Loco (loa)

Loco (also spelled Loko) is a loa, patron of healers and plants, especially trees in the Vodou religion. He is a racine (root), and a rada loa. Among several other Loa he is linked with the poteau mitan or centrepost in a Vodou peristyle.

He is the husband of loa Ayizan, and just as she is the archetypal Mambo (priestess), so her husband Loco is considered the first Houngan (priest). As the spiritual parents of the priesthood he and his wife are two of the Loa involved in the kanzo initiation rites in which the Priest/ess to be is given the asson (sacred rattle and tool of the priesthood), and are both powerful guardians of "reglemen," or the correct and appropriate form of Vodoun service.

This loa is also known by the Haitians Arawak ancestors. He is similar to the Arawak Deity Louquo, a founding ancestor of the Arawak people.