you are feeding the Marasa to offer everything in pairs.