BARON SAMEDI
Just outside my bungalow on the campus is a little altar dedicated to Baron Samedi. He is the head of the Guédé family in Haitian vodou existing at the axis of life and death – his portfolio includes powers of fertility and the protection of children. At first, he is the guardian of the cemeteries – possessing the entire collective wisdom of the dead. When a person dies the Baron digs their grave and greets their soul before escorting them to the underworld. He makes sure their corpse rots in the ground so they don’t return as mindless zombies. His wife, Maman Brigitte, an equally strange figure who drinks hot peppers and is symbolised by a black rooster, protects only those graves marked with a cross. Although most of his time is spent in the spiritual realm, the Baron can cross into the mortal world – if the whim takes him he’ll cross over to chase after mortal women or actually possess them. This has drawn the wrath of his wife more than once. He is a trickster known for his licentiousness and outrageous behaviour in both worlds and for his penchant for rum and cigars. He is depicted as a man dressed for burial – replete with tuxedo and high hat, dark glasses and with cotton plugs up his nostrills – his white skull protruding through his decomposing black skin. The Baron can also be a giver of life if he so pleases – he can cure diseases or wounds and he can extricate hexes and black magic – if he refuses to dig a person’s grave, they will not die. It is for this reason that our school pays homage to him with the little altar outside my door – to protect the young people entering our gates from dark forces and calamities. In order for the first Haitians to practise their vodou religion, they were forced to disguise their rituals as French Catholic ones – a custom that has survived the ages. So when All Saints Day is respected worldwide on November 1st, Haitians mark the day with a national holiday called, Guédé, celebrating the dead with vodou rituals, music, traditional costumes and play-acting – invoking the spirits of Baron Samedi, Maman Brigitte and the whole Guédé family.
