Voodoo Helping Fund the Big Easy

Voodoo Helping Fund the Big Easy

Shelby Ellenbogen

Religion 109 Summer 14[pic 1]

Professor McKinnon

June 18, 2014

                                           Princess and the Frog 2009

                        What is Voodoo? What is the History of Voodoo?

        By definition on Dictionary.com voodoo is “a polytheistic religion practiced chiefly by West Indians, deriving principally from African cult worship and containing elements borrowed from the Catholic religion”. (Voodoo Definition, 2014) Another definition that applies more to Voodoo in regards to this paper would be: “(also called voodooism) a religious cult involving witchcraft and communication by trance with ancestors and animistic deities, common in Haitian and other Caribbean Islands.

        Voodoo can be traced back to the African “Yoruba” religion which incorporated several different spiritual forces that included a supreme being, deities, and the spirit of ancestors. (Voodoo, 2014)When African’s were taken from their homes and shipped to Haiti, and then to the United States they brought their religion with them; once they became slaves in the United States they were forced to convert to Catholicism or face death. (How to Voodoo Big Easy Style, 2014) So to appease the owners elements of West Africa, Caribbean and Catholic beliefs were combined resulting in Loa. Loa are the spirits of the voodoo religion resembling Catholic saints. Loa are found in and around alters, on candles, bells and crosses. Followers of Voodoo believe in one supreme God, right under God is the Loa-which of course are spirits- which rules the world and all the happenings that go with it; from family issues to legal issues. Offerings are given to Loa; however there are several different Loa’s each Loa has its own different fruit, color and natural element associated with it. Followers supply offerings to when asking for help with bad luck, to help assist with marriage problems, and to help with health issues.

        Another part of the ritual of voodoo is when a priest (houngan) or priestess (mambo) is trying to make contact with a Loa. The first part of the ritual is the feast being shared with those trying to make contact, and then flour is sprinkled on the floor in a particular pattern depending on the Loa to be summoned. To invoke Loa, worshippers dance, chant, and play drums; the Loa then possesses the Voodoo apprentice, who then will take on a “trance like state” and give the worshippers advice from the Loa. (How to Voodoo Big Easy Style, 2014)

                When did Voodoo First Become Popular in the Big Easy?

        Voodoo is often confused with Italian Vodou and Southern Hoodoo, yet it differs from Vodou because of the Gris-Gris, Voodoo Queens, and the use of Hoodoo occult paraphernalia. (Gris-Gris and Voodoo Dolls are used mainly in America) Voodoo had been banned in Louisiana until the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, (Voodoo, 2014) when Haitians slaves overthrew their government bringing new immigrants to the Big Easy along with new infusions to voodoo.

        Voodoo was more alive in the Big Easy well before Marie Laveau became the reigning Queen of the Voodoo. By the 1830’s there were many voodoo queens in the Big Easy, fighting over control of the Sunday Congo dances and the secret ceremonies at Lake Pontchartrain. Yet once Marie Laveau decided to become Queen, the other queens started to fade away, some by crumbling to her powerful gris-gris, and some were being driven away by brute force. [pic 2]

        Marie Laveau knew the sensations that the rituals at the lake were causing and used it to further the purposes of the voodoo movement in the Big Easy. She invited the public, press, police and the New Orleans roués, and any other thrill seekers of the forbidden fun to attend. Charging admission made voodoo profitable for the first time in the Big Easy’s history. (The True Voodoo Queens and Kings, 2014)

        The first known Voodoo Queen in the Big Easy was Sanite’ DeDe, a young woman from Santo Domingo who bought her way to freedom in the Big Easy, she would hold rituals in her courtyard on Dumaine and Chartres streets, just blocks away from the Cathedral. The sounds of the drums could be heard during mass, it was because of this that in 1817 the church decided that any religion that was not Catholic would not be allowed to practice within the city limits. Congo Square, now known as Louis Armstrong Park, was the location that early Voodoos held their rituals. Local papers from the 1800’s are full of lucrid accounts of voodoo “orgies” possessing both blacks and whites. Also during the 1800’s there were several voodoo priest and priestesses however most of them were of the priestesses; mostly free women of color, and devote religious practitioners  of the Catholic religion, therefore able to practice voodoo within city limits because they intermingled Catholic and Voodoo beliefs together.