Baron Samedi

Veve by Baron Samedi

Baron Samedi ( French Samedi = German Saturday , written in Kreyòl Bawon Samdi ) is the name of a supernatural being in the voodoo cult in Haiti . Baron Samedi is considered a loa who play a central role in the rituals of voodoo. He is one of the rulers of the dead next to the Ghede Nibo , who is immortally in love with the female loa Erzulie , the ominous Ghede Zoreille and many other loa from the group of Ghede . Their festivals are celebrated from October 30th to November 3rd.

Baron Samedi's wife is Maman Brigitte (also Madame Brigitte ), his younger brother is Azacca , the loa of agriculture .

Baron Samedi in Haiti

Bawon Samedi (Baron Samedi) (2003); typical representation from New Orleans

A decorated cross with candles and purple flowers is dedicated to Baron Samedi in the cemetery . When the residents want to wake him up, they create a loud roar by hitting stones or hitting a stone grave cross three times with the blunt side of a machete.

The loa , which is almost always considered invisible , is described as a formally dressed, black man, optionally also as a skeleton, who wears a top hat, a walking stick (or pointer) and (if he is not depicted as a skeleton) a long white beard. "It is very dangerous to open a grave without his permission."

Women plead with Baron Samedi and promise, if their request is heard, to return later with offerings (copper coins, food, luxury items). Baron Samedi prefers cigars, rum and flatbread. Strictly speaking, he hardly spurns any food, because he symbolizes death and death is never full.

Then the women toss acacia leaves to the baron and say: "Dormi pa'fumé, Baron Samedi!" Which means something like "Sleep well, Baron Samedi". Baron Samedi, the ruler of all cemeteries, gives the supplicant, if consent is given on his part (subjective interpretation of the supplicant), his consent and then goes back to earth.

Body parts exhumed as a result can then safely be used for the manufacture of talismans and amulets or for black magic purposes. It is disputed among experts whether this culte des morts (translated: "The adoration of the dead") really belongs to the syncretic religion that became known under the name Voodoo, or whether it is a marginal phenomenon that has emerged over time has developed.

Capture by totalitarian rulers

The Haitian dictator François Duvalier posed as Baron Samedi in order to gain the support of the poor. The Haitian paramilitary Emmanuel Constant also used elements of this cult.

Representations in popular culture

Baron Samedi is a figure in a 1991 the released and consoles - board game which under the name in England Atmosfear became known.
Baron Saturday was an important figure in the rock opera S. F. Sorrow from the band The Pretty Things .
Baron Samedi was a stooge of the villain Mr. Big in the James Bond film Live and Let Die and also appeared in the 1997 video game GoldenEye .
Baron Saturday was a character in Terry Pratchett's novel Witches Abroad (Eng. Totally Bewitched ).
Baron Samedi was a character in King Diamond's 1998 album Voodoo .
Baron Samedi was a character in Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel American Gods .
Baron Samedi plays a role with other loas in William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy .
Compare Hans Christoph Buch : Baron Saturday or the afterlife. Novel. Frankfurt am Main 2013.
Baron Samedi is the name of a song by the Hamburg band Kante .
Baron Samedi is first the leader and later the final opponent in the Playstation game Akuji - the heartless .
Baron Samedi is the name of a song by the English band 10cc .
Baron Samedi was a character in the 19th episode of the fifth season of the television series Supernatural .
Baron Samedi is the name of a Haitian warlord featured in the tenth and eleventh episodes of the third season of the television series Heroes .
Baron Samedi is the god of the occult sectarian Sons of Samedi in the video game Saints Row 2 .
Baron Samedi is a character in the video game Nocturne .
Baron Samedi plays a major role, namely that of the final boss, in the adventure game VoodooKid . This game comes from Infogrames and was released in 1997.
The name of the German doom metal / sludge band Rage Of Samedi refers to Baron Samedi.
A character in the computer game Shadowrun Returns - The Dead Man's Switch, which was released in 2013, uses the name Baron Samedi and its distinctive symbolism, the skull with a top hat, as an alias to anonymously communicate digitally with the protagonist controlled by the player.
Baron Samedi is a character at the end of the second and beginning of the third season of the mystery crime series Grimm (TV series) .
Baron Samedi is a playable character in the game Smite
The game character "Baptiste" in the game Vainglory shows clear parallels to Baron Samedi both outwardly and in character.
In the Battle for Azeroth expansion of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft , players of the “Horde” faction appear on death instead of the regular healer of the ghosts, a troll named “Bwonsamdi”, who has parallels to Baron Samedi in appearance and character. "Bwonsamdi" is the loa of the dead of the troll people in the story of World of Warcraft. He's the shadowhunter loa.
The song Enslaver Of Souls by the Dutch death thrash metal band Legion of the Damned is about Baron Samedi.
Baron Samedi and other voodoo practices are used in the Marvel's Cloak & Dagger series .

literature

Hans Biedermann: demons, ghosts, dark gods . 1993, ISBN 3-8112-1008-4 and 1989, ISBN 3-7020-0573-0 .

swell

^ Fowler Museum at UCLA: Culture Fix: Carine Fabius on Bawon Samdi. ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of California, Los Angeles , December 5, 2012 @1@ 2
↑ Jan Chatland: Descriptions of Various Loa of Voodoo . Webster University , Spring 1990
↑ Papa Shanga: Practice of Voodoo Magic: Techniques, Rituals and Practices of Voodoo . Verlag Paul Hartmann, Bürstadt 2001, ISBN 3-93292-800-8 and Marco Bergmann: The Voodoo of Bokor Marco . BoD, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-6613-0 .
^ William Buehler Seabrook : Mysterious Haiti. Riddles and symbols of the Vodu cult . Matthes and Seitz, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88221-333-7 .
↑ E. Drabeck: Wunderwelt Voodoo . 2000, ISBN 3-931618-04-8 .
↑ Hans Biedermann: Demons, Spirits, Dark Gods, 1989, p. 47.

[1] Fowler Museum at UCLA: Culture Fix: Carine Fabius on Bawon Samdi. ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. University of California, Los Angeles , December 5, 2012 @1@ 2

[2] Jan Chatland: Descriptions of Various Loa of Voodoo . Webster University , Spring 1990

[3] Papa Shanga: Practice of Voodoo Magic: Techniques, Rituals and Practices of Voodoo . Verlag Paul Hartmann, Bürstadt 2001, ISBN 3-93292-800-8 and Marco Bergmann: The Voodoo of Bokor Marco . BoD, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8391-6613-0 .

[4] William Buehler Seabrook : Mysterious Haiti. Riddles and symbols of the Vodu cult . Matthes and Seitz, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88221-333-7 .

[5] E. Drabeck: Wunderwelt Voodoo . 2000, ISBN 3-931618-04-8 .

[6] Hans Biedermann: Demons, Spirits, Dark Gods, 1989, p. 47.