Gede Nibo () is a

lwa , also called loa, are spirits in the African diasporic religion of Haitian Vodou and Dominican Vudú. They have also been incorporated into some revivalist forms of Louisiana Voodoo. Many of the lwa derive their identities in part from deitie ...

who is leader of the spirits of the dead in

Haitian Vodou Haitian Vodou () is an African diasporic religions, African diasporic religion that developed in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries. It arose through a process of syncretism between several traditional religions of West Africa, West and ...

. Formerly human, Gede Nibo was a handsome young man who was killed violently. After death, he was adopted as a lwa by

Baron Samedi Baron Samedi (), also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi or Bawon Sanmdi, is one of the lwa of Haitian Vodou. He is a lwa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix and Baron Criminel. He i ...

and

Maman Brigitte Maman Brigitte ( English: ''Mother Brigitte'') sometimes also written as Manman Brigitte and also known by Gran Brigitte, Grann Brigitte, Manman, Manman Brigit, and Maman Brijit is a death loa (or ''lwa'') and the consort of Baron Samedi in Ha ...

. He is envisioned as an effeminate, nasal

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance and personal grooming, refined language and leisurely hobbies. A dandy could be a self-made man both in person and ''persona'', who emulated the aristocratic style of l ...

. Nibo wears a black riding coat or drag. When he inhabits humans, they are inspired to lascivious

sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

of all kinds.Randy Conner, David Hatfield Sparks & Mariya Sparks (eds), Cassell's ''Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol & Spirit'', p. 963, London and New York: Cassell, 1997.

Function and depiction

Gede Nibo is a

rada lwa The Rada are a family of lwa spirits in the religion of Haitian Vodou. They are regarded as being sweet-tempered and "cool", in this contrasting with the Petro lwa, which are regarded as volatile and "hot". Description The Rada lwa have been desc ...

Carole Boyce Davies Carole Boyce Davies is a Caribbean-American professor of Africana Studies and English at Cornell University, the author of the prize-winning ''Left of Karl Marx: The Political Life of Claudia Jones'' (2008) and ''Black Women, Writing and Identity: ...

(ed.)
''Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora''
ABC-CLIO, 2008, p. 963. who is considered to be a great healer. He is seen carrying a bottle of

white rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is often aged in barrels of oak. Rum originated in the Caribbean in the 17th century, but today it is produced in nea ...

infused with

medicinal herb Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

s, and often carries a staff and smokes a

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

. Nibo is the special patron of those who die young, and as such is often conflated with the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

saint

Gerard Majella Gerard Majella (; 6 April 1726 – 16 October 1755) was an Italian lay brother of the Congregation of the Redeemer, better known as the Redemptorists, who is honored as a saint by the Catholic Church. His intercession is for children, unbor ...

, who is depicted with a skull. Nibo is the guardian of the graves of those who died prematurely, particularly those whose final resting place is unknown. He is a

psychopomp Psychopomps (from the Greek word , , literally meaning the 'guide of souls') are creatures, spirits, angels, demons, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is ...

, an intermediary between the living and the dead. He gives voice to the dead spirits that have not been reclaimed from (The Lower World) or in Vodou terms "below the waters", and his ''chwals'' ("horses", possessed devotees) can give voice to the dead spirits whose bodies have not been found.

Service

Purple is considered his sacred color, and usual offerings include black goats, black

rooster The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

calabash Calabash (; ''Lagenaria siceraria''), also known as bottle gourd, white-flowered gourd, long melon, birdhouse gourd, New Guinea bean, New Guinea butter bean, Tasmania bean, and opo squash, is a vine grown for its fruit. It can be either harvest ...

, cigars, coconut, fried plantains, pistachios, smoked herrings, sweet sesame balls, and white rum spiced with African

bird pepper ''Capsicum annuum'' var. ''glabriusculum'', a chili pepper , chili-pepper Variety (botany) , variety of ''Capsicum annuum'', is native to southern North America and northern South America. Common names include chiltepín, Indian pepper, grov ...

. Until recently, Haitian farmers would perform a praise song to Guede Nibo each November. It involved phallic thrusts and other erotic gestures and was named "Massissi", a Haitian term for a "homoerotically inclined male".

In popular culture

* The Disney villain character Dr. Facilier in the animated film ''

The Princess and the Frog ''The Princess and the Frog'' is a 2009 American Animation, animated musical film, musical Romance film, romantic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Inspired in part by the 2002 ...

'' is loosely modeled on Guede Nibo. * Baron Samedi (as the head of the Guede family of loa) is mentioned in the second novel in

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

series of stories '' Live and Let Die''.

Footnotes

Notes

References