Baron Samedi

Loa of Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Voodoo and folk beliefs Cross of Baron Samedi Veve for Baron Samedi Baron Samedi (English: Baron Saturday), 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 is the head of the Gede family of Lwa; his brothers are Azagon Lacroix and Baron Piquant. He is sometimes identified with Guede Nibo. Portrayal Baron Samedi is usually depicted with a top hat, black tail coat, dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils, as if to resemble a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in the Haitian style. He is frequently depicted as a skeleton (but sometimes as a black man that merely has his face painted as a skull) and speaks in a nasal voice. The former dictator of Haiti, François Duvalier, known as Papa Doc, modeled his cult of personality on Baron Samedi; he was often seen speaking in a deep nasal tone and wearing dark glasses.[better source needed] Baron Samedi is noted for disruption, obscenity, debauchery and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum. Additionally, he is the loa o