> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://hyperallergic.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# A Banner for Baron Samedi in Sequins
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/a-banner-for-baron-samedi-in-sequins/
- Published: 2014-09-26T01:12:39.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:43:58.000Z
- Description: The omnivorous nature of Haitian Vodou with its consumption of African, European, and American influences into one luscious spirituality has been vividly expressed in one of the culture's unique art forms: the Vodou flag.
- Author: Allison Meier
- Tags: Art, Haitian art, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![Baron Samedi (Rada) Mid 20th century Cotton, burlap,sequins, beads, thread, and fringe 33 x 31 x 1/4 Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners17.jpg)

Baron Samedi (Mid-20th century), Cotton, burlap,sequins, beads, thread, and fringe, 33 x 31 x 1/4 (Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection)

The omnivorous nature of [Haitian Vodou](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian%5FVodou?ref=hyperallergic.com) with its consumption of African, European, and American influences into one luscious spirituality has been vividly expressed in one of the culture’s unique art forms: the Vodou flag. A traveling exhibition is bringing some of these sequined banners to the masses in order to show this expression of symbolism, as well as dispel some of the misconceptions about Vodou.

![Erzulie Freda Daroumin (Rada) Mid 20th century Plastic, satin, silk, sequins, beads, burlap, thread, fringe, and ribbon 34 x 33 1/2 x 1/2 Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners15.jpg)

Erzulie Freda Daroumin (Mid-20th century), Plastic, satin, silk, sequins, beads, burlap, thread, fringe, and ribbon, 34 x 33 1/2 x 1/2 (Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection)

[*Sacred Symbols in Sequins: Vintage Haitian Vodou Flags*](http://everhart-museum.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/?ref=hyperallergic.com)*,* opening this Friday at the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is organized by the nonprofit [Mid-America Arts Alliance](http://www.eusa.org/?ref=hyperallergic.com)‘s Exhibits USA. For the occasion, the Everhart Museum is bringing in items from private collections and photographs by [Les Stone](http://www.lesstone.com/LES%5FSTONE%5Fhome.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) of Vodou rituals to complement the show. As [the museum states](http://everhart-museum.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/?ref=hyperallergic.com), the flags are worth examining as “remarkable mosaics of religious imagery by combining and juxtaposing symbols of Europe and the Americas with those brought from Africa centuries ago by captive slaves.”

But it’s even more complicated than that, as the flags have now become a folk art commodity, another stage in their evolution from obscure spiritual object to museum artifact. Originally painted, they were also brought into their current sparkly state by the 1980s garment business. Yet the symbolism in the thousands of sequins that make up each flag, where a [loa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loa?ref=hyperallergic.com) figure is joined by its [vévé](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veve?ref=hyperallergic.com) symbols, is a fascinating portal into a deep history of belief and the survival of that belief under colonial control. St. Jacques rides on a white horse amongst a glimmering triangular pattern, yet he is [a mask](http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/fellows/haiti/vodouceremony.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) for the warrior spirit of Ogun from when people were baptized as Catholic and forced to hide their beliefs amongst the Christian icons. Similarly, [Damballa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damballa?ref=hyperallergic.com) is sometimes camouflaged as Moses or St. Patrick, the snakes the Catholic saint drove away instead embraced as a symbol of serenity.

Patrick Arthur Polk wrote in his 1997 book [*Haitian Vodou Flags*](http://books.google.com/books?id=ZgPB6TvBHR4C&lpg=PP1&dq&ref=hyperallergic.com)*:* “Ritual flags (*drapo Vodou*), the most celebrated genre of Vodou’s sacred arts, clearly reflect the creative impulse of Vodou and the intense process of cultural synthesis from which the religion emerges.” With such density of symbolism, from the appropriation of militaristic European flags to the paraphernalia of a corpse representing [Baron Samedi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baron%5FSamedi?ref=hyperallergic.com), the ceremonial objects aren’t going to reveal themselves immediately to layperson eyes. Yet each has an incredible history to decipher.

![Ogoun (Rada) b Mid 20th century Satin, beads, sequins, polyester raffia, and thread 33 x 26 1/2 x 1/8 Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners14.jpg)

Ogoun (Mid-20th century), Satin, beads, sequins, polyester raffia, & thread, 33 x 26 1/2 x 1/8 (Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection)

![Damballah Aida Wedo (Rada) b Mid 20th century Cotton, polyester raffia, satin, beads, thread, and sequins 31 x 28 x 1/16 Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners12.jpg)

Damballah Aida Wedo (Mid-20th century), Cotton, polyester raffia, satin, beads, thread, & sequins, 31 x 28 x 1/16 (Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection)

![Ogoun (Rada) d Mid 20th century Plastic, satin, sequins, beads, burlap, thread, cotton, and fringe 34 x 33 1/2 x 1/2 Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners16.jpg)

Ogoun (Mid-20th century), Plastic, satin, sequins, beads, burlap, thread, cotton, & fringe, 34 x 33 1/2 x 1/2 (Courtesy Thomas Schultz Collection)

![Ogou Balendjo, mid 20th century, satin, cotton, velvet trapunto, sequins, beads, thread, and fringe, 28 x 24 x 3/8 inches, private collection. Photo: EG Schempf](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/haitianvodouflags04.jpg)

Ogou Balendjo (mid-20th century), satin, cotton, velvet trapunto, sequins, beads, thread, & fringe, 28 x 24 x 3/8 inches (private collection, photograph by EG Schempf)

![Danbala Wèdo, Ogou and other Spirits, mid 20th century, cotton, sequins, beads, pearls, thread, and fringe, 33 x 32 1/2 x 1/4 inches, private collection.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/haitianvodouflags03.jpg)

Danbala Wèdo, Ogou and other Spirits (mid-20th century), cotton, sequins, beads, pearls, thread, & fringe, 33 x 32 1/2 x 1/4 inches (private collection)

![Ogou Sen Jak, mid 20th century, satin, sequins, beads, trapunto applique’, cotton, and fringe, 28 1/2 x 26 x 3/8 inches, private collection](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/haitianvodouflags02.jpg)

Ogou Sen Jak (mid-20th century), satin, sequins, beads, trapunto applique’, cotton, & fringe, 28 1/2 x 26 x 3/8 inches (private collection)

![Gede (Guede) Nibo, late 20th century, cotton, sequins, beads, pearls, thread, and fringe, 32 1/2 x 33 x 1/16 inches, private collection. Photo: EG Schempf.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/haitianvodouflags01.jpg)

Gede (Guede) Nibo (late 20th century), cotton, sequins, beads, pearls, thread, & fringe, 32 1/2 x 33 x 1/16 inches (private collection, photograph by EG Schempf)

![Light of the Cave Les Stone Once inhabited by Taino Indians, the Cave of St. Francis of Assisi is the site of an important pilgrimage destination for Vodou worshippers, situated near the small Haitian town of Saint-Michele de l’Atalaye. Light casts down into the Cave from the highest point in the ceiling; these shafts of light were used by the Taino in their rituals as well.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/09/voudoubanners1.jpg)

Les Stone, “Light of the Cave,” a pilgrimage destination for Vodou worshippers (courtesy Everhart Museum)

[Sacred Symbols in Sequins: Vintage Haitian Vodou Flags](http://everhart-museum.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is on view September 26 to December 29 at the Everhart Museum (1901 Mulberry Street, Scranton, Pennsylvania.).*