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Liber XXXIV · Vodou & Hoodoo

Liber XXXIV · Vodou & Hoodoo · Chapter V: The Lwa

The Gede and Fèt Gede: Haitian Vodou's Spirits of the Dead

Who the Gede are in Haitian Vodou: Bawon Samdi, Manman Brijit and the spirits of the dead, their humour and healing, and the Fèt Gede festival in November.

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The Gede (also spelled Ghede or Guédé) are the family of lwa in Haitian Vodou who belong to the dead. Led by Bawon Samdi and his wife Manman Brijit, they rule the cemetery and the passage from life to death, yet they are also the most comic, irreverent and sexually frank of the spirits, and they are honoured above all at Fèt Gede, the feast of the dead held on 1 and 2 November.

Who the Gede Are: Spirits of the Dead in Vodou§

In Vodou, every person has spiritual components that survive death, and the dead are not simply gone. They are honoured by their families, may be ritually reclaimed from "beneath the waters" a year and a day after death, and can in time become spirits who help the living. The Gede embody this world of the dead as a whole. Some practitioners describe them as a single great family of lwa; others speak of them as the collective dead themselves, the ancestors who have become spirits. (For the wider system of spirits, see The Lwa of Haitian Vodou.)

The Gede form their own branch of spirits, distinct from the cool Rada and the fiery Petwo, and they are usually saluted at the end of a ceremony, as death comes at the end of life. Scholars have connected their name with the Gedevi, an early people of the Abomey plateau in present-day Benin whom the Fon kings conquered, though the history of the name is uncertain. Whatever their origins, the Gede as they exist today are thoroughly Haitian: they speak Creole, comment on Haitian politics and wear the clothes of a Haitian undertaker.

Their realm is the cemetery, but their concern is life. Having passed through death, the Gede are said to fear nothing, and in popular belief they can refuse to "dig the grave" of someone not yet due to die.

Bawon Samdi, Manman Brijit and the Lords of the Cemetery§

At the head of the family stands the Bawon, a name derived from the French baron. He appears under three main titles: Bawon Samdi (Baron Saturday, linked to the day between Good Friday and Easter), Bawon Simityè (Baron Cemetery) and Bawon Lakwa (Baron of the Cross). Some houses treat these as three distinct spirits, others as aspects of one. The Bawon is the master of the cemetery and the keeper of the gate between the living and the dead; his permission is sought whenever the dead are involved.

His wife is Manman Brijit, also called Gran Brijit, who guards the graves, especially of women. A widespread tradition holds that in every new cemetery the first man buried becomes the Bawon of that place and the first woman buried becomes Brijit. At the centre of most Haitian cemeteries stands a large cross, often painted black, which is identified with the Bawon and receives candles, food and drink from visitors. The Bawon's vèvè, the ritual drawing traced in flour or cornmeal, typically shows a cross set on a tomb or coffin, sometimes with skulls and crossbones (see Vèvè and Sacred Symbols).

Around the Bawon and Brijit gather the many individual Gede. Gede Nibo, often described as a young man who died violently, is among the best known; others include Brav Gede, the Gede who guards the cemetery, and Gede Zarenyen, the spider. Each has a distinct character, and new Gede can appear, since the community of the dead keeps growing.

Signs of Gede: Dress, Speech, Humour and Dance§

When a Gede takes possession of a devotee, the change is unmistakable. The person is dressed in the colours of death, black and purple with touches of white, often in a black tailcoat or funeral suit, a top hat or bowler, and dark glasses, sometimes with one lens knocked out, which practitioners explain as a sign that the Gede see into both worlds. The face may be powdered white and the nostrils stuffed with cotton, as on a corpse prepared for burial. The Gede speak in a high, nasal voice, smoke, and carry a cane or a carved staff.

Their favourite drink is raw cane rum (kleren) steeped with hot peppers. In ethnographic accounts such as Maya Deren's Divine Horsemen, possessed devotees rub this burning liquid on sensitive parts of the body without flinching, which onlookers treat as a sign that the possession is genuine. Offerings commonly include simple foods such as roasted corn and peanuts, along with black coffee and cigarettes.

Above all, the Gede are funny. They tell obscene jokes, make fun of priests, politicians and wealthy people, flirt with everyone and dance the banda, a fast dance of rolling hips. Scholars such as Karen McCarthy Brown, in Mama Lola, interpret this humour as serious: the dead have nothing left to lose, so they can say what the living cannot, and their mockery cuts pretension down to size. Their sexual frankness expresses the link between death and the renewal of life, since the spirits of the grave are also patrons of fertility and of the procreation that replaces the dead.

Fèt Gede: The Feast of the Dead in Early November§

Fèt Gede, the festival of the Gede, falls on 1 and 2 November, the Catholic feasts of All Saints and All Souls. In Haiti these days are a national time of remembrance known as the Day of the Dead (Jou Lèmò). Many families attend Mass, clean and whitewash the tombs of relatives and light candles in the cemeteries, so that Catholic and Vodou practices meet in the same place.

The most famous gatherings take place at the Grand Cimetière of Port-au-Prince, where crowds of devotees, many dressed in black, purple and white, come to the cross of the Bawon. They pour rum, leave food and light candles at its foot, and drumming and singing continue while Gede possess people among the tombs. Across the country temples hold their own Gede ceremonies in the days around the feast, and possessed devotees roam the streets in the Gede's costume, teasing passers-by and asking for money or a drink.

Observers have long noted the double character of the festival: grief stands beside laughter and erotic dance. In Vodou thought this is not irreverence but recognition that death belongs to the cycle of life.

Healers, Guardians of Children and Judges of the Living§

The Gede are among the great healers of Vodou. Because they rule over death, they are asked to turn it away, and houngan and manbo describe them as especially protective of children; families may make vows to a Gede when a child is seriously ill. The Gede are also consulted in difficult cases, since a spirit who fears nothing can speak frankly about a person's situation. Practitioners stress that such ritual help is sought alongside, not instead of, medical care, and many Vodou healers today work with clinics.

The Bawon and Brijit also have a solemn role in funerary rites. When an initiate dies, a ritual called desounen separates the person's protecting lwa from the body. As guardians of the grave the Gede are said to protect the dead from misuse, and in the folklore of the zonbi it is the Bawon who can refuse such abuse; outsiders turned this folklore into horror stories, as discussed in Voodoo Myths and Misconceptions.

As with other lwa, Catholic imagery plays a part: the chromolithograph of Saint Gerard Majella contemplating a skull is often associated with Gede, and some devotees connect Brijit with Saint Brigid.

Gede in Politics, Art and the Haitian Diaspora§

Because the Gede speak for the dead and mock authority, they have long been part of Haitian political life. The dictator François Duvalier, who ruled from 1957 to 1971, is widely reported to have cultivated an image resembling the Bawon, with dark suits, glasses and a soft, nasal voice, in order to suggest that he commanded the power of the dead. Haitians also used the Gede's licence for satire: what a Gede says in possession can criticise the powerful in ways ordinary speech could not.

The Gede are a favourite subject of Haitian painting and sculpture. In the twenty-first century, artists of the Grand Rue in Port-au-Prince have built Gede figures from skulls, scrap metal and discarded objects, work shown in exhibitions such as In Extremis (2012), which explored death and life in contemporary Haitian art. The spirit also entered global popular culture, most visibly through the Baron Samedi character of the James Bond film Live and Let Die (1973), an image that has little to do with how the Bawon is served.

In the diaspora, Fèt Gede is celebrated by Haitian communities in New York, Miami, Montreal and elsewhere, joining remembrance of relatives with the ribald presence of the Gede, a reminder that in Vodou the dead remain part of the family. For the historical background see Vodou and the Haitian Revolution; on related traditions see African Diasporic Religions.

Frequently asked questions§

Who is Bawon Samdi?§

Bawon Samdi (Baron Samedi) is the head of the Gede family of lwa and the master of the cemetery in Haitian Vodou. He is associated with the cross at the centre of the graveyard, wears black and purple and is honoured especially on 1 and 2 November.

When is Fèt Gede?§

Fèt Gede is celebrated on 1 and 2 November, the Catholic All Saints' and All Souls' Days. Devotees visit cemeteries, make offerings at the cross of the Bawon and hold ceremonies for the Gede in temples across Haiti and the diaspora.

Why are the Gede so crude and funny?§

In Vodou the Gede have already passed through death, so they fear nothing and can speak freely. Their jokes and sexual humour mock pretension and power, and they express the belief that death and the renewal of life belong together.

Is Manman Brijit the wife of Baron Samedi?§

Yes. Manman Brijit, also called Gran Brijit, is regarded as the Bawon's wife and as a guardian of graves. Tradition holds that the first woman buried in a new cemetery becomes its Brijit, as the first man buried becomes its Bawon.

Sources and further reading§