gwobonanj

gwobonanj, in Vodou, the immortal aspect of a human spirit, or the human life force.

According to Vodou theology, a human being is composed of three parts: a physical body, a tibo-nanj (one’s personality and conscience), and a gwobonanj, which is of divine origin. At the time of death, the gwobonanj leaves the body to start its journey back to the watery abyss of the ancestral world, Ginen, the abode of the spirits. However, this journey will be successful only if the gwobonanj receives proper care through special funerary rites. Otherwise, it will wander around and eventually take revenge on its living descendants for their negligence by harassing them and creating havoc in their lives.

In order to prevent this from happening, a priest or priestess performs a ritual that officially and properly releases the gwobonanj from the body so that it may be reincorporated into the spiritual community of Ginen and eventually receive a new life. However, the gwobonanj will have to be removed from Ginen one year and one day after death has occurred. Again, failure to do so could have dire consequences for the relatives of the deceased. This reclamation happens through an elaborate ritual known as wete mò anba dio (literally, “removing the dead from under the water”). The ceremony that accompanies the ritual lasts all night and involves intense drumming, singing, and dancing. The gwobonanj is reclaimed and transferred to a govi, a ceremonial jar or bottle, which acts as a temporary substitute for the now-decayed physical body and allows the departed to once again be a presence among the living.