Voodoo

Voodoo's mystical presence is one of the most common motifs in New Orleans. The problem is that the presence is mostly reduced to a tourist gimmick. Every gift shop seems to have voodoo dolls for sale, there is a Voodoo Museum, and Marie Laveau, the famous voodoo queen, comes off as the town's patron saint. But lost among the kitsch is a very real religion with a serious past and considerable cultural importance.

Voodoo's roots can be traced in part back to the African Yoruba religion, which incorporates the worship of several different spiritual forces that include a supreme being, deities, and the spirits of ancestors. When Africans were kidnapped, enslaved, and brought to Brazil -- and, ultimately, Haiti -- beginning in the 1500s, they brought their religion with them.

By the 1700s, 30,000 slaves a year were brought to Haiti. Voodoo began to emerge at this time as different African religions met and melded. (The word voodoo comes from an African word meaning "god" or "spirit.") Slaves were forced to convert to Catholicism, but they found it easy to practice both religions. Voodoo gods were given saints' names, and voodoo worship more or less continued, appropriating certain Catholic rituals and beliefs. Rituals involved participants dancing in a frenzy to increasingly wild drumbeats and eventually falling into a trancelike state, during which a loa (a spirit and/or lower-level deity intermediary between humans and gods) would take possession of them.

Voodoo didn't immediately take root in New Orleans, thanks to repressive slaveholders and an edict banning its practice. But the edict was repealed after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and in 1804, when slaves in Haiti revolted and overthrew the government, free blacks came to New Orleans in great numbers, as did fleeing plantation owners with their own slaves, all bringing a fresh infusion of voodoo.

Napoleonic law forced slave owners to give their slaves Sundays off and to provide them with a gathering place. Congo Square on Rampart Street, part of what is now Louis Armstrong Park, became the place for slaves to gather for voodoo or drumming rituals. Voodoo then was a way for slaves to have their own community and a certain amount of freedom. The religion emphasized knowledge of family and gave power to ancestors. Further, women were usually the powerful forces in voodoo -- priestesses ran matters more often than priests -- and this appealed to women in a time when women simply didn't have that kind of authority and power.

These gatherings naturally attracted white onlookers, as did the rituals held (often by free people of color) along St. John's Bayou. The local papers of the 1800s are full of lurid accounts of voodoo "orgies" and of whites being possessed by spirits, otherwise losing control, or being arrested after being caught in a naked pose. Thanks to the white scrutiny, the Congo Square gatherings became more like performance pieces, emphasizing drumming and music rather than religious rituals. Because of the square's proximity to what became Storyville, legend has it that madams from the houses would come down to the Sunday gatherings and hire some of the performers to entertain at their houses.

It was during the 1800s that the famous voodoo priestesses came to some prominence. Mostly free women of color, they were devout religious practitioners and very good businesswomen who had a steady clientele of whites secretly coming to them for help in love or money matters. During the 1900s, voodoo largely went back underground.

It is estimated that today as much as 15% of the population of New Orleans practices voodoo. The most common public perception of voodoo involves casting spells or sticking pins in voodoo dolls. Most of that is Hollywood nonsense. Voodoo dolls do exist, as do gris-gris bags -- little packets of herbs, stones, and other bits and pieces designed to bring luck, love, health, or what have you (gris means "gray," to symbolize a magic somewhere between white and black). Other rituals more or less incorporate magic, but most of it is done for good, not for evil. Ask a real practitioner about helping you with the latter, and you will probably get some nasty looks.

Most of the stores and places in New Orleans that advertise voodoo are set up strictly for tourism. This is not to say that some facts can't be found there or that you shouldn't buy a mass-produced gris-gris bag or voodoo doll as a souvenir. For an introduction to voodoo, check out the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum. If you want to know about true voodoo, however, you need to seek out real voodoo temples or practitioners, of which there are several in New Orleans. If you want to know still more, check out Robert Tallant's book Voodoo in New Orleans (Pelican Pocket, 1983).

Voodoo Temples

Here are two authentic voodoo temples, attached to two botanicas selling everything you might need for potions and spells. The public is welcome, and the employees are happy to educate the honestly curious.

The Island of Salvation Botanica and the Temple Simbi-sen Jak, 835 Piety St. (tel. 504/948-9961), are run by Sallie Glassman, voodoo priestess and author of a deck of voodoo tarot cards. The staff at the well-stocked botanica is very interested in educating the public. If you demonstrate the right enthusiasm, they might show you the temple, or you might get invited to their Saturday-night ceremony -- but be aware that you will be required to participate: It is not something to observe as a performance. The botanica is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:30am to 5pm, but due to morning readings, browsers are usually not allowed in until noon. Glassman observes that hers was the only house on her block that did not have any flooding "and I think this is pretty significant."

Located right in the French Quarter, the Voodoo Spiritual Temple, 828 N. Rampart St. (tel. 504/522-9627), is the real McCoy -- interested tourists are welcome, but please be respectful. Priestess Miriam belonged to the Spiritual Church in Chicago before setting up this spiritual house, which has a store attached. The main room is a temple, full of fascinating altars. There are both personal and open rituals. The staff wants to increase others' knowledge of voodoo and sweep away myths and ignorance, so the honestly inquisitive are quite welcome. You can also purchase a haunting CD of Priestess Miriam's voodoo chants and rituals. It's open with irregular hours. For a slightly slicker, but still authentic voodoo experience, visit Voodoo Authentica (612 Dumaine, tel. 504/522-2111), which, though primarily a store, also has a working alter. Mama Lola, subject of the sociological voodoo study Mama Lola: Haitian Voodou Priestess in Brooklyn, is often in attendance, reading cards and performing cleansings.

Visiting Marie Laveau

Marie Laveau is the most famous New Orleans voodoo queen. Though she was a real woman, her life has been so mythologized that it is nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction. But who really wants to? Certainly we know that she was born a free woman of color in 1794 and married Jacques Paris in 1819. Paris disappeared about 4 years later, and Marie later took up with Christophe Glapion.

Along the way, Marie, a hairdresser by trade, became known for her psychic abilities and powerful gris-gris. It didn't hurt that her day job allowed her into the best houses, where she heard all the good gossip and could apply it to her other clientele. In one famous story, a young woman about to be forced into a marriage with a much older, wealthy man approached Marie. She wanted to marry her young lover instead. Marie counseled patience. The marriage went forward, and the happy groom died from a heart attack while dancing with his bride at the reception. After a respectable time, the wealthy widow was free to marry her lover.

Marie wholeheartedly believed in voodoo and turned it into a good business, too. Her home at what is now 1020 St. Ann St. (you can now see only the building itself) was purportedly a gift from a grateful client. A devout Catholic, Marie continued to attend daily Mass and was publicly noted for her charity work that included regular visits to inmates awaiting execution.

Her death in 1881 was noted by the Times-Picayune, though voodoo was not mentioned. Her look-alike daughter, Marie II, took over her work, leading some to believe (mistakenly) that Marie I lived a very long time, looking quite well indeed -- which only added to her legend. But Marie II allegedly worked more for the darker side than her mother. Her eventual reward, the story goes, was death by poison (delivered by whom is unknown). Today visitors can bring Marie tokens (candles, Mardi Gras beads, change) and ask her for favors -- she's buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.

That Voodoo That You Do

Voodoo is a nature-based traditional African religion. It is the religion that the slaves brought here when they were taken from Africa. The word literally means "spirit deity and God, the creator of the universe," but it was taken out of context.

African people were not brought to the New World to have themselves or their culture glorified. Anything that was not white and Protestant or Catholic was looked upon as demonic. And it was not. We are all worshipping God in our own ways. And it is every culture's prerogative to do so.

People confuse negative magic with voodoo. It is not. That is not dealing with the religion of voodoo but the intent to harm. That is hoodoo. And it is not voodoo.

I was drawn to it by my family. My mother used to do candles, and she was very psychic, and she would tell me about spirits and ghosts and how to protect myself from spirits. And I grew up in a neighborhood where people would hoodoo each other. Being born on Halloween, I've always been drawn to spiritual things. I started becoming actively involved in traditional African religions over 25 years ago, but it was always part of my culture.

I had to go through levels of study and initiation with elders here and in Haiti. My Yoruba/Santeria initiation was in Atlanta. Additionally, I am a priestess of Oya, the goddess of hurricanes, the queen of the spirit world, and the queen of the marketplace. I did her initiation about 12 years ago.

Voodoo is a viable religion because people feel that by using the rituals and the prayers and all of the implements, they can do things and have power and control over their own lives. People lack something in their lives, and there is a void that traditional religions do not seem to fill, at least, the way they practice it. Voodoo a lot of times fills that void, helps a person get more in touch with their spiritual self.

The voodoo dolls are greatly overrated. They are used to help you focus, and you can use them in healing. I do not sell pins with my dolls. In Haiti I've seen the dolls, and they are never with pins. It's Hollywood to think that. People will use them that way, but it's black magic. The focal point can be positive or negative, but negative work will come back to you.

You can definitely be another religion along with voodoo, any religion. I have a lot of Jewish people who work with me and also go to synagogue. I am Catholic, I go to church, I take Communion, I sing in the choir for midnight Mass. Everyone in my church knows I'm very Catholic, but also I'm a voodoo and Yoruba priestess.

-- Ava Kay Jones

Ava Kay Jones has a law degree from Loyola University and is a practicing voodoo and Yoruba priestess. She also heads the Voodoo Macumba dance troupe, and her booth at Jazz Fest is annually one of the most popular. She is available for readings, gris-gris bags, and other items of voodoo interest at tel. 504/412-0202 by appointment only.