Baron La Croix and the Guédé at the heart of a talk on Vodou in Les Cayes

Late in October, the Alliance française in Les Cayes hosted a talk on Baron La Croix and the Guédé family, the spirits of death in Haitian Vodou, Le Nouvelliste reported. The speakers, anthropologist Frantz Alix Lubin and professor Frantz Dérival, described the Guédé as "psychopomps who lead souls to the afterlife," according to the daily.

The talk was held as the Fête Gédé approached. The festival, on November 1 and 2, is when believers honor the spirits of the dead in the country's cemeteries.

Who is Baron La Croix?

In Vodou, the Guédé are the lwa of the dead, anthropologist Bettina E. Schmidt explains in the Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Their head is Baron Samedi, often shown in black clothes and a top hat. According to that encyclopedia, Baron La Croix ("Baron of the Cross") and Baron Cimetière are other names for Baron Samedi.

Other descriptions, such as the online encyclopedia Wikipedia's, present Baron La Croix — Bawon Lakwa in Creole — as a separate Guédé, alongside Baron Samedi and Baron Cimetière, linked to death and to the cross on graves. Traditions vary from one temple and one region to another.

The cemetery cross

Baron's cross, which stands in cemeteries such as Port-au-Prince's, is a central place of the Fête Gédé ceremonies. It is around these crosses that believers light candles and leave offerings.