The gods of My Love, My Love are everything to the peasants of the Jewel of the Antilles. They are responsible for the gifts bestowed on the people, and even though those are severely lacking in their village right now, they remain unrepentant in their praise. This village, though set in modern times, is very tribal. The peasants live in dirt huts and are shocked to see a car. They live in a low tech, agricultural lifestyle. It's not very glamorous and their work load is heavy and yields few results. But the flora around them seem other worldly. There are bright greens and clear crisp blues in their skies and their trees. Vibrant flowers grow on the land. Flamboyants, magnolias, and azaleas all inhabit their small, poor village, but as the drought becomes even more devastating on small farms, the gods great work is less magical. The villagers still turn to them for guidance and gifts. They worship e gods and what each of them represents in hopes they'll protect their designated "charge."
Each god represents something to the people. As aka is goddess of the earth and especially important to these villagers. She appears to have been a kind protector. The storyteller said that when she smiled the villagers laughed with joy. When I picture her, she's beautiful. She's more than the goddess of the earth, she is the earth. The villagers allude that it is under her guidance and because of her feelings that the earth behaves and looks as it does. She would have dark, toffee skin and would be covered in flora. Vines would climb up her calves and form like an all natural gladiator shoe. Her hair would be dark and tangled artfully on the top of her head. Leaves and flowers would crown her head. More vines would wrap up her hands and stretch up her arms. Her clothes wouldn't be western, instead more tribal. They would be relatively loose fitting, but tied up around her waist. They would be dark green and made up of huge leaves from some massive tropical tree. The color would only be interrupted by vines that had crawled up her shoulders and around her neck. To me, she looks like a cross between a witch doctor and Mother Earth. To create a costume for her, I'd recommend a ton of fake vines and a hairstyle that would require a bunch of hairspray.
Agwe is the second most mentioned god. He's in love with Asaka and delivered plentiful rain to her earth as a show of his affection. The book mentions an instance of infidelity as a possible reason for his withdrawal from their village. He's the god of water. I picture him with blue face paint on his cheeks and forehead resembling waves. He would be dressed in dark blue and his skin would have bluish tint (I'm assuming that he lives or spends time in the water). He would also be clothed in a tunic style dress with a tribal pattern. Black shapes would be imposed on the dark blue cloth. He would have different lengths of blue fabric wrapped around his shoulders and around his waist. They would lay on top of each other and when he moved, would sway in a wavelike manner.
Erzulie and Papa Ge have not been mentioned yet, expect in passing. Erzulie is the goddess of love. I imagine her in a floor length dress. It would be a collage or reds and pinks. Flamboyants and magnolias would be painted on. Her hair would be left down and flow down her back. Flowers would be weaved in her hair and I imagine gold around her eyes and wrapped around her arms. Papa Ge would be the opposite of her flirty and bright coloring. He is the god of death. I think he would look likiie one of those skeletons from the Day of the Dead. His face would be painted in that fashion, but I don't picture him as an actual skeleton. He's the only one of the gods that would be wearing pants. Both would be dark. He would have a necklace of red feathers and a staff of charred wood.
The gods' outfits all reflect their gifts, and perhaps as the book goes on, their personalities. There are several different ways of interpreting their roles. Some might not have dressed them so much according to their roles, but I think their roles are also part of their life force. I pictured them as usual I real people because that's how they are often referred to as in the book. To these villagers, these gods are beings that they can talk to and interact with, so I was reluctant to make them too other worldly as to make their interactions with the villagers seem too ridiculous or unimaginable. I pictured them as retaining many human characteristics, but their customing utilizes bright colors and living things- things that the villagers of the very poor village cannot afford to walk around in. They look similar enough for their interactions to be plausible, but different enough that it's clear that there are from two different worlds.
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