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Voodoo Priestess.
Yes, one year, for Halloween, I dressed as a Voodoo Priestess, complete with voodoo dolls attached to my cloak, each representing one of the friends invited to my party.
Naturally, those who were late or didn’t show, got a pin through the head or heart!
Of course, how I dressed was my own idea of what a Voodoo priestess should look and I had no idea of how to make an authentic voodoo doll. However, growing up in Louisiana, we had always heard of the culture and beliefs of voodoo and how someone had had the gris gris (bad luck) put upon them. Now, gris-gris is actually a talisman or amulet that someone wears to protect themselves from evil and bad luck, but as children, we sometimes misconstrued the stories we heard from our grandparents as they told them, sometimes in their Cajun French language!
While staying in the French Quarter with my husband, I decided to seek out all of the touristy things that I had never taken the time to do when I lived just outside the city many years ago. The New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum was at the top of my list and I looked forward to learning about the Louisiana branch of Voodoo brought to the city back in the 1700s through the African slave trade.
In 1972, local artist, Charles Massicot Gandolfo, started the museum, as it was his wish to share his passion for all things Voodoo. Not flashy or large by any scale, it is labeled by a modest sign hanging from the upper balcony on Dumaine Street. As I walked in, I was surprised to find it even smaller than I had anticipated and filled with artifacts and items offered for sale, including authentic voodoo dolls, chicken feet, snake skins, Voodoo Love Potions, books and candles. Yikes! The only chicken feet I would ever take home would be from the grocery store’s meat section!
Paying the attendant my entry fee, I moved toward the hallway to begin my self-guided tour. The hallway was extremely narrow and visitors turned sideways to allow each other access to the space. There were many pictures in the hallway depicting Voodoo priestesses, including the famed Marie Laveau, Melvina Latour and Sanité Dédé, who used to practice her rituals in her home’s courtyard down the street. Marie Laveau’s kneeling bench, which was used in her altar room in her home on St. Ann Street, sits underneath her picture.
The museum is packed with information and examples of voodoo history and practices, but when I say packed…I really mean packed. The two small rooms in the rear are filled with masks, statues, artifacts and altars heavily laden with items placed upon it as petitions to the Voodoo spirits for intercession and favors…cigarettes, money, coins, pictures, keys, small statues and toys, Mardi Gras beads, eye drops (yes, someone must have cried quite a bit begging for a favor). You name it, the rooms were stuffed with so many items, it really was quite overwhelming!
As a collector of African masks, I found the ones present in the museum quite interesting to analyze as many of these were extremely old…not the kind I would ever bring into my own home. Call me superstitious, but Voodoo has its roots in African culture and I have always believed that these items sometimes carry spirits within them.
As well as instructions on how to make voodoo dolls, there were many skulls and bones throughout the museum, even a complete skeleton donning a top hat as well as well as a preserved alligator head and alligator claw…I could envision that many visitors might feel quite uncomfortable if the idea of death is not compelling to them. Hopefully, however, they understand what kind of museum it is before visiting.
My visit was short and slightly enlightening. Not a fan of small spaces, I was more than ready to leave and head to the burial place of Marie Laveau, St. Louis Cemetery Number One.
As I sat for a moment reading the handout that was given to me to explain the museums inclusions, I began speaking with the lady at the front desk. In addition to visiting the museum, I learned that you can also book psychic readings and Prognosticating (fortune telling), arts that are deeply ingrained within the fabric of Voodoo culture. Having already seen many people offering psychic readings throughout the French Quarter, I think that if I was interested in finding information about my future, this would be the place to come…a little more authentic than the street corner.
But, since a reading was not in my future, it was time to head on to bigger and better things. And New Orleans has many!
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New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum
- http://voodoomuseum.com/
- Address: 724 Dumaine St, New Orleans, LA 70116
- Hours: 1000-1800, daily
- Admission: $7.00 General Admission, $5.50 Seniors, Military, College Students, $4.50 High School Students, $3.50 Under Age 12, Free Entrance to the Gift Shop