Vodou

Some call it Voodoo, others Hoodoo, still others call it superstition. Whatever the beliefs of the individual, Vodou is alive and part of New Orleans.

By definition, the Vodou practiced in New Orleans is a mish mash of traditions that has a firm base in Hoodoo.

Vodou Background

Vodou in New Orleans

LWA

Holidays

Vodou Background

Haitian Vodouisants believe, in accordance with widespread African tradition, that there is one god who is the creator of all, referred to as Bondyè (from the French “Bon Dieu” or “Good God”). Bondyè is distinguished from the god of the whites in a dramatic speech by the houngan Boukman at Bwa Kayiman, but is often considered the same god of other religions, such as Christianity and Islam. Bondyè is distant from his/her/its creation though, and so it is the spirits or the mysteries, saints, or angels that the Vodouisant turns to for help, as well as to the ancestors . The Vodouisant worships God, and serves the spirits, who are treated with honor and respect as elder members of a household might be.

There are said to be twenty-one nations or "nanchons" of spirits, also sometimes called Lwa-yo. Some of the more important nations of Lwa are the Rada (corresponding to the Gbe-speaking ethnic groups in the modern-day republics of Benin, Nigeria, and Togo); the Nago (synonymous with the Yoruba-speaking ethnicities in Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, and Togo); and the numerous West-Central African ethnicities united under the ethnonym Kongo . The spirits also come in families that all share a surname, like Ogou , or Ezili, or Azaka or Ghede .

Rada Lwa
Papa Legba 
Ayaizan
Loco
Damballa
Ayida-Weddo
Erzulie Freda

Petwo Lwa 
Erzulie Dantor  
Ogoun  
Marinette  
Kalfu

Ghede Lwa 
Baron Saturday 
Maman Brigitte

For instance, Ezili is a family, Ezili Dantor and Ezili Freda are two individual spirits in that family. The Ogou family are soldiers, the Ezili govern the feminine spheres of life, the Azaka govern agriculture, the Ghede govern the sphere of death and fertility. In Dominican Vodou, there is also an Agua Dulce or Sweet Waters family, which encompasses all Amerindian spirits. There are literally hundreds of Lwa. Well known individual Lwa include Danbala Wedo, Papa Legba Atibon, and Agwe Tawoyo.

In Haitian Vodou, spirits are divided according to their nature in roughly two categories, whether they are hot or cool. Cool spirits fall under the Rada category, and hot spirits fall under the Petwo category. Rada spirits are familial and congenial, while Petwo spirits are more combative and restless. Both can be dangerous if angry or upset, and despite claims to the contrary, neither is good or evil in relation to the other.

Everyone is said to have spirits, and each person is considered to have a special relationship with one particular spirit who is said to own their head, however each person may have many Lwa, and the one that owns their head, or the met tet, may or may not be the most active spirit in a person's life in Haitian belief.

In serving the spirits, the Vodouisant seeks to achieve harmony with his/her own individual nature and the world around them, manifested as personal power and resourcefulness in dealing with life. Part of this harmony is membership in and maintaining relationships within the context of family and community. A Vodou house or society is organized on the metaphor of an extended family, and initiates are the children of their initiators, with the sense of hierarchy and mutual obligation that implies.

Most Vodouisants are not initiated, referred to as being bosal; it is not a requirement to be an initiate in order to serve one's spirits. There are clergy in Haitian Vodou whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage. Priests are referred to as houngans and priestesses as manbos. Below the houngans and manbos are the hounsis, who are initiates who act as assistants during ceremonies and who are dedicated to their own personal mysteries. One does not serve just any Lwa but only the ones they have according to one's destiny or nature. Which spirits a person has may be revealed at a ceremony, in a reading, or in a dream. However, all Vodouisants also serve the spirits of their own blood ancestors , and this important aspect of Vodou practice is often glossed over or minimized in importance by commentators who do not understand the significance of it. The ancestor cult is in fact the basis of Vodou religion, and many Lwa like Agassou (formerly a king of Dahomey) for example are in fact ancestors who are said to have been raised up to divinity.

Possession in Haitian vodou is described as a god seizing a horse (the human being) who is "ridden", often to exhaustion. It is the objective of most ceremonies. Because possessions are always overseen by a Houngan or Mambo, who regulates the presence of Lwa spirits within the peristyle with the help of a particular Lwa, one who becomes possessed by a Lwa is often safe. Great caution is taken to recognize the behavior of a Lwa when it begins to ride someone participating in the ceremony. The Houngan/Mambo is trained extensively in order to properly recognize a Lwa and give it the proper offerings and greetings. They are also trained to recognize someone who is simply faking a possession in order to gain attention. The spirits that become present and begin to ride people are usually only those who are invited to the ritual. Some Lwa are considered very dangerous to human beings, especially if riding them, and these Lwa are rarely invited to any sort of ritual unless the Houngan/Mambo is capable of controlling the actions of that Lwa.

Vodou In New Orleans

New Orleans Vodou has always been a hybrid of the Hatian Tradition and the folk magic of Hoodoo. While the practice of Vodou is generally believed to be a Negro tradition, the practitioners are spread pretty well across the spectrum of inhabitants of the city and the upriver plantations. Many households have picked up the beliefs through servants or friends of the family.

The most revered practitioner of Vodou in New Orleans is still Marie Laveau (The Elder.)

Very little is known with any certainly about the life of Marie Laveau. She is supposed to have been born in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana in 1794, the daughter of a white planter and a black woman. She married Jacques Paris, a free Black, on August 4, 1819; her marriage certificate is preserved in Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans.

M. Paris died in 1820 under unexplained circumstances; after his death, Marie Laveau became a hairdresser who catered to wealthy white families. She took a lover, Luis Christopher Duminy de Glapion, with whom she lived until his death in 1835.

Of her magical career, little definite can be said. She is said to have had a snake called Zombi. Oral traditions suggest that the occult part of her magic mixed Roman Catholic beliefs and saints with African spirits and religious concepts.

On June 16, 1881, the New Orleans newspapers announced that Marie Laveau had died. This did not end the sightings of Marie Laveau, Vodou Queen of New Orleans. Later that year, her daughter took up the mantle and continued the work of her mother. By early1889, the legend of marie Laveau had begun to be spoken of as far away as Paris, France.

On June 16th 1889, the Legend took a new life of it's own. A storm of unusual magnatude and ferocity was battering the city. Rumors were running that the storm had a magickal component and was bent on destroying the city by Midnight. Marie the Younger gathered several of the strongest Houngan from the city and went to the levee on the lake shore. She sent a servant to retrieve her mother's jawbone from the famed tomb at St. Louis #1 Cemetary. With that powerful artifact, Marie and her companions fought the storm and dispelled it at the very last second. That was when the sky stopped moving and the day was gone forever in the city of New Orleans.

Since then, the practice of Vodou has moved from a few hot spots to nearly every location in the city. Shrines to Legba can be found at many cross streets and other Lwa are honored regularly with shrines and offerings nestled here and there.

Holidays

While the Vodou holidays are not official city holidays, they are typically occasions where work lets out a little early or where non critical persons are excused from the activities of every day life.