15. Haiti – Fête Ghede
Fête Ghede, Fet Gede, or simply Ghede (pronounced GED-day) is a Vodou or voodoo, which is a holiday celebrated on All Saint’s Day in Haiti. In the Creole French of Haiti, Fet Gede means festival of the sacred dead. While it is celebrated in the numerous Christian churches through Haiti, it is mostly a festival of Indigenous African traditions that were brought to Haiti with the slave trade.
Fet Gede is a celebration of the lwa or loa of death. Loa are the spirits or deities in the Vodou tradition. Chief among the loa celebrated during Fet Gede are Papa Gede, believed to be the first man who ever died and guardian of the crossroads between life and death, and Baron Samedi, god of the dead.
Celebrations include pilgrimages to the believed grade of Papa Gede, visiting cemeteries to honor the dead, and creating altars with gifts to the ancestors. Drumming, dancing, laughing and singing with such volume as to raise the dead is another part of the celebration, which is aided by the liberal use of alcohol. The loa hold a great deal of respect from the people of Haiti, as their spirits are believed to have helped in the successful slave rebellion that saw the end of slavery in Haiti.
