Erzulie Ge-Rouge

Anger, mourning, wounded love

Erzulie Ge-Rouge, in Creole Ezili Je Wouj, is the sorrowful face of the great feminine figure of Haitian Vodou. Served in the Petro rite, she is what Erzulie becomes when love has been betrayed and grief turns to rage. The possessions attributed to her are among the most striking in the cult: the bloodshot eyes that give her her name, the clenched fists, the legs drawn up against the body, a lament that does not subside. Where Freda weeps over the gap between the dream and the world, Ge-Rouge no longer weeps: she demands. Her servants do not see in her an evil lwa but a truth that the other faces of Erzulie do not express, that of the legitimate anger of wounded women, and it is understandable that such a spirit took shape under the conditions of the plantation. She is served with gravity, without perfume or finery: this is not the time for luxury.