The Gede Rite in Haiti

Abstract

Chapter 4 explores the history and content of the Gede Rite. Research on the social and theological characteristics of the Gede spirits and their representations, rituals, and services are examined. More than 40 spirits from the Gede family are introduced along with key linguistic and cultural features. The Gede spirits, especially Bawon Samdi and Grann Brijit, are analyzed in the context of the cemetery, the dead, magic, morality, and migration. The chapter includes 26 Haitian Creole and English facing-page songs by the contemporary Vodou group “Rasin Bwa Kayiman” that focus on Gede Rite themes and spirits, including Gede Nouvavou, Jan Simon Britis, Bawon Lakwa, children, Bawon Kriminèl, betiz (“vulgarity”), Gwo Wòch, Mazaka Lakwa, Gede Nibo, Kwa Marasa, Kwa Senbo, evangelicals, interreligious strife, sex-workers, AIDS, oral sex, genital secretions, chante pwen (“point song”), Mòpyon Lakwa, and Jipitè Lakwa. Vodou hermeneutics explicates the Gede Rite’s links to sexuality, healing, and death.

Tornadic Black Angels: Vodou, Dance, Revolution

“… 5. Kreyol musicologist Benjamin Hebblethewaite claims that “Petwo” derives from both “the Petwo region of the Kongo,” and also the figure of Dom Pedro, “A Black man of Spanish colonial origin” who “introduced in 1768 a dance that was analogous to but more precipitous than the one in Vaudoux,” in which dance “gunpowder is added to the communal rum” (Hebblethwaite, 2021, p. 24). Quoting noted historian David Geggus, Hebblethewaite adds that Dom Pedro “‘incited’ enslaved people to ‘rebellion’ and to be ‘independent of their masters,’ and was therefore ‘killed in a hunt’ (Geggus, 2014, pp.…”

“…Quoting noted historian David Geggus, Hebblethewaite adds that Dom Pedro “‘incited’ enslaved people to ‘rebellion’ and to be ‘independent of their masters,’ and was therefore ‘killed in a hunt’ (Geggus, 2014, pp. 24–25)” (Hebblethwaite, 2021, p. 24).…”

“… 7. Intriguingly given the transgender rights movement today, Hebblethewaite notes that “During his rule” over the Haitian town of Léogâne, the mayor of that town called the rebel leader “a ‘hermaphroditic tiger,’ a reference to his transgender sensibilities” (Hebblethwaite, 2021, p. 25). Also inspiringly for LGBT + activism today, la Prophetesse “asserted that the abolishment of slavery was a divine mission, demanded total personal freedom, and inspired his followers with militaristic Kongolese Marianism (Rey, 2017, pp.…”

“…Also inspiringly for LGBT + activism today, la Prophetesse “asserted that the abolishment of slavery was a divine mission, demanded total personal freedom, and inspired his followers with militaristic Kongolese Marianism (Rey, 2017, pp. 51–52, 72)” (Hebblethwaite, 2021, p. 25).…”

“… 8. In support of this centrality of drums, Hebblethewaite notes of the West African roots of Vodou that “ Hŭn is the ‘heart’ and a ‘drum’; hùn is ‘blood,’ a ‘Vodun divinity,’ and the ‘region Abomey,’ and when used as a verb it also means ‘to open’ (Segurola & Rassinoux, 2000, 239),’” and that a “poetic sense of hun or houn is ‘opening the heart to the spirit,” for which reason “the leader drummer is the hùngán (Brand, 2000, p. 46)” (Hebblethwaite, 2021, p. 97). …”