Clermeil

{{Short description|Haitian Vodou god}}

In Haitian Vodou, Clermeil is a lwa who makes rivers flood their banks. He is usually depicted as a white male. Clermeil is believed to be the father of all light-colored children.{{cite journal |last1=Simpson |first1=George Eaton |title=Loup Garou and Loa Tales from Northern Haiti |journal=Journal of American Folklore |date=Oct–Dec 1942 |volume=55 |issue=218 |pages=219–227 |doi=10.2307/535864 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/535864 |access-date=February 21, 2024|url-access=subscription }} He is sometimes considered among the most powerful of lwa.{{cite journal |last1=Simpson |first1=George Eaton |title=4.4 Ideas about Ultimate Reality and Meaning in Haitian Vodun |journal=Ultimate Reality and Meaning |date=1980 |volume=3 |issue=3 |page=189 |url=https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/uram.3.3.187 |access-date=24 August 2024}}

According to legend, Clermeil was a cruel French colonial. When his slaves tried to kill him he prayed to the devil, and promised his soul if the devil would save him. One story tells of how he abducted a woman and carried her away to his home underwater.{{cite journal |last1=Courlander |first1=Harold |title=Gods of the Haitian Mountains |journal=Journal of Negro History |date=July 1944 |volume=29 |issue=3 |page=339 |access-date=24 August 2024 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.2307/2714821}}