Fete Gede Festival-Haiti
The Fete Gede, or the festival of the dead, is one of the most important celebrations on the Voodoo Calender. The annual festival is a celebration of spirits, ancestors and the dead in Haiti and coincides with All Saints Day on the Catholic calendar.
The festival is a celebration for Vodouists, the believers and practitioners of the voodoo religion, one of Africa’s oldest religions. The religion was developed in Haiti and other parts of the Caribbean by West Africans who were forced into slavery. Most of them are the Fonn from Benin, the Yoruba from Nigeria and other Africans from parts of Ghana and the Kingdom of Kongo.
Marked on the first two days of November, the Fete Gede festival is a time for people to seek strength, protection and reconnection with the dead, especially those who died with unfinished conversations or issues with the living.
