The Ghede Loa, Voodou Spirits of Death and Parties

Last night, I found myself needing to take some medicine. I hate medicine. But, I enjoy a good alcohol, so I have an abundance of shot glasses handy at any given point. The clever reader can see where this is going; Yes, like a nervous college freshman drinking underage for the first time, I took a shot(of Dayquil!) and coughed like someone had punched me in the throat. Now, this may sound like a sudden and jarring veering of direction from my last blog post, but rest assured, this relates to the greater theme of this blog somehow. You see, the shot glass that I used last night had the Veve(Symbol) of Baron Samedi, one of the Loa of Vodou. Now, enough about my inability to take medicine like a normal human being; This week, we will be talking about some of the Loa associated with Baron Samedi, the Ghede.

The Facts

The Loa are to Voodou what saints and angels are to the Christian faiths. Intermediaries between the mortal realm and the supernatural, the Loa are the entities that practitioners pray to in order to achieve certain ends. Many Loa are evolutions of gods and spirits of animistic religions that originate from Africa, but, like much of the region Voodou originates from, a cultural mixing occurred over time, and Loa often have some connection to Catholic saints. This can be attributed to the fact that while many of the African slaves brought over to the America's brought their religions and faiths with them, they were unable to openly practice them. Those that wished to remain faithful to their roots practiced their religion under the guise of Christianity, using the images of these saints to represent their own deities.
The Loa can be grouped together, either by their origins on a geographic level (Loa carried over from certain African regional faiths) or by their behaviors within the Voodou faith. Examples of these divisions exist within the Rada, a peaceful sect of Loa; the Petro, who are more willfully antagonistic and associated with fire; and the Ghede, obscene figures associated most commonly with life and death. Other divisions of these figures exist, but these are three of the largest 'families' among the Loa of Voodou.

Similar to saints in Catholicism, Loa hold dominion over certain aspects of life-- love, death, gambling, illness-- and these domains are what a Loa are prayed to in hopes of having them influence worldly events. In order to pray to the Loa an appropriate ceremony of “serving the Loa” must be made. These ceremonies can range from simple prayers to elaborate offerings and group rituals, include sacrifices of things associated with the Loa, usage of the Loa's symbolic Veve to draw them to the material world, and use of appropriate colors that represent each Loa. The family of Loa that we will be looking at, the Guédé, or Ghede, are most associated with death and fertility, and their colors are black and purple. They are by far the most crude of the Loa, often dancing in sexually explicit ways, known for their dirty mouths, and love of a fiery, pepper-spiced rum. The rum and peppers are an important symbol of the Ghede, as the pain from either imbibing or rubbing the pepper on the body is meant to show a willingness to sacrifice in order to contact the Ghede. Someone more clever than I am could make a funny joke that connects me taking that shot of cold medicine and the drinking of pepper-spiced rum. But seeing as I'm not that person, I'll just mention that there could be a joke.
In short, there is one thing that you should be taking away from this introduction of the Ghede. They're the fun ones. 

The Ghede and Their Domains

Baron Samedi: One of the most recognizable of the Ghede Loa, Baron Samedi is the ‘father’ of the Ghede Loa and is the master of the dead. Just as crude and obscene as the other Ghede, Baron Samedi is often depicted in a top hat, tailed suit coat, and smoking a cigar. When a practitioner is possessed by Baron Samedi they stuff their ears and nose full of cotton to imitate the dead. Baron Samedi watches over graveyards, alongside his wife, Grandma Brigitte. 
        Note: Baron Samedi is the inspiration for the appearance of Disney villain, Doctor Facilier. 

Maman Brigitte: A Loa of fertility, Grandma Brigitte is the matriarch of the Ghede family of Loa. Do not be confused though. Baron Samedi’s wife is just as crass and obscene as her husband. Maman Brigitte is the only white Loa, with her origins being traced back to a Celtic goddess of healing and life. As such, Maman Brigitte is rather stereotypically Celtic, having long, fiery hair, and emerald green eyes. Alongside her husband, she guards over graveyards, ensuring that the spirits within remain safe and do not leave. 

Papa Ghede: Psychopomp of the Voodou faith, Papa Ghede is a frail old man responsible for crossroads. His most important crossroad is that between the realms of the living and the dead. Being a psychopomp, Papa Ghede guides the dead on their way to the afterlife. He is divinely gifted with the ability to read minds and know the happenings of both the worlds of the dead and the living at all times. Papa Ghede is also said to be the corpse of the first man to ever die. Papa Ghede is traditionally a Loa that is called upon at the beginning and end of all ceremonies, as it is only with his permission that humans may speak with the other side. 

Ghede Nibo: Where Papa Ghede is the first man to have died and a good-intentioned guardian between the worlds, Ghede Nibo is the first murder victim, and a somewhat evil Loa. He also guards the crossroads between the worlds but is said to allow evil spirits to cross over into the world. Ghede Nibo also functions as the patron of those to have died of unnatural causes or whose resting places are unknown.

Baron Kriminel: With a fairly straight forward cognate ofa name, Baron Kriminel’s background may not be surprising. The first murderer (he probably killed Nibo, but they seem to have gotten over it), Baron Kriminel is a Loa of justice and enforcer among the Ghede. Prayers to Baron Kriminel focus on revenge of those wrongly harmed, and those he possesses are said to have insatiable appetites, even eating themselves. While it may seem odd to have a criminal function as a Loa of justice, Baron Kriminel's position seems to be one of punishment. in Vooudou that Barons act as arbitrators and and judges of punishment. Kriminel seems to have gained his position as a form of repetence in that regard. 

There are countless Ghede Loa within the Voodou faith, and it is said that only Samedi and Brigitte know their true numbers, and these are only some of the core members within the Ghede family. These Loa sound so very outlandish to most people that practice more conventional and widespread faiths in the modern Western world. It is important, however, to remember that just as much as these spirits may sound entertaining to the average reader, they are very much so a staple of a real religion, and their wild behavior does not make them any less legitimate as a form of faith than any other religious figure.

Gilgamesh, King of Uruk

Gilgamesh, depicted restraining a lion

For a blog that aims to focus on legends, the mysterious, and occult is there really a place more apt to start than the first legendary hero himself? Gilgamesh, a historical figure that story and song have carried to deification, was a Sumerian ruler whose larger than life existence could only reasonably be carried forward through supernatural exploits and a legendary quest. While mankind has always looked to the heavens for the answers to mysteries beyond their comprehension, Gilgamesh began as a man and became more than that through stories told long after his passing. The deeds of gods became the deeds of man, and perhaps those very stories ignited the kindling of humanity's search for inner divinity.

The Facts

Gilgamesh existed, this much of the story is certain. The mortal Gilgamesh ruled over the Sumerian city-state of Uruk, which rested east of the Euphrates River, sometime between 2800-2500 BC. Exactly what deeds Gilgamesh achieved throughout his life that prompted rulers after him to claim relation and friendship is uncertain, but what is known is that he is credited with building the walls of the city of Uruk and that, upon his death, the Euphrates was diverted for the sole purpose of his burial. But, those are the facts, the boring stuff. We want to know the deity born of the man. These legends are told in humanity’s oldest remaining great literary work.

The Legend, The Stories, The Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh(Right) and Enkidu(Left)

   The Epic of Gilgamesh paints Gilgamesh as a cruel king, so bad that the gods themselves deem to interfere and create a mighty creature, Enkidu, for the sole purpose of besting the son of the goddess Ninsun. Enkidu is a creature of such animalistic power and disposition that it takes weeks of ‘taming’ by a temple prostitute just to allow him within society. Enkidu, made for the express purpose of beating Gilgamesh intercepts him and the two fight. Thus Gilgamesh’s first mighty feat: The king readily beats the divinely created Enkidu, and the two become boon companions.

   These two mighty figures proceed to perform yet more legendary deeds, all to grow Gilgamesh’s fame and renown. They travel to the Cedar Forest, divine realm of the Sumerian gods, to kill the legendary, lion-faced giant, Humbaba. Gilgamesh and his companion defeat the giant, refuse his pleas for mercy, and kill not only Humbaba but his seven children. They chop trees from the Cedar Forest and fashion boats to return to Uruk with their prize of Humbaba’s head. Along this journey, Gilgamesh rebukes the advances of a goddess, the result of which is divine retribution in the form of The Bull of Heaven, which, as divine retributions tend to do, begins laying waste to Gilgamesh’s home of Uruk.

   As legendary figures tend to do, Gilgamesh and his trusted companion Enkidu make fast work of The Divine Bull and the city celebrates, praising Gilgamesh for his two-fold achievements. Now, having crossed the gods a number of times that seem to almost cross the “too many” line, Gilgamesh ha officially earned the ire of those above. As I said though, these transgressions do not seem to cross that “too many” line, and the gods decide that fitting punishment would be to kill Enkidu, and, after days of suffering sickness, the man that Ninsun had adopted as Gilgamesh’s brother dies.

   The death of Enkidu sends Gilgamesh on his greatest journey. Fearing for his own end, Gilgamesh sets out to search for eternal life, traveling where no man had before and comes upon Utnapishtim and his wife, sole survivors of The Great Flood (More on the prominence of Flood Myths in another post!). Utnapishtim tests Gilgamesh to see if he can “conquer sleep” before conquering death, challenging the king to stay awake for a straight week. When Gilgamesh fails Utnapishtim assures him that immortality is not to be lightly gained, convincing the Sumerian king of the futility of his quest. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a plant that can restore his youth, however. Gilgamesh promptly loses the plant while bathing. The great Epic ends, thus making the oldest existing literary work the oldest existing example of an underwhelming conclusion. 

Hey, I guess writers of great Epics run out of steam eventually too: A strange decline in intensity, if you ask me. Anyway, would love to hear any and all thoughts on Gilgamesh, his stories, and any suggestions for future posts.