Baron Samedi

According to www.heritagekonpa.com, "Guede, meaning, "Guardian of the dead" is one of the major spirits in the Vodou religion. In the Haitian culture, Guede is celebrated throughout the month of November, the season of the dead and rebirth. The Vodou religion involves many rituals and it is practiced in family plantations and at home with altars, candles, talismans, dolls, bottles, and incense. Vodouists often make offerings, pray, and sing and dance in the honor of a specific spirit. Vodou spirits connect with its servants through possession or trance, usually induced by ritual singing and dancing and the complex rhythms of the accompanying drums.

In the Vodou religion, its practitioners believe that the soul departed from the physical body, where upon judgment, the soul will either go to heaven or hell. Vodouists believe the departed soul crosses the flame of purgatory waiting for purification before entering the so-called heaven. Vodouists also believe the same soul can be re-incarnated at least seven times depending on the mission of that particular soul. At the final stage of re-incarnation, that soul upon purification, will become an eternal spirit and manifest its presence in human beings usually in the form of Guede.

The loa Ghede are often quite rowdy and raunchy, sprinkling their conversation with profanities and sexual innuendo. Being dead, they are beyond punishment, and they seem to feel that shocking people is perfectly reasonable. They typically do not use profanity in an abusive manner, but prefer to make people laugh at their over-the-top behavior. Predominantly male, and praised with raucous songs and enthusiastic dances, the loa Ghede are the ancestors who bridge the gap between 'Guinea' (Africa) and the living of Haiti.

In Guede ceremony, vodou practitioners usually offer a large feast to the Guede spirits in November. The feast is accompanied by a 30 minute to an hour long prayer, followed by ritual chants, drumming and dances associated with Vodou, Haitian folklore music. During the ceremony the spirit is offered alcohol, food, grains, and other natural products. This is regarded as an invitation to the spirits to come celebrate life after death. Upon manifestation, the Guede spirit reacts foolishly and engages in explicit sexual conversation with the Vodou priests and the audience in the ceremony. Shortly thereafter, Guede regains its true form and focuses on human healing and problem solving. It is said that the loa Guede acts foolishly sometimes to ridicule death. For death no longer has power over its existence.
To the Vodouists, Guede controls the crossroads at which every human must traverse some day to meet their faith in the afterlife. In the Haitian culture, Vodou Hougan and Mambo believe that no single individual can communicate with the dead without first obtaining permission from Papa Baron. In every major cemetery in Haiti, Papa Baron "lord of the dead" is represented by a black cross mounted on a small tomb. Guede, the keeper of the cemetery, is the primary contact with the dead. In the event that a person wishes to petition or contact the dead, he or she must first appeal to Guede/Baron Samedi to make the connection with ancestral spirits.