Baron Samedi

Baron Samedi – the slightly less impressive Baron Saturday in English, also Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi, or Bawon Sanmdi – is one of the Loa of Haitian vodou, the spirits of the dead. Samedi is a Loa of the dead, along with Baron’s numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix, and Baron Kriminel. He is the head of the Guédé (or Ghede) family of Loa, or an aspect of them, or possibly their spiritual father. His wife is the Loa Maman Brigitte.

Haitian Vodou, also written as Voodoo is a syncretic religion practiced chiefly in Haiti and the Haitian diaspora. Practitioners are called “vodouists” or “servants of the spirits”. The word is first documented in 1658 and is distinct, though very similar, to the practices of Voodoo in Louisiana, hence the differing spelling.

                      

Vodouists believe in a distant and unknowable creator god, Bondye (Bon Dieu, literally ‘Good God’). As Bondye does not intercede in human affairs, vodouists direct their worship toward spirits subservient to Bondye, called loa. Every loa is responsible for a particular aspect of life, with the dynamic and changing personalities of each loa reflecting the many possibilities inherent to the aspects of life over which they preside. In order to navigate daily life, vodouists cultivate personal relationships with the loa through the presentation of offerings, the creation of personal altars and devotional objects, and participation in elaborate ceremonies of music, dance, and spirit possession.

Vodou originated in the French slave colony of Saint-Domingue in the 18th century, when African religious practice was actively suppressed, and enslaved Africans were forced to convert to Christianity. Religious practices of contemporary Vodou are descended from, and closely related to, West African Vodun as practiced by the Fon and Ewe. Vodou also incorporates elements and symbolism from other African peoples including the Yorùbá and Bakongo; as well as Taíno religious beliefs, and European spirituality including Roman Catholic Christianity, European mysticism, Freemasonry, and other influences.

Those in the Haitian Vodou practices that serve the loa are the Bokor. The Bokor are the Vodou priest/priestesses who can be hired to perform various sorcery. The Bokor practice both light and dark forms of magic. The Dark magic that they practice revolves mainly around the creation of zombies through the use of a mixture of poisons. These poisons are derived mainly from puffer fish and other poisonous substances.

The Ghede are the largest family of Loa in vodou embody the power of death and fertility. They are traditionally led by the Barons (La Croix, Samedi, Cimitière, Kriminel), and Maman Brigitte. The Ghede as a family are loud, rude (although rarely to the point of real insult), sexual, and usually a lot of fun. As those who have lived already, they have nothing to fear, and frequently will display how far past consequence and feeling they are when they come through in a service – eating glass, raw chillis, and anointing their sensitive areas with chilli rum for example. Their traditional colours are black and purple.

                    

Samedi is often pictured as a tall, handsome black man, wearing a top hat (white or black), a black tuxedo and dark glasses. He carries a cane and smokes cigarettes or cigars and is sometimes shown with cotton plugs in each nostril, reflecting the practice of Haitian burials. Other representations show him with a more skeletal appearance. He is regularly seen swigging alcohol (usually rum) and is known for dancing, disruption, obscenity and debauchery, none of which get in the way of his actual duties of healing those near or approaching death, as it is only Baron who can accept an individual into the realm of the dead. Baron Samedi spends most of his time in the invisible realm of spirits. He is notorious for his outrageous behaviour, swearing continuously and making filthy jokes to the other spirits. He is married to another powerful spirit known as Maman Brigitte. Baron Samedi can usually be found at the crossroads between the worlds of the living and the dead. When someone dies, he digs their grave and greets their soul after they have been buried, leading them to the underworld.

Maman Brigitte is similarly crazed and drinks rum infused with hot peppers and is symbolized by a black rooster. Like Baron and the Ghede, she uses obscenities, protecting gravestones in cemeteries if they are properly marked with a cross. Baron La Croix (The Cross) is the ultimate suave and sophisticated spirit of Death – quite cultured and debonair. He has an existential philosophy about death, finding death’s reason for being both humorous and absurd. Baron La Croix is the extreme expression of individuality, and offers to you the reminder of delighting in life’s pleasures.

Baron Cimitière is said to be the male guardian of the cemetery, protecting its graves. His horses wear a tuxedo or tails and a top hat. They have expensive tastes, smoking cigars and drinking wine or fine liquor. They are just as crass as the other Ghede, but ape polite manners and upper-class airs while doing so.

               

Baron Kriminel is a much feared spirit or Loa in the Haitian Vodou religion. He is envisioned as a murderer who has been condemned to death, and is invoked to pronounce swift judgment. When a person becomes possessed by Baron Kriminel they shout obscenities, spit and try to stab surrounding people. If, during possession, Baron Kriminel is presented with food he does not like, he will bite chunks out of the arms of the possessed person. He sometimes calls for sacrifices of black chickens to be doused in petrol and set alight. The shrieking of the chickens when being burned alive is said to appeal to the cruel nature of Baron Kriminel and appease him. Baron Kriminel is said to be one of Baron Samedi’s many aspects. Baron Kriminel will often grant requests in lieu, he is said to return on Fete Ghede, the Voduns’ “Festival of the Dead” (November 2nd), to claim payment. Baron Kriminel is often represented by Saint Martin de Porres, perhaps because his feast day is November 3rd, the day after Fete Ghede. His colours include black, purple, white and deep blood red.

Samedi ensures all corpses rot in the ground to stop any soul from being brought back as a brainless zombie. What he demands in return depends on his mood. Sometimes he is content with his followers wearing black, white or purple clothes or using sacred objects; he may simply ask for a small gift of cigars, rum, black coffee, grilled peanuts or bread.