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.