Sentence:  Equally surprising is to find St Patrick so prominent in many Vodou shrines, until one remembers that he too had been a slave who had twice crossed the sea, the second time to freedom, and that he had particular power over snakes, like the <WSD>"loa</WSD>" (Haitian equivalent of "orisha") Dambala Wèdo. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  In the voodoo religion, a spirit intermediary between Bondye (the creator god) and human beings.