Erzulie by Gerard Valcin
Veve
Catholic European Christian iconography and art clearly influenced Haitian art and popular religion. The image of the Black Madonna could have disseminated in Haiti with the presence of Polish soldiers in the French army sent to reconquer the land under Napoleon's brother-in-law. Of course the spread of the Black Madonna image could have also arose from later Catholic influences in Haiti after the Vatican finally recognized the nation in the mid-19th century or during several Church-run "anti-superstition" campaigns against Haitians who practiced Vodou. Regardless, it's a fascinating example of how art and ideas transcend race, gender, and religious lines. Scholars disagree on the Black Madonnas of Christian Europe, but it's appearance in Haitian religious practice and art demonstrates how individuals and peoples borrow ideas and reinterpret them. Thus, the Catholic Virgin becomes a spirit of sexuality and love in Haitian Vodou.
My understanding of the iconography of the Black Madonna with respect to Vodun is that it represents the Loa, Erzulie Dantor, who is of the Petro pantheon, as opposed to the above-mentioned Loa, Erzulie Freda of the Rara pantheon. These are distinctively different lwa.
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