Happy Gede

Every year, on November 1 and 2, Haiti becomes the stage for a unique celebration: Fèt Gede, the "Festival of the Dead". Much like the Day of the Dead practiced in Mexico and by Latin communities in the US, Fèt Gede is a way to pay respects to loved ones who have passed on.

In Haiti, each religion celebrates this differently: Catholics meet at church for a mass dedicated to the deceased, and Protestants come together too — but adherents of one of the country's state religions — vodou — celebrate their deceased in a much more festive way. Although it overlaps with the concept and calendar space of Christian All Souls Day, Fête Gede traces its origins to African ancestral traditions, preserved across oceans and centuries in modern-day Haiti.

Bawon Samdi (/Samedi), also known as Papa Gede, presides over the festivities. Papa Gede's colors are black, white and purple, and he is often characterized smoking cigars, wearing a top hat and sunglasses – frequently with only one lens. Some say this is because Bawon Samdi sees both worlds, which gives him an uncanny resemblance to the one-eyed god Odin of Nordic mythology, who also tread the path between the dead and the living.

Papa Gede

An awesome figure in black, controlling the eternal crossroad which everyone must someday pass over--the crossing from life to death. His symbol is the cross upon a tomb. Ghede is to the underworld or afterlife what Legba is to life--he who controls access.

Ghede is also the spirit of eroticism, which is beyond good and evil since it is inevitable. Ghede is neither delighted by eroticism, and certainly not shamed by it. If anything he is amused by the universal presence of eroticism and humans' constant need to pretend that it is other than what it is.

When Ghede mounts someone he often singles out people who pretend to be aloof from eroticism. He ridicules them, embarrasses them, exposes them (in more ways than one). He is especially hard on whites since they often have the puritanical sexual attitudes of western culture.

Loa of sexuality, he is enamored of women, makes constant use of obscene words and songs, and performs lude dances. When someone is mounted by Ghede and dressed in black coat, top hat and sun glasses, Ghede performs the banda dance, a gyrating dance in which one imitates the movements of copulation.

Ghede is a clown, an interrupter, a coarse fellow. He is much loved because his appearance always brings laughter and joy, singing and dancing, though much of it is lude. He loves cigarettes and is often seen smoking two at a time. He is neither good nor evil, but is amused by humans and that's why he jokes around so much. He is usually the last to appear at a ceremony.

Ghede is also often called BARON SAMEDI. In this aspect he is DEATH. He is the keeper of the cemetery and the primary contact with the dead. Anyone who would seek contact with the dead must first solicit Ghede/Baron Samedi in the same way that Papa Legba is contacted to cross over to the spirit world. He is the loa of death and resurrection. But he is history too. As keeper of the cemetery he has intimate contact with the dead. He knows what their plans were, what's going on in families, what the connections of things are, and is quite generous with his information. Even when he is clowning or performing his erotic antics, if one can pull him aside and ask him a serious question he will give a serious and reliable answer.

Another of Ghede's great powers is as the protector of children. He does not like to see children die. They need a full life. Thus he is the loa to go to when seeking help for a sick child. He has the power over zombies and decides whether or not people can be changed into animals. Any such black magic Voodoo must seek the help of Baron Samedi/Ghede.

Lastly, since Ghede is the lord of death, he is also the final last resort for healing since he must decide whether to accept the sick person into the dead or allow them to recover.

Papa Legba

A lwa in Haitian Vodou, Winti and Louisiana Voodoo, who serves as the intermediary between God and humanity. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives (or denies) permission to speak with the spirits of Guineé, and is believed to speak all human languages. In Haiti, he is the great elocutioner. Legba facilitates communication, speech, and understanding. He is commonly associated with dogs. Papa Legba is invoked at the beginning of every ceremony. Papa Legba has his origins in the historic West African kingdom of Dahomey, located within present-day Benin.

Papa Legba is one of the most well-known and influential figures in the Haitian Vodou religion. As an intermediary between the human world and that of the loa, he’s generally invoked before and after any ceremony in which a person seeks to communicate with the spirit world.

Unlike many of the other figures we cover on this website, Papa Legba is alive and well today in the Haitian Vodou religion, much as similar figures in Catholicism, such as Saint Peter, still hold fast in the minds of many religious practitioners. Papa Legba’s associations vary depending on the region and believers. These associations include:

   Crossroads
   Gateways
   Locks
   Doors
   Communication and Understanding
   Speech
   Dogs
   Roosters

He’s also associated with the colors black, red, yellow, and sometimes purple (Papa Legba’s colors vary, but red is usually a common one). Although not a sinister spirit, Papa Legba still commands respect and requires simple offerings for his assistance. These offerings vary depending on the believers, but they are often little things like candy, tobacco, dark rum, or coffee.

Although Papa Legba is known to be the great communicator, he is sometimes known as a trickster because the messages he brings back from the loa can be confusing.

Rarely is his job of translating a message from one of the many languages the loa use an easy task. As such, they often come in the form of riddles or dreams or simply muddled messages whose meaning is lost in translation.

Not to be confused with New Orleans Voodoo or Vodoun, which is a different branch of the Haitian Vodou religion. The two branches of Vodou share many similarities but are different enough that it’s important not to use the terms interchangeably. Neither Vodou nor Voodoo believes in an evil antagonist whose goal is to thwart the doings of their version of “God,” known as Bondye. As such, there’s really no equivalent to the Christian Devil in either religion.

Voodoo, practiced predominantly in Louisiana, is a mixture of religious practices and Southern folk magic. Again, this is not to be confused with Hoodoo, which is not a religion but a form of folk magic without any real structure or belief system, as the specific practices are passed from individual to individual and vary from practitioner to practitioner. The Hoodoo version of Papa Legba is called Papa Laba.

In fact, Hoodoo practitioners believe mainly in elements of Catholicism and African gods. Many Hoodoo “magick” spells or incantations are performed with a text from the bible. Often, this is the book of Psalms. But these practitioners don’t invoke the name of Jesus or the Christian God in their ceremonies. Depending on the spell or ritual, the Hoodoo practitioner may use herbs, roots, animal parts, crystals, and even bodily fluids in their special form of witchcraft and folk spirituality.