Photos: Honouring Baron Samdi, Haiti’s cigar and rum toting voodoo spirit

Haitians loaded with rum, cigarettes and caked in ghostly layers of talcum took to cemeteries in the two-day Fete Gede celebration honouring dead ancestors and the master of all voodoo spirits, Baron Samdi.

Updated on: Nov 03, 2017 2:15 PM IST

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A man dressed in a black coat and glasses, holding a bottle of rum and a cigarette similar to Baron Samdi takes part in Haiti’s annual Fete Gede at the National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince. Revellers streamed into cemeteries across the country in a two-day celebration to honour Baron Samdi, the guardian of the dead, ruler of graveyards and the leader of Haitian Voodoo’s Gede spirits. (Dieu Nalio Chery / AP)

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Voodoo devotees offer candles, alcohol and food to Baron Samdi, known for his fondness for tobacco and rum, his debauchery and obscenity during Fete Gede celebrations. The Day of the Dead is celebrated on the first two days of November during All Saints and All Souls Day. (Hector Retamal / AFP)

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A man in a trance is seen collapsed in the National Cemetery, on November 02, 2017 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Baron Samdi is considered the master of death in the voodoo pantheon and is often prayed to for protection by those nearing death. (Hector Retamal / AFP)

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A man invokes a Gede spirit, while standing on a tomb to Baron Samdi at the Cite Soleil cemetery, in Port-au-Prince. Baron Samdi is believed to greet the recently deceased by digging up their graves and ushering their spirits into the underworld. (Dieu Nalio Chery / AP)

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Voodoo followers take part in Day of the Dead celebrations in the Cemetery of Cite Soleil, in Port-au-Prince. Voodoo is practiced in Haiti and by its diaspora, with roots in West African religions that underwent syncretism with local traditions and Christianity under colonial rule as a means of preserving culture. (Hector Retamal / AFP)

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A man with his face caked in talcum powder to resemble a skull invokes a Gede spirit through chants. During celebrations revellers also honour their ancestors through song and dance, visiting their graves and presenting food from their own tables. (Dieu Nalio Chery / AP)

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A devotee in trance gestures during Day of the Dead ceremonies honouring Baron Samdi and other spirits, in Port-au-Prince. This day also honours Papa Gede, the first man who ever died according to voodoo lore and is the good natured alternative to Baron Samdi. While both share a fondness for tobacco, Papa Gede prefers to munch on apples instead. (Hector Retamal / AFP)

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A voodoo devotee with a skull on top of his head is seen during Day of the Dead in the Cementery of Cite Soleil, in Port-au-Prince. Fete Gede is in many ways the Haitian alternative to the Mexican Day of the Dead, Mardi Gras and Halloween. (Hector Retamal / AFP)

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Voodoo devotees in costume take part in Fete Gede celebrations in the National Cemetery, in Port-au-Prince. A mural in the background features voodoo spirits and reads ‘Happy Birthday to all the dead’. (Hector Retamal / AFP)