Vodou Lesson 2, Continued

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Lesson 2, Part 3 - Fete Ghede in Haiti Today

November 2, All Soul's Day, commonly called Fet Gede (pronounced GAY-day), is a national holiday in Haiti. Catholics attend mass in the morning and then go to the cemetery, where they pray at family grave sites and make repairs to family tombs. The majority of Haitian Catholics are also Vodouisants, and vice versa, so on the way to the cemetery many people change clothes from the white they wore to church, to the purple and black of the lwa Gede, the spirits of the departed ancestors.

By midmorning the streets of Port-au-Prince are thronged with thousands of people. Dozens are already possessed by a Ghede, and their nasal voices, obscene jokes, and gyrating banda dance make them unmistakable. Grand Cemetiere, the main cemetery of Port-au-Prince, is jammed with people. Crowds press close around the twelve foot high ceremonial cross of Baron and the nearby smaller cross of Maman Brigitte. Many bring offerings of black coffee and rum, which they pour at the foot of the crosses. They also bring food offerings of bread, grilled peanuts, roast corn, and sometimes peppery cooked food. Occasionally a person, usually a Houngan or Mambo, will sacrifice a chicken or a pair of pigeons or doves. The offering is quickly appropriated by the many beggars who throng the cemetery. Some people sell candles, beeswax tapers, and religious images of saints considered to represent Baron, Maman Brigitte, and the Ghedes.

Imagine a Mambo in voluminous skirts of black and lavender, a flounced bodice of the same colors, several silk kerchiefs wrapped around her head, and strings of beads at her neck; as she approaches the cross of Maman Brigitte with her hounsis (those who have received the first grade of initiation.) She carries sticky beeswax tapers which she affixes to each arm of the cross and to it's center. Then she produces a black hen from her straw knapsack, and passes it downward over the bodies of her hounsis, removing all evil influences. After prayer, she kills the chicken quickly just as she would for an ordinary meal. The blood spurts on the cross, and she donates the chicken to a hungry beggar woman awaiting alms. The Mambo becomes possessed by Maman Brigitte, and prophesies the events of the coming year. One of the hounsis who has behaved badly is disciplined with a few gentle taps, and one who is ill is given the recipe for an herbal tonic. Then Maman Brigitte drenches her cross with rum and sets it alight, singing and dancing the banda with great virtuosity to the joy of all present. A few moments later she leaves the head of her Mambo, who, returned to consciousness, composes herself and leaves the cemetery with the utmost dignity.

Across town at the cemetery of Drouillard, wherein are buried the poorest of the poor, the people of the Cite Soleil neighborhood, the worship is yet more intense. Bands of Vodouisants from various peristyles march singing behind teams of drummers, with more and more people undergoing possession as they near the cemetery. Those who remain in their normal consciousness visit the graves of friends and relatives, speaking to them as though they can hear under the ground.

"Look, Papa," says one woman, "I've brought food for you."

"Older brother," weeps a young man, "the Army killed you, we found your body in pieces, but all of your pieces are there, brother, are they not? You will not play the drums for us again, dear brother.... Mother misses you, she wanted to come but she is ill.... see the rum I have brought for you!"

The Ghede lwa, epitomizing defiance, sweep through the crowd shouting obscene jokes and singing obscene songs at the top of their lungs. Here is a song popular among the Ghedes last year in the Drouillard cemetery:

(Haitian Creole)
Zozo, tone! A la yon bagay ingra, (repeat)
Koko malad kouche, zozo pa bouyi te ba l bwe,
Koko malad kouche, zozo pa vini we l.

(English - with caution and apologies to those of delicate sensibilites)
Penis, by thunder! What an ungrateful thing, (repeat)
Vagina is sick lying down, penis does not boil tea for her,
Vagina is sick lying down, penis does not come to see her.

(The words zozo and koko are actually very naughty terms for the parts
involved, not at all like "penis" and "vagina".)

Last year I, an American Mambo, left a peristyle with a Houngan and our congregation. The Houngan had a very powerful Baron in his head called Secretaire de la Croix, but Secretaire was refusing to possess the Houngan, because the Houngan had taken some of the money given him for Fet Gede and used it for his own purposes. The Houngan was very humiliated, and decided to go directly to the cemetery to ask for forgiveness.

I had the use of a pickup truck, so we filled it up with members of our peristyle and drove through the choked streets to the cemetery. We got stuck in traffic, and as we sat and sat, Baron Secretaire de la Croix became impatient and took my head instead!

As far as I am told, there was a car in the oncoming lane, also stuck. Secretaire leaned out the driver's window of the stopped pickup and began to talk with the occupants of the car, who were very surprised to see a Baron in the head of a foreign Mambo! Two very wealthy ladies were seated in the back of the car, and Baron paid them special honor.

"Good evening, ladies," said Baron.

"Good evening, Baron, Papa," they giggled.

"And how are your clitorises today?", inquired Baron very seriously. "If your clitorises are not well, you may tell me, and I will tell those two big old penises in the front of the car to go to work!"

The women, who under any other circumstances would have been furious, roared with laughter, as did the two men in the front of the car. The older woman leaned out the window and replied to Baron.

"Our clitorises are very well, Baron Papa. Thank you very much!"

And in a few moments the traffic jam broke up and Baron released me from possession, leaving me to drive the pickup truck to the cemetery and grovel with embarassment as our peristyle members, laughing hysterically, related the incident to me!

In the evening, each peristyle holds a dance in honor of Baron, Maman Brigitte, and the Ghedes. The people who come must all be fed, and the lwa who appear are also feasted from kettles of food specially prepared for them. Dancing goes on long into the night, even until daybreak. The artistry of the lwa is incomparable, and even non-Vodouisants often come to watch. Then the exhausted worshippers return home, to await the coming of Fete Ghede the following year.