New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum

Invocazioni, offerte, stregonerie... Il mistero che avvolge la pratica del vudù scatena un insieme di fascino e terrore. Per saperne di più su questo culto che gli schiavi africani e haitiani portarono in Luisiana abbiamo visitato un insolito museo.

Jackie Guigui-Stolberg

Bandera UK
Rachel Roberts

Speaker (UK accent)

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New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum

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Glossary Stampare

Glossary

+ to frighten: spaventare + imagery: arte figurativa + slaves: schiavi + grave: tomba + scary: spaventoso + skulls: teschi + to head: andare + to rule: governare + to date back: risalire + to fulfil: soddisfare + to ward off: allontanare + mixed-race: meticcia + mayor: sindaco + to lead: condurre + healer: guaritore + ailments: malattie + to seek: cercare + practitioners: praticanti + swamps: paludi + to rage: accanirsi + to claim lives: costare vite + low-lying: basso + atmospheric: suggestivo + charms: ammaliare + evil: malefico + to challenge expectations: sfidare le aspettative + priestesses: sacerdotesse + twin: gemella + undercover: clandestinamente + in plain sight: alla luce del sole + ancestors: antenati + to parade: sfilare + in common form: vestiti da tutti i giorni + suits: completi + tampons and condoms: tampax e preservativi + funeral parlours: agenzie di pompe funebri + to lie: distendere + to grieve: essere in lutto + to deal with: affrontare + distorted: alterato + burial: sepoltura + Marshal: maresciallo + to tip: alzare + to release: liberare + to cut loose: lasciarsi andare + to hang out: frequentare

SPEAK UP EXPLAINS

+ SPEAK UP EXPLAINS Vudù. Stregone. La parola voodoo è la grafia inglese del termine creolo haitiano voudou. L’origine della parola e delle pratiche religiose vanno ricercate nell’Africa occidentale, in particolare in una zona che include Ghana, Benin e Togo. Nelle lingue vernacolari di questi paesi il termine vódũ o vodū può essere tradotto con ‘divinità’ o ‘idolo’. In inglese voodoo si usa anche per riferirsi agli ‘stregoni’ o ‘sacerdoti’ che praticano il culto del vudù.

Voodoo fascinates and frightens + to frighten: spaventare people in equal measure. The fundamental principle of voodoo + SPEAK UP EXPLAINS Vudù. Stregone. La parola voodoo è la grafia inglese del termine creolo haitiano voudou. L’origine della parola e delle pratiche religiose vanno ricercate nell’Africa occidentale, in particolare in una zona che include Ghana, Benin e Togo. Nelle lingue vernacolari di questi paesi il termine vódũ o vodū può essere tradotto con ‘divinità’ o ‘idolo’. In inglese voodoo si usa anche per riferirsi agli ‘stregoni’ o ‘sacerdoti’ che praticano il culto del vudù. is that everything is spirit, but its imagery + imagery: arte figurativa and rites certainly make it appear as something dangerous. 

A LONG JOURNEY

Voodoo arrived in New Orleans in the 18th century, brought by slaves + slaves: schiavi 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 + grave: tomba in a New Orleans cemetery, that’s voodoo, too. 

GENDER RULES

Souvenir shops in New Orleans sell all sorts of scary + scary: spaventoso voodoo merchandise, such as t-shirts and jewellery decorated with skeletons and skulls + skulls: teschi . But if you really want to explore the world of Louisiana voodoo, head + to head: andare 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 + to rule: governare by men, while Louisiana voodoo is ruled by women.

VOODOO QUEEN

The Voodoo museum has exhibits that date back + to date back: risalire 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 + to fulfil: soddisfare their deepest desires, or ward off + to ward off: allontanare 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 + mixed-race: meticcia daughter of a wealthy creole politician, who was even mayor + mayor: sindaco of New Orleans for a short time. Marie Laveau was loved and respected by many people. She led + to lead: condurre voodoo rituals and was a talented healer + healer: guaritore , using herbal medicines to treat all kinds of ailments + ailments: malattie .

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 + to seek: cercare 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 + practitioners: praticanti . This is understandable in a region known for its intense heat and swamps + swamps: paludi , where malaria, cholera and yellow fever raged + to rage: accanirsi for centuries. 

SURVIVAL

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed countless homes and claimed almost two thousand lives + to claim lives: costare vite , with the poorest inhabitants from low-lying + low-lying: basso 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 + atmospheric: suggestivo 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 + charms: ammaliare them with her great sense of humour. As she explained to Speak Up, tourists usually believe that voodoo is a weird and evil + evil: malefico religion, but here find their expectations challenged + to challenge expectations: sfidare le aspettative . 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 + priestesses: sacerdotesse as a special person because of the fact that I was a twin + twin: gemella .

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 + undercover: clandestinamente .

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 plain sight: alla luce del sole . In New Orleans it’s practised during the carnival time through what is considered to be the “ancestors + ancestors: antenati ’ societies.”  These parading + to parade: sfilare societies honour the ancestors and require everyone to appear in common form + in common form: vestiti da tutti i giorni . And also in handmade suits + suits: completi 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 + tampons and condoms: tampax e preservativi , 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 + funeral parlours: agenzie di pompe funebri . So the person would be laid + to lie: distendere 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 + to grieve: essere in lutto relatives deal with + to deal with: affrontare painful emotions.

Madame Cinnamon Black: So the next morning your mind was totally distorted + distorted: alterato , 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 + burial: sepoltura site, the Grand Marshal + Marshal: maresciallo would tip + to tip: alzare his hat three times in order to represent the releasing + to release: liberare , to cut loose + to cut loose: lasciarsi andare , 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 + to hang out: frequentare . Then, during that procession, as they got closer to each location, the music would begin to change.

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