Voodoo
Voodoo , today
practiced by around
fifteen percent of the
city's population, was
brought to New Orleans by
African slaves via the
French colonies of the
Caribbean, where tribal
beliefs were mixed up with
Catholicism to create a
cult based on
spirit-worship. French,
and later, Spanish
authorities tried to
suppress the religion
(voodoo-worshipers had
played an active role in
the organization of slave
revolts in Haiti), but it
continued to flourish
among the city's black
population. Under American
rule, the weekly slave
gatherings at Congo
Square (in what is now
Louis Armstrong Park),
which included ritual
ceremonies, turned into a
tourist attraction for
whites, fueled by
sensationalized reports of
hypnotized white women
dancing naked.
Unlike in the West
Indies, where the cult was
dominated by male priests,
New Orleans had many
voodoo priestesses. The
most famous was Marie
Laveau , a hairdresser
of African, white and
Native American blood.
Using shrewd marketing
sense and inside knowledge
of the lives of her
clients, she was in high
demand for her gris-gris
- spells or potions -
which she prepared for
wealthy Creoles and
Americans, as well as
Africans. Laveau died in
1881, after which another
Marie, believed to be her
daughter, continued to
practice under her name.
The legend of both Maries
lives on, and their tombs
are popular tourist
attractions.
Today voodoo is big
business in New Orleans,
with numerous gift shops
selling ersatz gris-gris
- pouches carried for good
luck, filled with amulets,
charms and herbs - and
exotic voodoo dolls; these
can be fun, but if you're
interested in the reality,
you'd do better to head to
the Voodoo Spiritual
Temple , 828 N Rampart
St (daily 10am-8pm; tel
504/522-9627), which holds
an open service on
Thursday evening and
offers tours and
consultations. Visitors
are asked to make a
donation.
The Historic Voodoo
Museum , 724 Dumaine
St (daily 10am-8pm; $7),
is a ragbag collection of
ceremonial objects,
paintings and gris-gris
. Its aim, to debunk the
myths that surround this
misunderstood religion, is
undermined somewhat by the
self-consciously spooky
atmosphere, not to mention
its resident 12ft python,
crumbling rat heads and
desiccated bats. The gift
shop sells gris-gris
and voodoo dolls, while
the gallery features more
expensive folk art. Ask
about their readings,
rituals and city tours.
The Cities of the
Dead
There is no
architecture in New
Orleans, except in the
cemeteries ?
- Mark Twain, Life on the
Mississippi
So much of New Orleans
is at, or below, sea level
that early settlers who
buried their dead - and
there were many of them -
found that during the
frequent flooding great
waves of moldy coffins
would float to the surface
of the sodden earth.
Eventually, graves began
to be placed,
Spanish-style, in
above-ground brick and
stucco vaults, surrounded
by small fences. These cemeteries
grew to resemble cities,
laid out in
"streets";
today, as the tombs
crumble away amid the
overgrown foliage, they
have become atmospheric in
the extreme. The
creepiness isn't totally
imaginary, either - though
armed muggers, rather than
ghosts, are the danger
these days. You should never
venture here alone. Nearly
all the city tours include
a trip around one of the
graveyards; some
specialize in them.
Lafayette Cemetery
No. 1 , Washington Ave
and Prytania. Built in
1833, by 1852 - when 2000
yellow fever victims were
buried here - the Garden
District cemetery was
filled to capacity. Today
it is an eerie place, with
many tombs sinking into
the ground, and some of
them slowly opening in the
shadow of tangled trees.
It's no surprise that all
this decaying grandeur
should capture the
imagination of local
author Anne Rice, who has
used the place in many of
her books - she even
staged a mock funeral
here, to launch
publication of Memnoch
the Devil ; the corpse
was herself, wearing an
antique wedding dress, in
an open coffin carried by
pall bearers.
St Louis Cemetery
No. 1 , 400 Basin St
between Conti and St
Louis. The oldest City of
the Dead, dating from
1789, this small graveyard
is full of crooked
mausolea jutting into
narrow pathways. On the
fringes of the Quarter, it
is a regular stop on the
tour bus circuit, and you
will invariably come
across a crowd by the tomb
of "voodoo
queen" Marie
Laveau , graffitied
with brick-dust crosses.
They're usually being told
how if you knock on the
slab and mark a cross, her
spirit will grant you any
favor. The family who own
it have asked that this
bogus tradition should
stop, not least because
people are taking chunks
of brick from other tombs
to make the crosses.
Voodooists - responsible
for the candles, plastic
flowers and rum bottles
surrounding the plot -
deplore the practice, too,
regarding it as a
desecration that chases
Laveau's spirit away.
St Louis Cemetery
No. 2 , 200 N
Claiborne Ave between
Iberville and St Louis.
One of the most desolate
Cities of the Dead, hemmed
in between a Tremé
housing project and the
interstate. Built in 1823,
it's a prime example of
local cemetery design,
with a dead-straight
center aisle lined with
grandiose Greek Revival
mausolea. A second Marie
Laveau, thought to be the
Marie Laveau's daughter,
has a tomb here, also
daubed with red-chalk
crosses.
St Louis Cemetery
No. 3 , 3421 Esplanade
Ave, Mid-City. A peaceful
burial ground, built in
1856 on the site of a
leper colony, St Louis No.
3 is mostly used by
religious orders; all the
priests of the diocese are
buried here, and fragile
angels balance on top of
the tombs.
A Haunted House
The striking French
Empire LaLaurie Home
, at 1140 Royal St on the
corner with Gov Nicholls,
is New Orleans' most
famous haunted house
(not open to the public).
In the nineteenth century
it belonged to the
LaLauries, a doctor and
his socialite wife
Delphine, who, although
seen wielding a whip as
she chased a slave girl
through the house to the
roof, was merely fined
when the child fell to her
death. Whispers about the
couple's cruelty were
horribly verified when
neighbors rushed in after
a fire in 1834 - believed
to have been started
intentionally by the
shackled cook - to find
seven emaciated slaves
locked in the attic. There
they saw men, women and
children choked by neck
braces, some with broken
limbs; one had a
worm-filled hole gouged
out of his cheek. The
doctor's protestation that
this torture chamber was,
in fact, an
"experiment,"
met with vitriol; the next
day the pair escaped the
baying mob outside their
home, and fled to France.
Since then, many claim to
have heard ghostly moans
from the building at
night; some say they have
seen a little girl stumble
across the curved balcony
beneath the roof.
Tours
New Orleans' image as a
Gothic, vampire-stalked
city has really taken off
in recent years, and the
choice of tours
promising magic,
voodoo, vampires and ghosts
has become dizzying. Among
the high-camp, the
overpriced and the plain
silly, there are,
nonetheless, a few worth
joining. Historic New
Orleans Walking Tours
(tel 504/947-2120) will
lead you to St Louis
Cemetery No. 1, Congo
Square, Marie Laveau's
home, and a voodoo temple;
meet at Café Beignet
, 334 Royal St (Mon-Sat
10am & 1pm, Sun 10am;
2hr; $15; no reservations;
arrive 15min before the
tour is due to begin). Save
Our Cemeteries (tel
504/525-3377; call for
meeting points and to
reserve) is a nonprofit
restoration organization
leading fascinating tours
of Lafayette No. 1 (Mon,
Wed & Fri 10.30am;
1hr; $6) and St Louis No.
1 (Sun 10am; 1hr 30min;
$12). Call for meeting
points and to reserve.
Finally, if you're less
worried about authenticity
and more concerned with
whooping it up, consider
the New Orleans Ghost
and Vampire Tour ,
complete with magic tricks
and "psychic
demonstrations."
Ghost tours leave from
Washington Artillery Park,
across Decatur St from
Jackson Square (daily 8pm;
around 2hr; $15), while
for the cemeteries you
should meet at CC's
Coffee House on Royal
and St Philip in the
Quarter (Mon-Sat noon, Sun
10.30am; around 2hr; $15).
No reservations are
needed.
