Maman Brigitte
Maman Brigitte ( French , Mama Brigitte ) is a loa , a spirit being in voodoo . She is the wife of the Loa Baron Samedi and sister-in-law of the Loa Azacca . The color assigned to her is purple and the typical sacrificial animal that is offered to her is a black chicken .
Surname
As part of the Christianization of the distribution areas of Voodoo, Christian ideas mixed with the Voodoo faith. Christian saints were "hijacked" to represent the loa. An impressive example of this is the Loa Papa Legba . Maman Brigitte lost her presumably previous name in this process and probably took her name from the Irish saint Brigida .
Other names or spellings for them are Brigit , Maman Brigite , Manman .
presentation
Maman Brigitte is shown in pictures as a white-skinned woman with red hair and in a black dress. She wears a scarf over her shoulders, a headscarf, a necklace, earrings and dark glasses, the right lens of which is missing.
function
Maman Brigitte is the mistress of the cemeteries and gravestones . She watches over every tombstone marked with a cross. A woman's first grave in every Haitian cemetery is dedicated to her and her ceremonial cross is erected on this grave.
She and her husband are mother and father of the loa group Ghede , who create them by drawing the souls of the dead from the waters of the stream of oblivion and giving them a name.
Maman Brigitte and Baron (Samedi) are called to summon the dead, if someone who is sick with magic is to be saved from death and healed.
obsession
Like most other loa, Maman Brigitte communicates by taking possession of one of her followers. The typical behavior of those possessed by it include expressing all kinds of profanity and consuming rum that has been mixed with chilli peppers and which a “non-obsessed” cannot drink.
It is also said that someone who is possessed by it can tolerate contact of chilli peppers with the skin in the genital area without pain, in this way one checked suspected cases of feigned possession.
Texts
Here is the text of a chant that is used in voodoo ceremonies and is about Maman Brigitte:
Mesye la kwa avanse pou l we yo! Maman Brigitte malad, li kouche sou do, Pawol anpil pa leve le mo (les morts, Fr.) Mare tet ou, mare vant ou, mare ren ou, Yo prale we ki jan yap met a jenou.
( Haitian Creole )
Translation:
Herren des Kreuzes (verstorbene Vorfahren) tretet vor sie, damit sie euch sieht! Maman Brigitte ist krank, sie liegt danieder auf dem Rücken, Viel Gerede wird die Toten nicht beschwören, Bind das Tuch um den Kopf, gürte Bauch und Nieren, (Bereite dich für harte Arbeit vor.) Sie werden sehen, wie sie auf die Knie sinken. (Die, die den Fluch ausgesprochen haben, werden auf Knien büßen.)