New Orleans. A city of rich culture and history, it has been called the “most unique” place in the United States. Seated on Lake Pontchartrain’s south shore, the Mississippi River meanders through its middle, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico 105 miles (169 kilometres) downstream. The history of the city is tied to the river, most infamously through slavery.
In the mid-1800s, New Orleans was America’s largest slave market. The idiom “sold down the river,” meaning “to be betrayed,” comes from the tradition of forcing enslaved people onto ships to be taken down the Mississippi and sold at the market in New Orleans. From there, they were taken to work on plantations throughout Louisiana and beyond. However, unlike the rest of the south’s dependence on cotton, southern Louisiana (with its long, hot summers) produced sugar cane—an idiosyncrasy of the region.
Indeed, New Orleans and its surrounding area was culturally distinct from the rest of the United States. At the time, Louisiana was a new addition to the country, having only become American in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. That may seem trivial, yet it took place a whole generation after the formative American Revolution, which created a government representing states like Massachusetts and Virginia, a couple of the English colonies founded in the 1600s.
Louisiana’s colonial history was just as old, but with none of the Anglo-Protestant tradition that was dominant in the rest of the country. Here, Catholicism reigned supreme, a reflection of the region’s French and Spanish rulers.
There was also Voodoo, possibly one of the world’s most misunderstood religions. Today, a walk through New Orleans’ French Quarter will feature “Voodoo” shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Prominent in the imagery used are skeletons, spooky masks and Voodoo dolls. This is Hollywood Voodoo, the real Voodoo’s cousin. The Voodoo of history isn’t nearly as simple as American Horror Story: Coven would have you believe. Rather, it was a complex mixture of religious beliefs and rituals, practiced by a variety of people for a variety of reasons.
In a time and place of intense racial tension, Louisiana Voodoo called upon themes of power, justice and resistance. It fascinated and spooked contemporaries then, as it does today. By sketching a brief overview of this tragically maligned religion, I hope to open the door to conversations about its legacy.
The history of New Orleans
French exploration of North America began in the early 1500s, though a permanent settlement, Quebec City, wouldn’t be established until 1608. From there, the French eventually made their way south and west, along the edge of Britain’s Thirteen Colonies. They built forts in the Ohio River Valley and along the Mississippi, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1718, they founded the city of La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans). A series of military engagements with local indigenous peoples ensued, as the French struggled to maintain a presence in the region. Natives who survived were forced to work for the French as slaves. Hence, from the very beginning, there was slavery in Louisiana.
In the following decades, La Nouvelle-Orléans slowly built a name for itself as a continental entry point. At the same time, thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to the area to labour on behalf of the French, who lined their pockets at the expense of human dignity. In this period, enslaved people produced tobacco, sugar and indigo. Though significant, Louisiana’s output couldn’t compare to that of the Caribbean, whose large-scale plantation system made some European colonists extremely rich.
By the 1750s, northern geopolitics began to directly impact New Orleans. At the time, the British and French were engaged in a power struggle over control of the continent, a consequence of which was the forced expulsion of French-speaking people from Acadia (the old name for modern-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island). Many of the deportees settled in French Louisiana, bolstering the local francophone population. The Acadians would go on to lend their name to the new culture that was forming: “Cajun” is a corruption of “Acadian.”
In the mid-1760s, Louisiana shifted hands from the French to the Spanish, who would run the colony for four decades. Naturally, changes were made during that time. The names of streets and neighbourhoods were translated into Spanish. The city was renovated and expanded upon. In fact, much of the iconic architecture of the New Orleans’ “French” Quarter today actually dates back to the Spanish period.
Louisiana briefly returned to the French in the early 1800s, before being sold to the United States for 15 million dollars in the famous Louisiana Purchase of 1803. By then, the sugar industry was really beginning to take off, so much that by the 1840s, New Orleans was the wealthiest city in America and the most populous in the South. Life for the city’s wealthy elite was glamourous and elegant, while the enslaved backbone of the economy laboured in the sugar fields under the hot sun.
The origins of Voodoo
Nonetheless, slavery didn’t define the enslaved. However precariously, Africans in Louisiana continued to practice the religions of their homeland. What did these religions look like? At this time, most of Louisiana’s enslaved population came from West Africa and the Congo. Two of the most influential religions from these areas were the Yoruba religion and West African Vodun. While they’re separate traditions, both have commonalities worth elucidating.
First, both are animistic. That is, they view inanimate objects (among other “things,” natural or otherwise), such as trees and rivers, as having a spirit or soul. Second, they share a common interest in ancestor worship, based on a belief in the immortality and continued influence of the dead. Third, they both believe in a supreme divinity (Mawu in Vodun and Olodumare in Yoruba religion) from which all things originated.
There are parallels here with Catholicism: Clearly, Mawu and Olodumare resemble God, while the Catholic cult of saints is a form of ancestor worship. Accordingly, Africans who came in contact with French and Spanish Catholicism in Louisiana could bridge the cultural gap in diverse ways. And they did. The intermingling of Louisiana’s Catholicism with West African religion resulted in a potpourri of saints, spirits, angels and ancestor heroes, whose worship included rituals from both traditions. This “new religion” became known as Voodoo, today called Louisiana Voodoo or New Orleans Voodoo.
The benefits of Voodoo
Voodoo had a lot to offer enslaved people in 19th-century Louisiana. For one, it could interrupt the conventional power circuits of plantation life. Rather than acquiesce to the whims of their masters, enslaved Africans who were intent on resistance could draw upon infinite spiritual tools to aid them. They could rely on spells, saintly invocation and other rituals to get back at their masters.
Access to the supernatural was possible for all, no matter one’s status. Sometimes, this could lead to earthly resistance, such as in the case of the Nat Turner rebellion, whose namesake drew his inspiration from a vision of the Holy Ghost.
Conversely, Voodoo also offered the opportunity of “blending in” culturally, which, considering the precariousness of plantation life, might have seemed crucial. According to the French Code Noir, all enslaved people in Louisiana were required to convert to Catholicism. This involved renouncing all ties to their previous religion, a form of identity erasure rooted in the Europeans’ sense of superiority.
Rather than defer, enslaved people could turn to Voodoo as a means of hiding their continued devotion to African deities, which might persist beneath the facade of the Catholic cult of saints. To be sure, this was heresy in the eyes of Christians. It wasn’t an issue for West Africans, who, unlike the Europeans, gladly kept their pantheon doors wide open. Enslaved Africans in need of assistance might have prayed either to Papa Legba or St. Peter; it didn’t matter that they belonged to two different traditions. In general, any spirit could be called upon at any moment, depending on the circumstance.
The story of Marie Laveau
The story of the famous Marie Laveau, perhaps the most well-known Voodoo priestess, offers us a snapshot of the religion in action. Attempting to pinpoint exactly who she was poses some risks. On the one hand, Laveau was a historical person who walked the streets of New Orleans in the mid-1800s. She is also a saint of today who continues to visit residents in dreams and visions. Thus, the folklore about her is immense, and without proper scrutiny, legend can convincingly pose as truth.
Still, what later generations of New Orleanians came to believe about Marie Laveau is just as important as the things she actually did, as it reveals what people found within the realm of possibility, and elucidates their beliefs. For this reason, verifiable biographical facts will be presented in addition to dubious ones, though throughout my research, I’ve striven to keep their demarcation clear.
So who was Marie Laveau? To be sure, she wore many hats. She was at once a Catholic, a Voodoo priestess, an herbalist, a nurse, a spiritual mentor, a wife and a mother. Her renown in the city of New Orleans was immense, celebrity-like. She had many connections throughout the city, from politicians to the police. People said her beauty was jaw-dropping. In order to understand this enigmatic woman, it’s helpful to consider where she came from.
A Creole upbringing
Her story began at the turn of the century. Marie Laveau was born a free person of colour in 1801, in New Orleans. At the time, the colony was in the process of returning to France after nearly 50 years of Spanish control. By then, a rich Creole culture had developed in the city. Creole culture was the result of years of mixing between French, Spanish, African and Native American Louisianans. It was the locus of a unique gastronomic, musical, and of course, religious (Voodoo) tradition that was unique to the area.
Think of gumbo—the state cuisine of Louisiana—a Creole soup typically filled with shellfish, okra, sausage and rice. The ingredients and techniques for making gumbo have African, Spanish, French and indigenous roots. Gumbo is a metaphor for Creolian society in New Orleans, which was considered the northernmost “Caribbean” city. This is the world Marie Laveau was born into.
Not long after her birth, Laveau was baptized at the St. Louis Cathedral by the controversial rector Pere Antoine, a Capuchin friar whose reputation for “lax morals” drew the ire of locals intent on sacerdotal purity. In truth, Antoine’s “crimes” included ministering to prostitutes and divorcees. He may have also overseen interracial marriages, which were illegal at the time, although this is unconfirmed.
At the age of two, Laveau unknowingly became a citizen of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. She would remain an American for the rest of her life, though she was a Creole at heart. Within some years, she began to receive a Catholic education at the hands of local Ursuline nuns. From them, she learned the articles of faith and fundamental prayers such as the Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed. During Mass, she was exposed to countless biblical stories and themes. Their influence on her religious mentality was formative.
Once she was a young adult, Laveau would train specifically in Voodoo, under the instruction of a mentor. Not much is known about what drew her to this path. However, there is a Voodoo belief that one needs to be chosen by the spirits. Perhaps Marie, like so many saints before her, had a religious experience—an awakening—that drew her to conversion. Afterward, she would’ve worked toward learning diverse rituals and spells. She also communed with the spirits.
Spirit possession was a central Voodoo practice. It often took place to the accompaniment of music (drums and a choir) and a crowd. It was an opportunity for people to transcend themselves. For society’s marginalized, this must’ve been healing. Free people of colour, enslaved Africans, women: All could’ve been drawn to spirit possession for its promise of transformation. In a time and place of immense racial, gender-based and socioeconomic injustice, Voodoo flourished as an escape from worldly reality.
Laveau in action
It’s not certain how, but Marie Laveau, as a Voodoo priestess, quickly rose to prominence in New Orleans. All sorts of people came to her home at 1020-1022 St. Anne Street to ask for spiritual favours, life advice and healing remedies. She was apparently skilled at bringing people together in love, as well as separating them. She could breathe new life into a failing business, and ensure that you received a favourable outcome in court. Her herbal medicine promised healing at a time when conventional medicine might do more harm than good.
All of this was accomplished, allegedly, from the back of her St. Anne Street home, where she performed rituals, said spells and engaged in spirit possession before a Voodoo altar topped with little statues, pictures of saints and diverse offerings. She even danced with snakes.
Marie Laveau could be encountered most intimately after Sunday Mass at Congo Square, where she cryptically and seductively danced with snakes. Congo Square was the centre of African-American life in New Orleans. It was a gathering place where people socialized, played music, engaged in Voodoo rituals and sold their wares at the market. It’s famous as the birthplace of jazz music.
There, every Sunday like clockwork, Marie Laveau would process rhythmically into the square to the beat of a drum. Her presence was awesome and undeniable. Crowds of devotees waited for her. A distinct spiritual aura infused the swampy air. All knew what was about to take place. Marie Laveau, decked in a white dress and gold bracelets, called out thrice: “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!”
Reaching into a box before her, she reverently lifted up a long snake, which contorted itself about her body and limbs. Loudly, she invoked the coming of the spirits into her body, becoming entranced. Her dance moves turned snakelike and ecstatic. The crowd went wild. Soon, scores of people joined her on the dance floor, where they, too, participated in communion with the supernatural. Some balanced rum bottles on their heads as they danced. An otherworldly shrieking echoed for miles from the place.
Spooking the authorities
Marie Laveau’s perceived power was apparently immense. Some believed she could make anyone do anything she wanted. Not unlike the hypnotists of today, she could make people “lie on the ground and roll their bellies,” according to one contemporary. Once, she reportedly walked right past the New Orleans police officers who were barring access to a ritual site.
The chaos of Voodoo gatherings terrified the racist establishment, who feared a slave uprising.
Even the weather was under her control. A popular story recounts how, just as two inmates were about to be hung in front of a crowd, a sudden thunderstorm hit, freeing the men from the gallows. Marie Laveau, who was among the spectators, was seen walking away—proof, supposedly, that this was her doing.
Unsurprisingly, the chaos of Voodoo gatherings terrified the racist establishment, who feared a slave uprising. They began to slander the religion and its devotees, including Marie Laveau herself. They falsely accused Voodoo of being an evil, Satanic practice, whose followers partook in an array of taboo and disgusting acts. Congo Square was shut down in 1843. Undeterred, Marie Laveau and her Voodoo friends simply took their religion elsewhere.
Yet, things were never the same. In the 1850s, race relations were degenerating across America, especially in the South. It was the eve of the Civil War, and the slave-owning population was desperate to hold onto power. Accordingly, New Orleans Voodoo suffered increased persecution. Homes were raided and gatherings were broken up.
Even the powerful Marie Laveau suffered setbacks. There is a record from the 1850s listing Laveau as a complainant against the New Orleans’ Third Municipality Police Force. The complaint alleges that officers had harassed Laveau’s fellow Voodoo practitioners, stealing an important statue from them. Although the ritual significance of the statue is unknown, it was likely highly prized, as the prospect of regaining it drew the attention of many who were willing to pay a pretty penny. In the end, we don’t know if the statue was returned or not.
Repatriation
The Civil War came and went. Reconstruction took place. In 1881, a heat wave hit. Marie Laveau, now 79 years old, contracted a diarrheal infection, either cholera or dysentery. She died on June 15 and is believed to have been buried in a tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. She has been watching over the people of New Orleans ever since.
As mentioned, Marie Laveau’s memory fascinated subsequent generations. Her tomb became a pilgrimage site—at one time, one of America’s most visited. Tradition states that devotees who were interested in imploring her help had to walk towards the tomb backwards, write three Xs on it, turn around three times, spit in three directions, ask their favour, leave an offering and then walk backwards out of the cemetery.
The extensive defacing of Laveau’s tomb has resulted in the closing of the cemetery to the public, and it’s now only accessible through one official walking tour. The Xs, however, are still visible.
Voodoo isn’t scary
Voodoo is not scary. Historically, it provided an outlet for the downtrodden. It allowed enslaved people to transcend their circumstances through direct, blissful contact with the divine. This kind of empowerment spooks only those who are suffering from the worst case of collective narcissism.
Voodoo reminds us of the beauty that’s created when people from around the world meet and exchange traditions. Its hero, Marie Laveau, is a subversive figure. As a powerful woman of colour, her story challenged some of America’s deepest racial assumptions, and continues to inspire the people of New Orleans to this day.
If you ever get the chance, pay New Orleans a visit. Perhaps amid the swampy air, palm trees, colourful architecture and jazz-filled, historic streets, you too can get a taste of the spirit world.
«VERWANDTES LESEN» ENCOUNTERS WITH HISTORY: Monuments only serve to commemorate or mythologize aspects of our shared experience»
images: Lucas Coia
