After Loko, the lwa Ayizan is sung for. She is the patron lwa of initiation, imaged as an old woman dressed in white, with big pockets in her clothes, who lives in the marketplace. Her sacred tree is the royal palm. Thus, at this point in the ceremony a royal palm crown is brought into the perisytle rolled up in white cloth, and presented to the four directions. The palm crown is reverently unrolled, and to the accompaniment of fervent singing, the frond is split over and over, until it resembles a giant plume.
Initiates use small strips of the palm frond to tie around their heads and arms.
When the palm frond is prepared, it is also called an ayizan. This whip, and the ayizan itself, is placed on a throne constructed for Ayizan. This throne is a chair placed on a very elaborate vever, covered in a white sheet. Under the sheet, on the chair, are certain items which only initiates are permitted to see. One by one or in pairs, initiates salute the throne and then burrow their heads under the sheet.