Fèt Gede is Haiti’s Festival of the Dead tradition. Haitians also call it Fèt Mort. It’s celebrated mostly on November 1-2, which are All Saints Day and All Souls Day in Christian tradition, and Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexican tradition.
It’s a Vodou festival, but there is nothing bad or scary about Vodou. All that Hollywood nonsense was stirred up by U.S. Army soldiers who got book and movie deals after the American occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934. They completely misrepresented what they saw. Also for competitive reasons, many religious people say bad things about other religions ~ even when their own prophet teaches to love your neighbor, and treat “others” the way you would want to be treated.
Vodou is a beautiful and highly-developed religion whose purpose is to help its followers achieve their maximum potential. All the rest is theatrical nonsense. Outsiders see Vodou, but most Voudouisant’s (Vodou practitioners) consider themselves to be good Christians. The Middle Passage changed everything. African religions in the Americas are all blended with Christianity ~ otherwise, colonial Christians would kill you in the name of their God. Now that is scary.
Fèt Gede
The colors of Fèt Gede are black, white, and purple. In ancient times, purple colors where hard to make, so it is a sign of royalty and divinity, just like in European tradition.
Before we dig in, let’s start with some context, because Vodou and other African and Diasporic religions have been completely misrepresented.
Most ancient religions around the world venerated nature and the ancestors, or home and family. The Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam developed out of Zoroastrianism, the Persian religion of Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek). Zarathustra was the first on record to see life as a duality of good and bad with heaven and hell. Judaism developed out of Zoroastrianism, and Christianity and then Islam developed from their predecessors.
I’m a quarter Persian (Parsi, the old Persian religion), so Zarathustra was probably my ancestor, but I think he was wrong. Many ancient religions see all creation as good and evil only exists in your own mind. Evil is our own responsibility, the devil didn’t make anyone do anything. There is no devil, except in your fears.
There is no hell. In the Americas, hell is an Abrahamic creation that has been used to control young minds since the Colonial Era. It makes great scary movies, but is pure nonsense.
Many old traditions see death as part of life, and don’t recognize a hard border between the world’s of the living and the dead. The ancestors can influence the living, and that is why we respect them. If you think grandma (or your saint or angel) is watching over you, you are going to be a better person.
Halloween derives from the old Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest and beginning of winter. It was a time when the boundaries between the living and dead were loosened so the year’s dead could cross over into paradise, and family ancestors could visit the other way as well. Mexico’s famous Day of the Dead tradition is based on similar foundations, and so are the Christian All Saints Day and All Souls Day.
The point is: don’t be scared about any of this. In Haitian Kreyòl: “tout moun se moun” or “everyone is human.” Humans do the same things around the world and across time. The spirits of the dead are not around to scare or hurt us. They may frighten to steer us towards a better path, but their role is to help us, especially in the transition from our own life into death. That is something we all do.
The Gede
Vodou and other African Diasporic religions in the Americas are monotheistic. Angels, saints, orishas, or lwa are manifestations of the One, the same One that other religions venerate. One’s name for God and religious traditions don’t matter. We are all cut from the same cloth. In Haitian Vodou, the One is Bondyé. The name may derive from “bon Dieu,” French for “the good God.”
The Gede are lwa, spirits like angels or saints. Some are primordial energies, representing the forces of nature which are universal. Some are historical figures who were deified for their good deeds, like Christian saints. Most represent various characteristics of human nature.
Le Fèt Gede
On le Fèt Gede, the main event is that families tend the graves of their ancestors. Those who have requested favors from the Gede try to repay the debt before le Fèt Gede.
The primordial spirits who may show up on le Fète Gede are real characters:
- Baron Samedi, the lwa of death, is the leader of the Gede. He is a bit of a troublemaker, often a drunk, vulgar, chain-smoking, womanizer. He takes the dead to the land of the dead. But Baron Samedi is also the lwa of rebirth.
- Maman Brigitte is the wife of Baron Samedi. The female lwa of life and death is syncretized with the Irish St. Brigid.
- Papa Gede is the first man who died. He is sort of the good side of Baron Samedi. When children are sick, their families pray to Papa Gede.
- Baron Criminel was the first murderer. He’s a real nasty character.
In Vodou tradition, spirits can enter the living. They mount you like a person on a horse. It’s not a curse, it’s a great honor. It means you are worthy of being possessed. Don’t get too excited. It is just religious theatre, the same as in some Pentecostal Christian faiths. If you think you are possessed, well then you are. If you see it as just theatre, then its just theatre. The point is that you are somehow transformed by the experience.
When the Gede mount someone, they tend to be naughty with lots of drinking, smoking, cursing, and humping. The humping is not considered a bad thing. Sex in the Caribbean has its own particular character. It’s not bad and people are not afraid to express it. It’s just what people do, as normal as eating and sleeping. You really can’t apply Euro-centric morality to this. It’s a different cultural framework.
One of the things you hear in this video is Vodou drumming.
American jazz is derived largely from Haitian traditions because in 1810, half the population of New Orleans was Haitian Diaspora. Merengue is also Haitian in origin, though the form popularized around the world is Dominican. Salsa comes from Cuba through Puerto Rican communities in New York City, but it also has Haitian influences from Eastern Cuba. Samba comes from Brazil, but all originated in African Diasporic religious traditions, which though unique, are based on traditions in Mother Afrika.
The Haitian drumming you hear in the video has a droning quality. The patterns overlap each other and repeat continuously without the sections that are common in secular music. Religious music around the world uses repetition to inspire transcendence, or to get us out of ourselves. Let the music move you. It’s pretty cool.