TOO DREAD TO BE DEAD

GEDÉ

IS JUST WHO WE NEED
RIGHT NOW!

 

 

In the aftermath of Katrina, when all the city of New Orleans appears to be dead, who, you might ask, would want to hang around this place now?

It would have to be somebody familiar with desolation, that’s for sure, and not put off by challenges. Someone who brings the party with him, so to speak; who knows just the prescription for these post-Katrina blues.

No it ain’t the Big Boeuf of Fat Tuesday!

 

Too dread to be dead and too much of a good time to be kept down, now’s the time to call on Papa Gede for a healing wild abandon.

Known as the Lwa of the Dead in Vodoun, Papa Gede, or Ghede, is also known as the Baron Samdi, and is married to Manman Brigit, mother of all Gedes. Together the Gedes dress in funeral colors of purple and black and surround themselves with graveyard imagery. The Gedes are very wise, Papa Gede most of all, because they possess the accumulated wisdom of all the dead.

Papa Gede usually appears wearing all black, a top hat, sunglasses with one eye out, to symbolize his power in the world of the seen and the unseen. He is a wise counselor and a shameless trickster; he is especially loving toward children, and is called the patron of children throughout the Vodoun world.

You can count on Gede to keep you from wallowing in your sorrows, and he usually arrives when everyone is tired, exhausted and ready for sleep. That’s when Gede will want to hear another song, have another drink, and eat another meal!

Devotions to Gede, who is syncretized with St. Gerard, are carried out during the entire month of November, but most especially on November 1st (All Saints Day) and 2nd (All Souls Day).

During these devotions, Papa Gede will arrive with the entire retinue of Gedes in tow. They eat and drink with gluttony, for, like Death, the Gedes are never satisfied, and they especially enjoy hot, peppered foods and rum that has had Scotch Bonnet peppers soaking in it.

But Papa Gede is not just gluttony and cool clothes. He is the powerful Lwa often called upon for healing. As the Avatar of Death it is also within his power to effect healing, and if ever there was a need for healing, it is here, now.

The beautiful city of New Orleans is broken but not beaten, is bent but not destroyed. Slowly, it is beginning to heal. She is like a grand old dame who is suffering from a serious, life-threatening illness, and she needs every healing effort. Who better to call on now than Papa Gede?

He is able to help with grief, and there are many grieving here and throughout the Diaspora that is post-Katrina New Orleans. Gede will also lead the Beloved Dead across the black waters of the Abyss where they can rest, and their loved ones can heal.

 

Papa Gede will give sound advice and provide honest answers to the tough questions facing all of us in the aftermath of Katrina. Finally, Papa Gede is there to comfort and protect young children, the littlest victims, uprooted and without a sense of what is to come.

So, as death has plagued us and desolation has surrounded us, now comes a time to heal and to take stock for the future, whatever that holds. Who better to follow than Papa Gede who stands at the center of all roads? Through death there is rebirth, and here in New Orleans that should start with a party as only the Baron can give!

Eat, drink, party until you drop! Cry, moan, mourn, then pick yourself up by your spats, put your top hat on, and follow Papa Gede into the unseen future.

Go on! At this point, it can only get better!

Offer Gede red hot peppers, pepper-soaked rum and hot Creole foods. He likes black cock feathers, images of black roosters, bones and graveyard stones, sunglasses with one lens, top hats, and purple and black candles, ribbons and satin. Celebrate his fete on the Day of the Dead, November 1st.

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Gede' places to visit on the Internet:

Gede', Ghede is the god of the dead in voodoo, but it is also the name of the group of deities who belong to his retinue. He is a very wise man for his knowledge is an accumulation of the knowledge of all the deceased. He stands on the center of all the roads that lead to Guinee, the afterworld.

Ghede is represented as an undertaker, dressed completely in black wearing dark glasses. His followers disguise themselves as corpses and they dance the Banda. Other members of his retinue are Baron la Croix and Baron Cemetière. His feminine counterpart is Maman Brigitte.

Maman Brigitte
The Haitian voodoo goddess who protects the graves in cemeteries that are marked with the cross. Her masculine counterpart is Ghede (Baron Samedi).

Gede also names a family of raucous spirits who personify the ancestral dead and sexual regeneration. Their boss is the Baron (Bawon Samdi, or 'Baron Saturday'), married to Grand Brigitte, mother of the Gedes. Family members dress themselves in black and purple costumes reminiscent of Masonic garb, and surround themselves with graveyard imagery. They also favor sunglasses because the world above ground is too bright. Gede is a shameless trickster, a wise counselor, and a benevolent healer known to have special love for children. Devotions to Gede are carried out on Fridays and/or Mondays, and during the entire month of November, 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.

 

Gede.org
Small but well-designed site which features pages of information about some of the major Vodou lwa,...

www.gede.org

The Lwas: Gede
"The Gede family of spirits are the guardians of the dead and masters of libido. ... Gede has strong powers of healing that are especially potent for ...

http://www.gede.org/lwas/gede.html

Salak and Gede
Gede, Java, Indonesia. Location: 6.8 S, 107.0 E Elevation: 2958 m ... Gede is a stratovolcano with at least 21 eruptions between 1747 and 1957. ...

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/so ... asia/indonesia/salak_gede.html

Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou | Gede and the Baron | American ...
The Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou exhibition, hosted by the American Museum of Natural History from October 1998 until January 1999, explored the arts and ...

http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/vodou/spirits7.html

Vodou Lesson 2, Part 3
Peristyle Mural Detail November 2, All Soul's Day, commonly called Fet Gede (pronounced GAY-day), is a national holiday in Haiti. Catholics attend mass in ...

http://members.aol.com/racine125/vleson2a.html

National Museums of Kenya
The most known and most talked about Swahili town site is Gede, ... Nestled in 45 acres of primeval forest, the ruins of Gede reflect the unique ...

http://www.museums.or.ke/reggede.html

Ghede
Ghede is the god of the dead in voodoo, but it is also the name of the group of deities who belong to his retinue. He is a very wise man for his knowledge ...

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/g/ghede.html