LOUISIANA, HOME OF VOODOO WORSHIP IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Almost 15% of of the population of Louisiana state practice Voodoo. Louisiana Voodoo, also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is described as a set of religious practices which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish, and Creole speaking African American population of the U.S. state of Louisiana. 

                                 The real voodoo queen of New Orleans; Voodoo Macambre.
It is one of many incarnations of African-based religions rooted in West African  Dahomeyan  Vodun. They became syncretized with the Catholicism and Francophone culture of south Louisiana as a result of the slave trade. Louisiana Voodoo is often confused with—but is not completely separable from—Haitian Vodou  and southern  Hoodoo. It differs from Vodou in its emphasis upon  Gris-gris, voodoo queens, use of Hoodoo occult paraphernalia, and Li Grand Zombi (snake deity). It was through Louisiana Voodoo that such terms as gris-gris (a Wolof term) and voodoo dolls were introduced into the American lexicon.


                       Voodoo devotee in New Orleans
History
African influences

Voodoo was brought to the French colony Louisiana from Africa and from the Haitian exiles after the Haitian revolution. From 1719 to 1731, the majority of African captives came directly from what is now Benin, West Africa, bringing with them their cultural practices, languages, and religious beliefs rooted in spirit and ancestor worship. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons, and the ritual creation of charms and amulets, intended to protect oneself or harm others, became key elements of Louisiana Voodoo.

“Voodoo queen Lala and her husband Louie in New Orleans Louisiana in the 1930s,” photographer and exact date unknown

Al Rose, in Storyville, writes that “an association of [the red light district] Storyville madams, which met regularly, agreed to refuse to use the services of Lala and other [Voodoo] practitioners on each other.” The favorite queen of the madams was Eulalie Echo. They were always requesting her services for cures and hexes. Her real name was Laura Hunter, and she raised Jelly Roll Morton. She was his godmother…

In the late 1970s Irma Thomas, the New Orleans singer, would record a tune called “Princess Lala”—based on Lala, a famous Voodoo queen in the New Orleans of the 1930s and 1940s—with by all accounts a fairly accurate Voodoo practice described in the lyric.

Robert Tallant wrote in 1946,

If there is a living successor to [Marie Laveau’s] Voodoo throne it is probably Lala…“I’ve had plenty trouble,” Lala admitted. “I been pulled in lots of times, but they can’t do me nothin’. One time I told a judge to give me his ring and I’d make it walk. When he seen his ring walkin’ away he said, ‘You is sure a smart woman.’ Then he let me go. You see, I been studyin’ all my life…”

• 43 notes

The slave community quickly acquired a strong presence in Louisiana. The colony was not a stable society when slaves arrived, which allowed African culture to maintain a prominent position in the slave community. According to a census of 1731-1732, the ratio of African slaves to European settlers was over two to one. The ownership of slaves was concentrated into the hands of only a few of the white settlers, facilitating the preservation of African culture. Unlike other areas of active slave trade, there was little separation in Louisiana between families, culture, and languages. The Embargo Act of 1808 ended all slave imports to Louisiana. Authorities promoted the growth of the slave population by prohibiting by law the separation of families. Parents were sold together with their children under fourteen years of age. The high mortality of the slave trade brought its survivors together with a sense of solidarity. The absence of fragmentation in the slave community, along with the kinship system produced by the bond created by the difficulties of slavery, resulted in a “coherent, functional, well integrated, autonomous, and self confident slave community.” As a result African culture and spirituality did not die out, but rather thrived in French Creole culture.
The practice of making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or the harm of others was a key aspect to early Louisiana Voodoo. The ouanga, a charm used to poison an enemy, contained the poisonous roots of the figure maudit tree, brought from Africa and preserved in the West Indies. The ground up root was combined with other elements such as bones, nails, roots, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy bread, or crucifixes. The administrator of the ritual frequently evoked protection from Jehovah, the Christian God, and Jesus Christ. This openness of African belief allowed for the adoption of Catholic practices into Louisiana Voodoo.

Maafa 2012 New Orleans, LA.

Another component of Louisiana Voodoo brought from Africa was the worship of ancestors and the subsequent emphasis on respect for elders. For this reason, the rate of survival among elderly slaves was high, further “Africanizing Louisiana Creole culture.”

The First Trial of Voodoo Gatherings

Congo Square in New Orleans, Louisiana was the main place of gathering for the earliest Voodoo practitioners in the 19th century. It was then closed to them for fear of uprising, but then in the 1840s it was re-opened to them. From then until the beginning of the Civil War, it would remain as a mainstay for the Voodoo gatherings and rituals. The New Orleans newspapers began to defend the Voodoo practitioners in its articles most likely because of the publicity it gave them. In 1850, police arrested a large group of white and black women who had gathered together for a Voodoo dance. The arrests were said to be due to indecent character.

The women who were arrested fought back against these violations against them. This marks one of the first times in history that Voodoo women fought back against the law. They summoned a counsel who fought for the them saying that the practice of Voodoo was nothing more than a religion. Therefore, the arrests against them were unjustified. However, the courts took a different spin on the trial and used the law that white women and slaves were not allowed to assemble in any way or form. From this time on, the Voodoo practitioners started to give the police a hard time. The struggle between the opposing sides had only begun.

(Source: Tallant, Robert. Voodoo in New Orleans. 1994)

Voodoo queens
During the 19th century, Voodoo queens became central figures to Voodoo in the United States. Voodoo queens presided over ceremonial meetings and ritual dances. They also earned an income by administrating charms, amulets, and magical powders guaranteed to cure ailments, grant desires, and confound or destroy one’s enemies.

  Painting of Voodoo iconic pioneer Queen of New Orleans Marie Laveau

Most noted for her achievements as voodoo Queen of New Orleans in the 1830s was  Marie Laveau. Once the news of her powers spread, she overthrew the other voodoo queens of New Orleans. She acted as an oracle, conducted private rituals behind her cottage on St. Ann Street of the New Orleans French Quarter, performed exorcisms, and offered sacrifices to spirits. Also a devout Catholic, Marie encouraged her followers to attend Catholic Mass. The influence of her Catholic beliefs further facilitated the adoption of Catholic practices into the Voodoo belief system. Today, she is remembered for her skill and compassion for the less fortunate, and her spirit is considered one of the central figures of Louisiana Voodoo.

Honoring Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau and the Original Market Vendors of New Orleans, LA in St. Louis Cemetery #1

  Today, thousands visit the tomb of Marie Laveau to ask favors. Across the street from the cemetery, offerings of pound cake are left to the statue of Saint Expedite; these offerings are believed to expedite the favors asked of Marie Laveau. Saint Expedite represents the spirit standing between life and death. The chapel where the statue stands was once used only for holding funerals.

Marie Laveau continues to be a central figure of Louisiana Voodoo and of New Orleans culture. Gamblers shout her name when throwing dice, and multiple tales of sightings of the Voodoo queen have been told. Her grave has more visitors than the grave of Elvis Presley. Although she is not yet officially considered a saint, there is a strong movement to have her canonized.


Priestess Yaffa, also known as Rose, dances during her ceremony 
as Voodoo Queen in New Orleans, Louisiana. 1991

Commercialization
During the 1930s, true Voodoo went underground when New Orleans became a tourist destination. Voodoo acquired an exotic, Hollywood image in the 1932 film White Zombie. The misconception developed that the principal elements of Voodoo are hexing and sticking pins into dolls.

Visiting tourists asked favors of voodoo practitioners, who made it a point never to refuse one who asked for help. Exhausted by fame, voodoo became an underground religion. At this time, those in search of a fortune took up the “business of superstitions,” charging money, as true voodoo followers never did, for fake potions, powders, and gris-gris.

The main focus of Louisiana Voodoo today is to serve others and influence the outcome of life events through the connection with nature, spirits, and ancestors. True rituals are held "behind closed doors" as a showy ritual would be considered disrespectful to the spirits. Voodoo methods include readings, spiritual baths, specially devised diets, prayer, and personal ceremony. Voodoo is often used to cure anxiety, addictions, depression, loneliness, and other ailments. It seeks to help the hungry, the poor, and the sick as Marie Laveau once did.


Louisiana Voodoo and Christianity


  Catholic Voodoo church in New Orleans

As a result of the fusion of Francophone culture and voodoo in Louisiana, many Voodoo spirits became associated with the Christian saints that presided over the same domain. Although Voodoo and Catholic practices are radically different, both saints and spirits act as mediators with the Virgin Mary and Legba presiding over specific activities. Early followers of Voodoo in the United States adopted the image of the Catholic Saints to their spirits.

Other Catholic practices adopted into Louisiana Voodoo include reciting the Hail Mary and the Lord’s Prayer.

Voodoo superstitions and spells
Many superstitions also related to the practice of Hoodoo developed within the Voodoo tradition in Louisiana. While these superstitions are not central to the Voodoo faith, their appearance is partly a result of Voodoo tradition in New Orleans and have since influenced it significantly.

• A lock of a girl's hair brings good luck.
• If you lay a broom across the doorway at night, a witch can't come in and hurt you.
• Having a woman visit you the first thing on Monday mornings is bad luck for the rest of the week.
• Don't borrow or lend salt because that is bad luck.
• If you sweep trash out of the house after dark you will sweep away your luck.
• Don't shake a tablecloth outside after dark or someone in your family will die.
• To stop a Voodoo spell being placed upon you, acquire some bristles from a pig cooked at a Voodoo ritual, tie the bristles into a bundle and carry them on you at all times.
• If a woman sprinkles some salt from her house to yours, it will give you bad luck until you clean the salt away and put pepper over your door sill.
• 
• If a woman wants her husband to stay away from other woman, she can do so by putting a little of her blood in his coffee, and he will never quit her.
• If a woman's husband dies and you don't want her to marry again, cut all of her husband's shoes all in little pieces, just as soon as he is dead, and she will never marry again.
• You can give someone a headache by taking and turning their picture upside down.
• You can harm a person in whatever way you want to by getting a lock of his hair and burning some and throwing the rest away.
• You can make a farmer's well go dry by putting some soda in the well for one week, each day; then drawing a bucket of water out and throwing it in the river to make the well go dry.
• 
•   authentic voodoo ceremonies on the rhythms of a Cajun/Zydeco band

In Voodoo spells, the "cure-all" was very popular among followers. The cure-all was a Voodoo spell that could solve all problems. There were different recipes in Voodoo spells for cure-all; one recipe was to mix jimson weed (Warning: due to the toxicity of Jimson Weed, it is not advised for unskilled practitioners to create) with sulfur and honey. The mixture was placed in a glass, which was rubbed against a black cat, and then the mixture was slowly sipped.

                Portions at the Voodoo museum in New Orleans

The Voodoo doll is a form of gris-gris, and an example of sympathetic magic. Contrary to popular belief, Voodoo dolls are usually used to bless instead of curse. The purpose of sticking pins in the doll is not to cause pain in the person the doll is associated with, but rather to pin a picture of a person or a name to the doll, which traditionally represents a spirit. The gris-gris is then performed from one of four categories: love; power and domination; luck and finance; and uncrossing.

                                    New Orleans voodoo spell kits

Voodoo and Spiritualism
Voodoo has now attracted many whites and native Americans to its fold. The hallmark of the New Orleans Spiritual Churches is the honoring of the Native American spirit named Black Hawk, who lived in Illinois and Wisconsin, not in Africa, or Haiti. Furthermore, the names of some individual churches in the denomination—such as Divine Israel—bring to mind typical Black Baptist church names more than Catholic ones.

Sallie Ann Glassman performs a ceremony every year on June 23rd on the Magnolia Bridge over Bayou St. John. (Historically June 23rd has been venerated in the practice of Voodoo. The famous Voodoo priestess was said to have held ceremonies involving Voodoo rituals Bayou St John in New Orleans, commemorating St John Eve. Modern day practitioners have kept the tradition alive.)





The New Orleans Spiritual religion is a blend of Spiritualism, Voodoo, Catholicism, and Pentecostalism; the Voodoo-influenced "Spiritual Churches" that survive in New Orleans are the result of a mingling of these and other spiritual practices. It is unique among African-American "Spiritual" religions in its use of "Spirit Guides" in worship services and in the forms of ritual possession that its adherents practice.

    New Orleans Voodoo devotee cleansing and purifying

Voodoo today


                                     New Orleans Voodoo Lucky Penny Stew

Today, Voodoo is a major tourist attraction to the city of New Orleans. Shops selling charms, gris-gris, candles, and powders cater to both tourists and practitioners. The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum houses numerous artifacts and provides daily tours of the museum, the St. Louis Cemetery, and the New Orleans French Quarter. The museum also provides spiritual services including matrimony blessings, marriage ceremonies, consultations, and other rituals. Voodoo ceremonies have been held against contemporary problems facing New Orleans, such as crack cocaine abuse, burglaries, prostitution and assaults

  A New Orleans Voodoo devotee performing rituals

Voodoo Queen Of New Orleans

Actually there are two women who can claim that title, a mother and daughter, both named Marie Laveau.

Giving Reverence to the late Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery #1

Very little is known about the first Marie. Accepted wisdom for years has been that Marie I was born in 1794 to a French creole planter, Charles Laveau and his mistress Marquerite Darcentelin Saint Dominique (modern day Haiti) and moved to New Orleans as a child. However, there is compelling evidence that Marie was actually born in 1801 in New Orleans. This is due to research by Ida Fandrich recently who found a baptismal certificate for a Marie Laveau born on September 10, 1801 in New Orleans. Whether this is the same Marie Laveau is still debatable as it was not an uncommon name in New Orleans.

Marie I was described as beautiful, tall, and statuesque with curly black hair, flashing bright eyes, reddish skin and ‘good’ features (meaning that she favored her white ancestry as opposed to her African). She married a free born man of color Jacques Paris in 1819, which would have made her either 18 or 25 at the time. Jacques however disappeared shortly after their marriage and was presumed dead, although he may just have opted out of the marriage. Whatever the explanation, Marie now called herself ‘the Widow Paris.’ She worked as a hairdresser for many white Creole women as well as the free women of color.

Marie eventually ended up living with Louis Christophe Duminy de Glapion in a common-law marriage. Fandrich believes that Glapion was not a free man of color as has been repeated in various biographies but a white man who passed in order be accepted as her husband. Although its often been stated that Marie and Glapion had 15 children, Fandrich believes that they only had five, only two of whom lived to adulthood, and that the other children attributed to her belonged to her half-sister, another Marie Laveau.

New Orleans in the years before the Civil War had an interesting society that made it one of the most unusual cities in the nation. In the heirarchy of New Orleans, there were the French Creole planters and their families who occupied the French Quarter, then the Americans who began to arrive in the city after the Lousiana purchase settling in the Garden district, and then you had the gen de couleur or the free people of color who were a kind of shadow society that mimicked the white social structure. Many free people of color even owned slaves. The young daughters of the gen de couleur were offered to the white creole planters at the Quadroon balls, where the most beautiful were chosen to be placees, set up in houses on North Rampart street. The mothers who may themselves have been placees, negotiated the arrangement, whether the children, particularly the sons, would be educated in France. A settlement was normally arranged in case, the Creole planter tired of his placee, in the future.

Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau’s tomb. The second most visited gravesite after Elvis Presley’s.

(The three Xs are what people mark when they’re asking Marie to grant something for them. You go back and circle the Xs when your wish has been granted and present offerings. That’s if you can find it, since they repaint the grave around twice a year. Most offerings get thrown away, because people bring things like chicken heads, other crazy stuff.)

This was the world that Marie Laveau I lived in. Although Marie had been brought up a Catholic, she became involved with the religion that we know as Voodoo. At this time in New Orleans, it was common for Voodoo to be practiced along side of Catholicism, the way the ancient Celts still kept their ancient practices as Christianity spread through Ireland and Scotland. Voodoo in the United States was a combination of various African religions, superstition, blood ritual and animism. Voodoo came about most likely in Santo Domingo ( now modern day Haiti) where the slaves devoted rituals to the power of nature and the spirits of the dead. The term “voodoo” was probably adapted from the African Fon spirit, “vodu”. For many slaves, these spiritual traditions provided a means of emotional and spiritual resistance to hardships of the life they were made to endure. After Toussaint L’Ouverture overthrew the governement in Santo Domingo, French creole planters who fled brought their slaves with them to New Orleans and they brought Voodoo with them. In the early days, slaves were allowed to congregrate in the evenings after their daily chores.

The main meeting place for Voodoo worship was Congo Square (now Beauregard Square) on North Rampart Street, but these meetings freaked out the white citizens of the city, who feared that the meetings could lead to a slave uprising. As a result, new laws were enacted in 1817 that forbid blacks to get gather for dancing or any other purpose except on Sunday, and then only in places that had been designated by the Mayor of the City. However, it turned out that Congo Square was that place, and the meetings continued as always but only on Sundays. Like Harlem in the 1920’s, Congo Square became a popular place for whites and tourists to watch the entertainment.

                       Young New Orleans boys after a voodoo rituals

In New Orleans, Voodoo was a matriarchy, 2/3 were female. At one point there were more than 40 recognized Voodoo priestesses, but Marie Laveau was the ‘Boss Woman’ of them all. Marie had trained with the famous “Voodoo doctor” Jean Montaigne (Doctor John or John Bayou as he became known), who was then the most powerful Voodoo practitioner in New Orleans, and learned from him how to make the most potent charms, potions and gris-gris. She also gained an extensive knowledge of herbs and natural healing remedies.

Legend has it that Marie acquired her cottage at 1020 St. Ann Street from a grateful father whose son was in trouble with the law. Marie put a green pepper gris-gris under the judge’s chair leading him to be lenient. The truth was probably far simpler. Marie had a network of spies made up of servants and slaves that worked in the houses of the elite in New Orleans, which she controlled with fear. She also learned a great deal while dressing the hair of the Creole women who vied for services. Then as now, women tended to confide their secrets about their lives o their hairdressers. Marie used this information for blackmail and to give the illusion that she had learned things from the spirits.

The grave of Marie Laveau 

Marie Laveau, her secret knowledge which she had gained from the Creole boudoirs combined with her own considerable knowledge of spells along with her flair, became the most powerful woman in New Orleans. Whites sought her help in their various affairs and amours while blacks saw her as their leader. Judges paid her as much as $1000 to win an election, other whites paid $10 for an personal consultation or visit. She freely helped most blacks. To visit her for a reading became fashionable.

Like other scandalous women, she also learned to cultivate the press. When she died, the Times-Picayune editorialized saying “Much evil dies with her, but should we not add, a great deal of poetry too.” She invited the public, press, police, and others thrill-seekers of the forbidden fun to attend. Charging admission made voodoo profitable for the first time. Hundreds would turn up to watch Marie hypnotize her giant snake Zombi at the Voodoo ceremonies. She blended aspects of Catholicism in to Voodoo, adding incense, statues and holy water to the mix. Marie was said to arrange orgies between the quadroom and octoroon women and the white men who paid dearly for her services, replacing the Quadroon balls that had been fashionable before the war.

                                Skulls at the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans

Despite her reputation as a Voodoo priestess, Marie was also still a devout Catholic. She paid visits to men condemned to death in prison, bringing them food and prayer beads. In 1853 Yellow Fever once again threatened New Orleans. A special committee of gentlemen was quickly appointed to request Laveau’s help on behalf of all the people to minister to the fever stricken. Many who survived the endemic owed their survival to Laveau’s dedicated care and ministrations.

In 1875 Marie Laveau announced her retirement in order to concentrate on tending to the sick and condemned in New Orleans’ prisons. Within a few years however, she moved into a back room of 150 St. Anne Street. There under the care of her eldest daughter Marie Laveau II, she lay bedridden until she finally passed into the world of the “loas” (ancestor spirits) on the 15th June 1881.

After her death, there was a myth that Marie had risen from the grave. In reality, it was Marie’s daughter Marie Laveau II, who continued her mother’s work well into the 20th century. Marie Laveau II gradually took over the business, thus adding to the many myths and legends that surround the Laveau name. Marie II was a strikingly woman bearing many of her mother’s features; she also had a strong and dominant personality that she used to control the lives of others. Like her mother, Marie II also started out as a hairdresser.

Marie II continued to run rituals and parties from “Maison Blanche” out by Lake Pontchartrain, the house which her mother had built for secret Voodoo meetings and liaisons for the rich elite. Like her mother, she also made special arrangements with the police and media, who never raided her premises without prior notice, and then only for show and appearances sake.

Marie II was also adept in the use of herbs and other healing techniques, and sick people often came to the house on St Anne Street for treatment or a cure. Most of her healing medicines combined the use of natural products, roots and herbs that contained genuine curative elements, but she also employed other factors, including the body’s own natural healing mechanisms and the powerful effects of suggestion. To this end her cures were often accompanied by ritual praying, chanting and the burning of candles and incense for added affect.

While Laveau II continued to reign over the Voodoo ceremonies and run the Maison Blanche, she never gained the same high respect her mother had earned. Apparently she lacked the warmth and compassion of her mother, and instead inspired fear and subservience. Some claim Laveau II drowned on the 11th June 1897 during a big storm on Lake Pontchartrain.

Tomb of voodoo queen Marie Laveau. The red X’s and gifts are left by people seeking wish fulfillment, some are circled which means the wish came true.

Marie Laveau I managed to transcend racial, social and religious lines in 19th century New Orleans which was unusual in a segregated city, where blacks and whites didn’t freely mix after the Civil War. One could say that she raised the practice of voodoo from a local religion practiced by slaves to an art form. To this day, visitors to her tomb in Saint Louis Cemetary #1 draw three crosses (XXX) on its side, hoping that her spirit will grant their wishes. There are those who believe that Marie Laveau returns to life once each year to lead the faithful in worship on St. John’s Eve. Another myth says that her ghost has been seen in the cemetery, recognizable thanks to the “tignon”, the seven-knotted handkerchief, that she wears around her neck.

Offerings to Marie Laveau, VooDoo Queen by Star Cat on Flickr.

Via Flickr:

The Wishing Tomb

Controversy persists over where Marie Laveau and her namesake daughter are buried. Some say the latter reposes in the cemetery called St. Louis No. 2 (Hauck 1996) in a “Marie Laveau Tomb” there. However, that crypt most likely contains the remains of another voodoo queen named Marie, Marie Comtesse. Numerous sites in as many cemeteries are said to be the final resting place of one or the other Marie Laveau (Tallant 1946, 129), but the prima facie evidence favors the Laveau-Glapion tomb in St. Louis No. 1. It comprises three stacked crypts with a “receiving vault” below (that is, a repository of the remains of those displaced by a new burial).

 Marie Laveau`s tomb where people mark 3 x`s to luck

A contemporary of Marie II told Tallant (1946, 126) that he had been present when she died of a heart attack at a ball in 1897, and insisted: “All them other stories ain’t true. She was buried in the Basin Street graveyard they call St. Louis No. I, and she was put in the same tomb with her mother and the rest of her family.”

That tomb’s carved inscription records the name, date of death, and age (62) of Marie II: “Marie Philome Glapion, décédé le 11 Juin 1897, ágée de Soixante-deux ans.” A bronze tablet affixed to the tomb announces, under the heading “Marie Laveau,” that “This Greek Revival Tomb Is Reputed Burial Place of This Notorious ‘Voodoo Queen’ … ,” presumably a reference to the original Marie. Corroborative evidence that she was interred here is found in her obituary (“Death” 1881) which notes that “Marie Laveau was buried in her family tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1.” Guiley (2000) asserts that, while Marie Laveau I is reportedly buried here, “The vault does not bear her name.” However, I was struck by the fact that the initial two lines of the inscription on the Laveau-Glapion tomb read, “Famille Vve. Paris / née Laveau.” Obviously, “Vve.” is an abbreviation for Veuve, “Widow”; therefore the phrase translates, “Family of the Widow Paris, born Laveau”-namely Marie Laveau I. I take this as evidence that here is indeed the “family tomb.” Robert Tallant (1946, 127) suggests: “Probably there was once an inscription marking the vault in which the first Marie was buried, but it has been changed for one marking a later burial. The bones of the Widow Paris must lie in the receiving vault below.”

The Laveau-Glapion tomb is a focal point for commercial voodoo tours. Some visitors leave small gifts at the site-coins, Mardi Gras beads, candles, etc.-in the tradition of voodoo offerings. Many follow a custom of making a wish at the tomb. The necessary ritual for this has been variously described. The earliest version I have found (Tallant 1946, 127) says that people would “knock three times on the slab and ask a favor,” noting: “There are always penciled crosses on the slab. The sexton washes the crosses away, but they always reappear.” A more recent source advises combining the ritual with an offering placed in the attached cup: “Draw the X, place your hand over it, rub your foot three times against the bottom, throw some silver coins into the cup, and make your wish” (Haskins 1990). Yet again we are told that petitioners are to “leave offerings of food, money and flowers, then ask for Marie’s help after turning around three times and marking a cross with red brick on the stone” (Guiley 2000, 216).

Although some of the markings are done in black (as from charcoal), most are rendered in a rusty red from bits of crumbling brick. One New Orleans guidebook says of the wishing tomb: “The family who own it have asked that this bogus, destructive tradition should stop, not least because people are taking chunks of brick from other tombs to make the crosses. Voodoo practitioners-responsible for the candles, plastic flowers, beads, and rum bottles surrounding the plot-deplore the practice, too, regarding it as a desecration that chases Laveau’s spirit away” (Cook 1999). Echoing that view, another guidebook advises: “On the St. Louis tour, please don’t scratch Xs on the graves; no matter what you’ve heard, it is not a real voodoo practice and is destroying fragile tombs” (Herczog 2000).

This is the tomb of New Orleans Voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau. Visitors will often (illegally) draw three “x”s (XXX) on its side and leave a gift in the hopes that Laveau’s spirit will grant them a wish. 

The New Orleans Saints hired a Voodoo priestess to fight a ghostly football curse

Today, the New York Giants and the New England Patriots battle for football supremacy, while fans sit at home with their lucky jerseys and their game day rituals. But some teams need a bit more mystical help than others. In 2000, the New Orleans Saints called in the big guns to combat the ghostly curse on their football stadium.

(Voodoo Yoruba Priestess Ava Kay Jones poses with her South American Red Tailed Boa during the Saints win against the Rams.

Voodoo and Yoruba Priestess Ava Kay Jones educates the public in the true nature of the Voodoo religion. Ava Kay Jones Voodu priestess of New Orleans was an attorney by trade when she chose the path of her spiritual calling.

Voodoo and Yoruba Priestess Ava Kay Jones was an attorney by trade before she chose the path of her true spiritual calling. One of only twenty practicing Voodoo Mambos in the US, Ava Kay Jones has enthralled locals and visitors alike with her dynamic presentation of authentic voodoo rituals as practiced in the days of Marie Laveau. Priestess Ava is also the founder and featured performer of the Voodoo Macumba Dance Ensemble, a performance group of drummers, dancers, fire-eaters, and sword and snake dancers. Priestess Ava and Voodoo Macumba have performed in movies, at festivals, and, most notably, in the Superdome conducting blessing ceremonies for the New Orleans Saints.

The Saints contracted Quint Davis and his company Festival Productions Inc. (the team that produces Jazz Fest and the Essence Festival) to handle entertainment for the Saints' home games. According to Wayne Hodes, director of marketing for the Saints, approximately two weeks before the Saints/Rams game on Dec. 17, 2002, Hodes' office asked Davis to hire Ava Kay Jones, a well-known Voodoo and Yoruba priestess, to do a blessing before the game.

Jones, who was raised Catholic, says she is still very much a Christian. She was ordained as a Voodoo priestess in Haiti in 1985, and as a Yoruba priestess in 1989. She is frequently interviewed on the subject of Voodoo, which she says is misunderstood due to inaccurate portrayals, fear and prejudice. She says she is committed to educating the public about the faith she has so deeply embraced.

OFFICIAL AVA KAY JONES WEBSITE: www. yorubapriestess.tripod.com )

Sports curses are nothing new. There's the famous Curse of the Bambino, in which Babe Ruth supposedly cursed the Boston Red Sox, which was blamed for the Sox's failure to win a World Series for 86 years. The Curse of Billy Penn, which allegedly kept Philadelphia sports teams from winning championships because the city built a skyscraper higher than William Penn's statue atop city hall, was believed to have been broken when iron workers attached a small figurine of Penn to the final beam of the Comcast Center. But the New Orleans Saints' curse has a particularly spooky bent, thanks to their stadium, the Superdome, being built atop an old cemetery.

You would think an institution as superstitious as a sports team would know better than to build on hallowed ground, but the plans went forward, and most (although perhaps not all) of the human remains were moved to other locales. In 1967, the Saints franchise was born and the Superdome plans were drawn up. For the next 33 years, the team failed to win a single playoff game, and many wondered if the displaced spirits of Girod Street Cemetery were holding the football franchise back.

In 2000, the team called in a little spiritual help. They contracted Ava Kay Jones, a Voodoo and Yoruba priestess, to appease the spiritual world and remove any ghostly impediments to the Saints' victory. Jones performed a series of rituals and prayers, calling upon the ancestors for their football support. The most public ritual took place before a playoff game against the St. Louis Rams. Jones draped a boa constrictor around her neck and performed the ceremony at midfield in the Superdome. That day, the Saints won their first-ever playoff win, defeating the Rams 31-28. Jones claims that, after that, she became the official Voodoo priestess of the NFL.

Divine Prince, a voodoo practitioner in New Orleans

However, just because the spirits were temporarily appeased didn't mean the curse was broken. In 2001, the Saints called Jones back to perform another ceremony before another Rams showdown. This time, however, things did not go so well. Promoters billed the event as "Who dat gris-gris?" and handed out 70,000 fliers, which referred to gris-gris, which Voodoo practitioners use as a protection against evil, as a hex or jinx. Jones felt the fliers were blasphemous, and that the team didn't appreciate her or her religion. Reportedly, she told one outlet, "I think the Saints cursed themselves."

Of course, in 2010, the Saints went on to win their first Super Bowl. After all the destruction that Hurricane Katrina brought on New Orleans, perhaps even the ghosts of Girod Street thought the city could use a championship.

Ava Kay Jones told her story about helping the Saints to playoff victory at one of The Moth's storytelling events. You can listen to her story on The Moth podcast.

source:http://io9.com/5882389/the-new-orleans-saints-hired-a-voodoo-priestess-to-fight-a-ghostly-football-curse

Priestess Miriam Chamani

Priestess Miriam gives Consultations and African Bone Readings both in person and via the telephone. She specializes in Voodoo Weddings, Damballah for Healing, and Erzulie for Love. Priestess Miriam designs Voodoo Dolls and Kits tailored to each person's needs and desires.

Priestess Miriam was born and raised in Mississippi where she experienced the power of mysterious spiritual forces beginning in early childhood. Around 1975 the power of the spirit called strongly to Priestess Miriam leading her to many spiritual orders and ultimately to a seat at the Angel All Nations Spiritual Church. There she increased her knowledge of spirit and explored metaphysical concepts and teachings.

In October 1982 she was consecrated as Bishop of the Church and served there until 1989. In 1990, Priestess Miriam and her late husband Oswan Chamani settled in New Orleans where they founded the Voodoo Spiritual Temple, the only temple of its kind in the City at that time.

Priestess Miriam is praised as an unbiased and unprejudiced spiritual guide who sees people not by race or color but by what is in their hearts. At the Voodoo Spiritual Temple Priestess Miriam offers many kinds of traditional Vodoun spiritual services with Voodoo Weddings being the most popular.

Priestess Miriam Chamani is the Mombo (Mother/Priestess) of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple. The Temple is located next to Congo Square and the its rituals are directly connected to the rituals performed on Congo Square by Marie Laveau and Doctor John. It was established in 1990 by Priest Oswan Chamani and his wife Miriam. It is the only formally established Spiritual Temple with a focus on traditional West African spiritual and herbal healing practices currently existing in New Orleans. "Mother" or "Mombo" Miriam, as she is also known, was ordained a bishop in the "Angel Angel All Nations Spiritual Church" prior to her marriage. She has been in numerous documentaries and articles; her photo was in the New York Times as part of an article on Voodoo in New Orleans, and she's been featured in Spin Magazine, in movies, and on PBS and commercial TV in America, England and Japan. She has appeared at both the Starwood Festival and the WinterStar Symposium as both a speaker and a liturgist. She was one of the first priestesses to present authentic Voodoo rituals to the Neo-Pagan community, along with Louis Martinie' and the Temple drummers of the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple (Krewe of Nutria). Upon the death of her husband, Voodoo Priest Oswan Chamani on March 6, 1995, Miriam Chamani continued her husband's Belizan Vodou and herbalism traditions in addition to her own spiritualist practices, and continues many of the inclusive trends of Black Christian Spiritualism, seeking to serve all peoples regardless of race or belief.

Chamani was invited by actor Nicholas Cage to perform a blessing ceremony during his wedding to Lisa Marie Presley, after hiring her as a consultant for his directoral debut Sonny. On Halloween, 1999, a local radio station asked her to perform a ceremony outside the Superdome to help the New Orleans Saints win against the Cleveland Browns (which was interrupted by harassment from a Browns fan dressed as a dog).

Voodoo - Priestess Miriam Chamani (CD recorded at the Voodoo Spiritual Temple) 2004 (Jose Suescun Music Distribution www.mambitorecords.com)

The Voodoo Spiritual Temple was established in 1990 by Priestess Miriam and Priest Oswan Chamani. It is the only "formally" established Spiritual Temple with a focus on traditional West African spiritual and herbal healing practices currently existing in New Orleans. On March 6, 1995, Priest Oswan ) transcended into the arms of the ancestors but Priestess Miriam continues to carry on the tradition of the Temple along with the Spirit of Oswan. The Voodoo Spiritual Temple has extended its spirituality across the world and is opening a Temple in Russia.

OFFICIAL PRIESTESS MIRIAM CHAMANI WEB SITE: www.voodoospiritualtemple.org