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Some more vodou.

Blame him!

This is a "djab" (diable) - a spirit with a very hot temperament and hard to handle.

Some more vodou.

Blame him!

Detail of this

Klosterkirche Zwiefalten

After having dealt with vodou instensively for the last weeks I suddenly felt a strong need for the harmonic and gentle art of the culture I am used to.

This is a baroque bavarian ox in the convent church of Zwiefalten. Some of you may wonder about an ox in a catholic church and may think about a nativity scene. But the ox is the symbol for the Evangelist Lukas (and therefore has wings).

Ghede

The ghede are a very special family. I think you will not be surprised to hear that they embody the powers of death. But they also embody the powers of fertility!

"The Gede family of spirits are the guardians of the dead and masters of libido. They embrace the dual domains of human frailty and mortality, the creation and the conclusion of life.

"This is not morbid, as it may be perceived in the West, but is in fact a celebration of the ancestral spirits and the continuation of tradition. Gede has strong powers of healing that are especially potent for children." Because children haven‘t lived a full life.

The Ghede as a family are loud, rude (although rarely to the point of real insult), sexual, and usually have a lot of fun. As those who have lived already, they have nothing to fear, and frequently will display how far past consequence and feeling they are when they come through in a service - eating glass, raw chillis, and anointing their sensitive areas with chilli rum for example. Their traditional colours are black and purple.

Like in the others Lwa families each Ghede is an individual and represents a special dimension of the general „theme“ (like „death – and life“ here.)
Like Baron La Croix who has an existential philosophy about death, finding death's reason for being both humorous and absurd. Baron La Croix is the extreme expression of individuality, and offers to you the reminder of delighting in life's pleasures. Live happy and live well, for even the most rich and talented, or the most poor and resourceful people are not spared the ultimate universal experience - Death.

(Which is an extremely different view from the „memento mori“ philosophy in European tradition!)

The female leader of the family, Maman Brigitte shows the syncretistic caracter of vaudou again. She is white and is depicted as being fair-haired and green-eyed with light European skin. A New World loa, Maman Brigitte is syncretized with the Irish Saint Brigid, who is associated with fire.

See other Ghede here