The Word of the Day comes from "THE VANISHING HALF" by Brit Benntt, which is shortlisted for the 2021 Tournament of Books. The book is about twins, hence this word.
MARASSA
The Marassa, Vodou’s sacred twins, are spirits of paradox:
They are two distinct bodies who share one soul (or they are one soul with two bodies).
They are opposites who are simultaneously the same.
They are yin and yang, and yet they are one.
They are mirror reflections, but they represent both sides of the mirror.
They are the Creator’s very first children as well as the very first dead.
The Marassa rule thresholds; they span divides; they encompass, embody, and resolve contradictions. Their name derives from a Kikongo word, Mabasa, meaning “those who come divided” or “the one who comes as two.”
They are mystic, sacred, powerful, mysterious spirits. They are children, but they are ancient. The Marassa are profoundly potent healers and guardians of children. Do you want children? The Marassa provide and protect fertility, too. If asked, they will guard babies in the womb and oversee the childbirth process.
Of course, what is reproduction but the union of polarities? It takes two to make three. Another of the Marassa’s paradoxes is that “the one who comes as two” may really come as three. In esoteric Vodou cosmology, twins are perceived as incomplete. They await the third who completes them, the delayed triplet. The twins are forerunners of this third. The single child born after twins is considered even more magically powerful.
The Marassa are commonly compared to the Catholic Saints Cosmas and Damian.
Comments