Voodoo fascinates and frightens people in equal measure. The fundamental principle of voodoo is that everything is spirit, but its imagery and rites certainly make it appear as something dangerous.
A LONG JOURNEY
Voodoo arrived in New Orleans in the 18th century, brought by slaves from western Africa and the West Indies, and later by slaves and creoles from Saint-Domingue (Haiti). Voodoo beliefs have survived in New Orleans to this day in synchronism with the Christian religion. They have influenced traditional celebrations, such as certain dances and costumes in Mardi Gras parades, as well as elements of funeral processions. If you see a dead chicken on a grave in a New Orleans cemetery, that’s voodoo, too.
GENDER RULES
Souvenir shops in New Orleans sell all sorts of scary voodoo merchandise, such as t-shirts and jewellery decorated with skeletons and skulls. But if you really want to explore the world of Louisiana voodoo, head to the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum in the heart of the French Quarter. Here you can learn that there is an important difference between Haitian voodoo and Louisiana voodoo: that Haitian voodoo is ruled by men, while Louisiana voodoo is ruled by women.
VOODOO QUEEN
The Voodoo museum has exhibits that date back two hundred years. They include paintings and photos of other voodoo queens, women who used potions, amulets called ‘gris-gris’, and practised rituals to help people fulfil their deepest desires, or ward off misfortune.
One of the most powerful voodoo queens of New Orleans was the hairdresser Marie Laveau (1801-1881). Laveau was not a slave, but the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy creole politician, who was even mayor of New Orleans for a short time. Marie Laveau was loved and respected by many people. She led voodoo rituals and was a talented healer, using herbal medicines to treat all kinds of ailments.
SYMBOLS OF POWER
The museum shows how believers turned to specific voodoo artefacts for help. Voodoo dolls were mostly used to encourage good things, such as health, love or money. Voodoos sought contact with ancestors and loas (that is the ‘spirits’), who would help them communicate with a single, all-powerful spirit, known as Li Grand Zombi or ‘Damballa’. Exhibits show women dancing while holding a snake over their heads as a symbol of him. In this ritual, the male spirit of the heavens unites with the female spirit of the Earth, bringing a healthy balance of forces.
EVIL SPIRITS
Protection from bad spirits was a priority among Louisiana voodoo practitioners. This is understandable in a region known for its intense heat and swamps, where malaria, cholera and yellow fever raged for centuries.
SURVIVAL
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed countless homes and claimed almost two thousand lives, with the poorest inhabitants from low-lying areas of New Orleans, where voodoo has traditionally been practised, suffering the most. Yet the spirit of voodoo is still very much alive in New Orleans, and many still practise its ancient arts.
THE VOODOO SPIRIT
The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, in the city’s atmospheric French Quarter, tells the story of voodoo through paintings, photographs and historical artefacts. The museum manager, Madame Cinnamon Black, welcomes visitors wearing a long dress and turban, yet instantly charms them with her great sense of humour. As she explained to Speak Up, tourists usually believe that voodoo is a weird and evil religion, but here find their expectations challenged. Madame Cinnamon Black, who also makes and sells voodoo dolls, calls herself a “voodooli”. We asked her what that meant.
Madame Cinnamon Black (New Orleans accent): A voodooli is a person that grew up into the voodoo religion. I was born into it and I was considered by the other voodoo priestesses as a special person because of the fact that I was a twin.
A SPIRITUAL MIX
She went on to tell us what was so special about New Orleans voodoo.
Madame Cinnamon Black: Voodoo is special in New Orleans because of the fact (that) several different people(s) from different places around the world practised voodoo in their very own way. In the early centuries they were all captured and brought to this location as slaves. So they weren’t actually allowed to study their religion, so it was always done undercover.
CARNIVAL!
New Orleans is famous for its Mardi Gras celebrations. As Madame Cinnamon Black explained, voodoo plays an important role in these festivities too.
Madame Cinnamon Black: Voodoo is practised in plain sight. In New Orleans it’s practised during the carnival time through what is considered to be the “ancestors’ societies.” These parading societies honour the ancestors and require everyone to appear in common form. And also in handmade suits or dresses as well. Thus, today, voodoo hides in plain sight. Recreation is religion and sacred is secular.
AFRICAN CULTURE
Voodoos venerate their ancestors. Throughout the museum, candles and many gifts to spirits cover sculptures and altars: sunglasses, cigarettes, bottles of rum and whiskey, even tampons and condoms, and lots of money. Voodoo practices also influence the famous jazz funeral processions that march the city streets, although, says Madame Cinnamon Black, New Orleans’ culture has been created out of many distinct traditions.
Madame Cinnamon Black: It’s called the Egungun (originally from the Yoruba culture in Africa), what [which] is considered a spiritual procession. A long time ago these processions were considered when someone would die in the house, and they didn’t have funeral parlours. So the person would be laid in the front of the living room, […] and you would sleep at night with a dead person in your house, actually.
MUSICAL CATHARSIS
And, she said, the musical procession was designed to help grieving relatives deal with painful emotions.
Madame Cinnamon Black: So the next morning your mind was totally distorted, knowing that one of your relatives had died. So a band would come to your house to pick up the family. They would take the family to the grave site. […] As the person would get to the funeral site, the burial site, the Grand Marshal would tip his hat three times in order to represent the releasing, to cut loose, to cut loose your feelings. It is now time to celebrate this person’s life, […]. So the band would take the family to several locations where the person lived, worked or hung out. Then, during that procession, as they got closer to each location, the music would begin to change.