VOODOO IN NEW ORLEANS
Beyond the Exploitation
Voodoo in New Orleans is something that is instilled with a sense of exoteric mysticism. Throughout history, public perceptions of Voodoo has shifted (not always linearly) from viewing it as sinful or threatening, to fraudulent, and as commoditizeable entertainment. However, exoteric perceptions do not dictate the elements of a group, only what is held true esoterically. Voodoo itself (or Vodou) is a religion, one shaped by history and culture.
HISTORY OF VOODOO IN NEW ORLEANS
New Land - Old Religion
Voodoo is the americanized spelling of the word Vodou, which means "pure light". By definition, this contrasts with how exoteric perceptions have often interpreted the practice of Voodoo.
Voodoo was first brought to New Orleans in 1719 (after the Spanish colonized New Orleans in 1699) when Haitians were taken from Africa and brought to the Americas as slaves. The religion, as it was and is practice in Haiti is called Vodou. After the slave revolt in Saint-Domingue (1791-1804) there was a second wave of sorts as refugees fled to New Orleans, their Vodou practices reinforcing the New Orleans Voodoo practice and belief.
An oversimplification of the timeline, one that is not strictly chronological as there has been and continues to be a great deal of overlap in perception, depicts that throughout the 19th century, the dominant American culture (white Americans) viewed Voodoo as sinful or threatening to their standards of living. This perception was most heavily rooted in fear of the ‘other’ and the ethnocentric lens from which it was viewed. From the 1900s through the early 1960s the practice was seen as fraudulent, focusing more so on the physical practices rather than the system of belief. The physical practice of voodoo (that which contains elements of the physical as opposed to the religion itself) is often called hoodoo. The perception of voodoo as fraudulent was founded on the difference of religious understanding and the gradual acceptance of voodoo as non-threatening but rather as hedonistic acts of worship to what Christian society considered to be false gods. At this time, it would not have been uncommon for affluent white people to seek out the services of voodoo practitioners for their own personal use… be this the purchase of a love spell or an herbal remedy of some kind. This marked the segue into commodification of Voodoo.
From the 1960s to the end of the 20th century, voodoo in New Orleans was no longer seen as primarily fraudulent but as a form of entertainment. At this time, white society began to gravitate towards Voodoo for the “exotic” appeal of the what they thought to be “dark magic” or persuasive arts. People exoteric to the religion began to gravitate in larger quantities towards the commoditized aspects of Voodoo. These commoditized elements being, more often than not, inauthentic by nature as many with no personal ties to Voodoo capitalize on the brand that commodification has turned elements of the religion into.
At the turn of the century into present, there has been a shift in perception of voodoo again as a genuine religion as education regarding Vodou has grown in public awareness in modern society. While perceptions of voodoo today is shifting towards a more accurate understanding, perception is not uniform across society.
CONGO SQUARE
In the dark days of slavery, Congo Square was a sacred space for Voodoo. On Sundays, African American peoples in New Orleans would congregate at Congo Square and practice their religion. This was a place where the members of this community could come together and embrace their culture and beliefs that white society members feared and tried to subdue (though this fear was in actuality stemming from fear of losing control over the peoples whose oppression they relied entirely upon).
Today, there is a monument in Congo Square that depicts one of these religious gatherings in the square. Running around the base of the statue is an encircling rope of chains, representing this time of slavery. The statue shows several African American peoples dancing together in the square. In the background of the statue there is also an Indigenous Person, representing the connection between these two cultures.
Within the square there is a specific tree called the ancestor tree. This tree acts as a location where followers of Voodoo can perform religious ritual to connect with and offer respect to their ancestors. These practices and rituals are sacred to the group, the exact elements that comprise these rituals are not shared with the public to preserve and protect the practices.
OVERVIEW OF THE VODOU PANTHEON
The desired outcome of Vodou worship is to create a balanced life, finding harmony between humanity, the natural environment, the Iwa, and the ancestral spirits.
In the Vodou Pantheon there is one supreme god and a series of lesser gods. These lesser gods are called Lwa or Loa [these are two spellings of the same word]. People perform rituals to communicate with the Lwa who then communicate with the main god on their behalf.
Members of the Vodou belief system communicate with and pay respect to the Lwa and ancestral spirits through ritual practices. Like any other form of prayer, these practices connect the physical realm to the spiritual through ritual behavior and material culture. Rituals to communicate with the spirit world can be done in varying places (alters, sacred locations, etc.) and with variation of certain elements. For example, symbols that are used in ceremony are unique to the individual and situation. A symbol used in ceremony is much like a finger print... it is unique to the person who draws it. As the initial communication between the spirit world and the physical world going through the Lwa Papa Legba, the symbol tells him who the human is wishing to communicate, information about that individuals family and lineage, and to whom the individual needs to communicate. As is true of many elements of Vodou, symbols are not shared exoterically and are only drawn in full during a ritual or ceremony.
LWA (LOA)
Some (Not All) of the Lwa:
Bondye - Creator God.
Papa Legba - God of crossroads, the main communicator between the human and spirit world.
Maman Brigitte - Godess of death and the underworld, married to Baron Samedi.
Baron Samedi - God of death, married to Maman Brigitte.
Erzulie - Godess of beauty, love, goodwill, help, the word, health, fortune, jealousy, discord, and vengance. Female energy of Legba. [She is often exoterically confused as the goddess of fertility, however, in Vodou fertility is considered equally a masculine and feminine responsibility.]
Ogun - God of warriors, blacksmiths, and wheels of justice.
Damballah - God who helped Bondye create the cosmos. He is the keeper of knowledge, wisdom, and healing magic.
Oshun - Goddess of rivers, streams, and water.
Agwe (Agoueh) - God of water.
Azacca (Zaka) - God of agriculture.
SPIRIT POSSESSIONS
THE FEAR AND THE PROPHETIC
Misconception surrounding spirit possessions in Vodou are common. These misconceptions are fed by the media and sustained as the laymen takes these presentations as fact rather than questioning their validity.
When an outsider hears the term "spirit possession" they picture something akin to a scene out of the exorcist, a human host overtaken by some demonic force, bodies flailing and contorting as their eyes roll backwards and phrases from a dead language flow from the lips they no longer control. While images and scenes such as these might make for quality television, they do not accurately represent spirit possessions in real life.
In Vodou, spirit possessions act as a means of communicating with the spirit realm. The spirit is welcomed into a human host who allows themselves to act as a vessel for communication. Being a host for a spirit in this way is a sign of devoutness as the spirits do not trust just anyone with such an important task. It is more accurate to consider spirit possessions in Vodou as something prophetic rather than something to be feared. Further still, the idea that this is demonic highlights the misunderstanding of the Vodou pantheon, as the spirits who act as the "possessors" are honored deities, not demonic entities.
The fears and apprehensions of those outside the religion are quite interesting when more closely considered. After all, prophets are common in other belief systems. In the case of New Orleans Voodoo (as well as Haitian Vodou) the negative exoteric perceptions stem from the fear of the other and all that intertwined with this throughout the long history of oppression and white supremacy. Today, we can only act to correct these misconceptions through education and acknowledgement of the system of oppression and exploitation that shaped these perceptions.
VOODOO DOLLS - FACT & FICTION
We all know the cliché, the cloth dolls crudely sewn together with X's over their eyes being poked and prodded with pins and needles as the hexed human it has been magically connected to feels the pains inflicted on the dolls. This media representation of Voodoo fetishes is, to put it simply, completely fabricated.
Spirit dolls, as seen in New Orleans, are often constructed of sticks or spoons and held together by colorful yearn and decorated with feathers or other adornments. They often have hallowed out portions, often the stomach or the head, that hold herbs or other sacred materials. They are structured similarly to spirit dolls crafted and used in Kongo or Bantu practices. The Voodoo dolls that tourists encounter are often mass produced in China, commodified totems for tourists. These dolls are actually influenced by European design, rather than the African roots of Vodou.
Spirit dolls are used in a variety of ways in Voodoo, none of which involve the "dark magic" with which they are so often associated. Poppets are also commonly used in hoodoo, being constructed out of clay, wax, or other materials. Both can be used for personal reasons such as protection, invoking prosperity, and a number of other day-to-day reasons. Statues of religious entities are another Voodoo element of a doll-like nature. These can be used in ceremonies and rituals and are commonly placed on an alter.
GRIS-GRIS BAGS & MOJO HANDS
We have all heard the word mojo. Having failed in some way or having felt "off our game," some of us may have suggested that we've "lost our mojo".
Gris-gris bags and mojo hands are synonymous. They can also be referred to as conjure hands, conjure sacks, or a toby. They are, quite literally, small bags comprised of specific sacred materials, used for a variety of reasons, and are worn or kept near the person to elicit the desired effects. Mojo hands are common in the South Eastern United States. In New Orleans they are often referred to by the French word gris-gris (directly translating to gray-gray). The exact etymology of this name for them is unknown, though it is possible that it derives from gerregerys, the Mande word for amulet. This theory makes sense as they can be worn like a talisman or amulets.
Some of the reasons for gris-gris bags include healing, love, luck, prosperity, protection, and numerous other purposes.
ALTARS, CANDLES, & OILS
Altars can be constructed temporarily or more permanently within the household. Altars are comprised of many elements of material folklore, such as statues, spirit dolls, candles, oils, and herbs. They can be used to honor and communicate with the spirit world as a personal space for ritual and prayer, and are considered a sacred space.
Candles can be used in ritual ceremonies and can be found on altars. Size, shape, and color are dictated by the intention of the ritual. One can also carve symbols into the wax of the candle to further clarify intent during a ritual. Additionally, a candle can be anointed with oil prior to lighting the flame. Oils can also be used to anoint gris-gris/Mojo hands, on one's skin, or as aromatherapy.
Van Van oil is often used in New Orleans Voodoo. It's name comes from the Creole pronunciation of vervaine (aka lemon verbena). Vervaine is somewhat expensive, so lemongrass oil is often used as its substitute in Van Van oil. Within the New Orleans Voodoo traditions, there are numerous oils and oil blends that are used for a variety of reasons spanning from the spiritual to cleaning products.
MARIE LAVEAU
History and the Folk Icon
The name Marie Laveau is one that many people know, especially after the rise of interest in New Orleans Voodoo in Hollywood and the media. One fairly recent presentation of Marie Laveau was in the popular television show American Horror Story in the season Coven. In spite of the various presentations of this historical figure in pop-culture, little is actually known about Marie Laveau from a historical standpoint. What is known about her comes from written documentation by white society members and from being passed down through oral tradition.
Some say that Marie Laveau was born in Saint-Domingue, coming to New Orleans after the slave revolt. Others say that she was the daughter of a slave and a plantation owner. There is also speculation that she was pase blanc... a French phrase meaning passing for white, having skin with lighter pigmentation.
According to bapistmal records at St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter, Marie Laveau was baptized on September 16th, 1801. Her mother, Marguerite d'Arcantel, was a freed half-white half-African slave and her father, Charles Laveau, was a free Man of Color. Charles Laveau was a wealthy man who is record as having made his money in real-estate, money lending, and slave trading.
On August 4th 1819, Marie married Jacques Paris, a carpenter from Saint-Domingue. Together they had two children before Paris disappeared. There are several theories as to what happened to Paris, ranging from death during the yellow fever pandemic to abandoning his family to return to Haiti, however there is no official documentation besides his death certificate that was filed for in 1825 long after he had disappeared.
There are claims that Marie Laveau made a living as a hairdresser (such as is claimed in Robert Tallant's nonfiction book 'Voodoo in New Orleans'). In these stories, it is said that as a hairdresser her clients (mainly affluent people of white and mixed heritage) often came to her for her knowledge and abilities as a Voodoo practitioner. Others say that her hair dressing days were short lived, making her living primarily off of hoodoo as the public perceptions shifted from viewing Voodoo as sinful into something that they could reasonably use for their own personal gains.
Regardless of the exact timelines or truths behind Marie Laveau's empire of selling hoodoo to exoteric members of the religious group, it is a story that shows the esoteric commodification of Voodoo. Given the time period and the demographic she was believed to have catered to, it is not for me to say whether this potential commodification was harmful to the religion itself. I do, however, believe her actions to have been entrepreneurial in a time when white minds were not willing to respect the religion and the people who practiced it beyond appropriating its elements to serve their own needs.
In addition to, and at times in spite of, the historical record of Marie Laveau as a person, she has blossomed into a folk icon. Today, she is so closely associated with Voodoo as a high priestess to the general public that it is impossible to discredit her from a historical perspective. And while some do consider her to be an ancestral spirit with whom they can communicate and honor, not everyone who practices Vodou consider her in this way. Historically, there are many gaps in knowledge as to who she was to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was indeed the Voodoo Queen folk icon that she has become. Regardless of indisputable fact, her legacy has immortalized her in the heart of New Orleans.
Image Source: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/10/new-orleans-to-welcome-voodoo-queen-shrine.html
THE ETHICAL TOURIST
How to approach tourism in New Orleans with respect to Voodoo
As a tourist, it is hard not to be drawn to New Orleans. After all, it is an architecturally beautiful city with a rich history, flowing with music and culture. Tourism brings a great deal of revenue into the city, an inarguable benefit of tourism in a post hurricane Katrina New Orleans. However, the commodification and exploitation of Voodoo in New Orleans, turning items into branded bastardizations of an authentic culture, makes this side of tourism in the city somewhat challenging.
As tourists in New Orleans, it is important to use our time in this city as an opportunity to learn and expand our understanding of Voodoo. Before heading into the shops of the French Quarter, do a bit of research. Learn a bit about the shops and businesses that cater to elements of voodoo as consumable goods and experiences, see which are owned by actual followers of Vodou and which are owned by someone looking to make money off of appropriated culture. See where you can take a tour or sit in on an educational program that discusses Voodoo (one that isn't catered to the blind tourist looking for the glitz and the glam regardless of authenticity). Talk to people, ask questions... engage. Play the role of anthropologist, seeking to learn objectively and respectfully. You might be surprised at what you will learn and the stories you will hear.
Have your intentions as a tourist be (at least in part) to pursue knowledge and collect experiences rather than reinforcing the capitalist foundations derived from appropriated culture. Nothing prefaces a night of absinth and hurricanes on Bourbon street quite like a day of exploration and education.