Origins of Voodoo in New Orleans
- Lilith Dorsey

The word Voodoo comes from Dahomey and means "spirit" or "deity'. There is no
official record of the introduction of Voodoo in North America. Scholars,
however, believe that it originated in New Orleans .

The history of Voodoo in New Orleans is an interesting one. It is peppered
with exotic characters with names like Sanite Dede, Bayou John , Marie
Laveau, Leafy Anderson and others. Voodoo made its way to New Orleans from a
variety of different places. Large numbers of slaves were imported to
Louisiana directly from Africa. There were also slaves imported from the
French colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Santo Domingo. Many of the
Haitian planters, as well as Voodoo leaders, emigrated during the slave
revolution of 1791. It is estimated that between 1805 and 1810, approximately
10,000 Caribbean refugees arrived in the Crescent City of New Orleans.

The most dominant African survival as a result of the diaspora has been the
religious traditions, referred to collectively as Voodoo. They have proved to
be most prevalent in areas where the stronghold of Catholicism is present,
such as New Orleans and Cuba.

Unlike Cuban Santeria , however, the New Orleans type of Voodoo has a unique
and interesting flavor , just like the city itself. Voodoo in New Orleans is
marked by many different influences. There has been from the beginning a
variety of different ethnic groups present in New Orleans: Spanish, English,
French, Germans, Filipinos, and others have all been known to call New
Orleans home. This ethnic diversity is responsible for a variety of beliefs
and practices becoming part of the Voodoo pantheon . Also a number of truly
unique practices began to spring up in the Crescent City.

Foremost among these practices and unique to the group of displaced African
religious traditions is the presence of a matriarchal structure. The most
powerful and influential figures in the religion from the very beginning have
been the Voodoo Queens.

Voodooism seems to have been a matriarchy almost from its first days in
Louisiana. The King was always a minor figure Papa didn't count. Mama was the
entire show. The only men of importance were the witch doctors. The King was
probably changed from year to year and was actually the current lover of the
queen. Women seem, too, to have made upat least eighty percent of the
cultists, and it was always the female of the white race who entered the
sect. (Tallant)

The earliest recorded Voodoo Priestess in New Orleans was Sanite Dede, a free
quadroon from Santo Domingo. She is reported as operating an interracial
Voodoo cult as early as 1822. A detailed account of one of her ceremonies was
published in the sensational magazine Century. This account is questionable,
however, as the source was a teenage boy who claims to have been led to the
ritual by one of his father's slaves. It gives an account of the traditional
Voodoo items being used ( a snake, a black doll, and a calabash) , and a
revelry of dancing, singing, drumming, and possession.

The major male figure present in the New Orleans Voodoo scene was Bayou John,
or Doctor John. He was a freed African who had travelled the world with his
master. He demonstrated a command of the drums (and is regarded as the first
master drummer of the crescent city. Descriptions depict him as a towering
figure with a face tattooed with red and blue snakes, the tribal markings of
the Senegalese royal family. He was widely sought by blacks and whites alike
for his herbal medicines and fortune telling.

The greatest and most widely recognized Voodoo queen was the famous Marie
Laveau. She reigned as queen for over forty years, and there are those that
say even today that we are waiting for her successor to arrive. There are
many conflicting stories about Madame Marie, whose life seems to shrouded in
mystery. Some accounts say she was born in 1794, others 1827. Some of the
confusion may have arisen as her daughter also bore the same name. She is
reputed to have returned the African custom of snake worship to New Orleans,
despite earlier accounts . Her met tet, or head spirit as referred to in
Voodoo, was Damballa, the great snake creator of Voodoo mythology. Marie is
reported to have used a variety of talents to establish herself as the
reigning Voodoo queen. There are reports of her beating rivals as she came
across them on the street and demanding that they relinquish their claims of
superiority to Marie. Much of her power, however, can probably be attributed
to her great business sense. She had started out as a hairdresser and gained
the respect and confidence of the New Orleans elite. From there she used her
knowledge of the secrets of the elite to carry out her public rituals
undisturbed.