Louisiana Voodoo facts for kids
Louisiana Voodoo is a religion that started in Louisiana, a state in the southern United States. It is also known as New Orleans Voodoo. This religion grew from a mix of traditional beliefs from West Africa, the Roman Catholic faith, and Haitian Vodou. There is no single leader for Louisiana Voodoo. Instead, it is practiced by many independent groups.
Historically, people in Voodoo worshipped different gods, like Blanc Dani, the Grand Zombi, and Papa Lébat. They honored these gods at altars and made offerings to them. Spirits of ancestors (people who have died) were also very important. Some followers today see Voodoo as a way to honor their ancestors. In the 1800s, saints from the Catholic Church were also important. But in the 1900s, when Voodoo became popular again, people started honoring gods from other African religions too.
Making special charms called gris-gris is a key part of Louisiana Voodoo. These charms can be used for protection or to help with different things.
In the early 1700s, many enslaved people from West Africa, especially the Bambara and Kongo groups, were brought to Louisiana by the French. Their traditional African religions slowly blended with the Roman Catholic beliefs of the French. This continued when Louisiana was controlled by Spain and then bought by the United States in 1803. In the early 1800s, many people escaping the Haitian Revolution came to Louisiana. They brought Haitian Vodou with them, which helped shape Louisiana Voodoo. Even though the religion was never officially banned, laws made it hard for Black people to gather. Voodoo was often practiced in secret and spread up the Mississippi River to Missouri.
During the 1800s, famous Voodoo leaders like Marie Laveau and Doctor John became well-known. By the early 1900s, public Voodoo practices had mostly stopped. After the 1960s, the tourism industry in New Orleans started using Voodoo to attract visitors. At the same time, Voodoo saw a comeback. Many new followers were inspired by other African religions like Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería.
Louisiana Voodoo began with African communities in New Orleans, but white people have been involved since the 1800s. Today, some Voodoo groups have mostly white members. The religion has often faced criticism from outsiders who called it witchcraft or devil-worship. Many exciting but often untrue stories about Voodoo have appeared in movies and books.
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Understanding Louisiana Voodoo
Louisiana Voodoo is seen as a religion by many experts and followers. It is often called an African Creole or African American religion. It is also known as New Orleans Voodoo. Older writings sometimes called it "Voodooism." One expert, Ina J. Fandrich, described it as a "religion of southern Louisiana that grew from African and Creole cultures." It developed mainly along the Mississippi River, especially in New Orleans.
The word Voodoo can be spelled in different ways, like Voudou or Vaudou. The spelling Voodoo is sometimes used for the Louisiana practice to tell it apart from Haitian Vodou. People who practice Voodoo are sometimes called Voodoos or Voodooists. The word hoodoo was once similar to Voodoo. Over time, hoodoo came to mean "African American magic found along the Mississippi." It involves charms and spells that don't focus much on gods, which is different from the religion of Voodoo.
Louisiana Voodoo is a private religion. In 1972, a historian named Blake Touchstone noted that it was mostly practiced away from public view. Some followers today prefer not to talk about Voodoo with outsiders. Louisiana Voodoo has changed over time. Its original form likely lasted until the early 1900s. In the late 1900s, Voodoo became popular again. This new form is more like Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería than the Voodoo of the 1800s. Some followers in the 2000s also learned from West African traditions, even joining West African Vodun.
Voodoo is mostly passed down through spoken stories and teachings. It does not have a set rulebook, a holy book, or a main organization. Followers often change Voodoo to fit their needs, mixing it with other religions. Many Voodoo followers throughout history also practiced Roman Catholicism. In the 2000s, some Voodoo followers have mixed it with parts of Judaism and Kabbalah, or even Hinduism.
What Voodoo Followers Believe
Louisiana Voodoo does not have a strict set of beliefs, but it does have a spiritual order. In the 2010s, Voodoo follower and poet Brenda Marie Osbey said the religion includes belief in "a somewhat distant but single deity" (a single god). Other experts, Rory O'Neill Schmitt and Rosary Hartel O'Neill, believe that modern Voodoo is monotheistic (believing in one God). Many Voodoo followers have not seen their religion as being against Roman Catholicism, which was common in Louisiana.
Louisiana Voodoo also has many lesser gods. Their names were written down in the 1800s. One main god was Blanc Dani, also called Monsieur Danny or Grandfather Rattlesnake. He was seen as a snake and linked to disagreements and defeating enemies. Another name, Dambarra Soutons, might be another name for Blanc Dani. Blanc Dani might also have been seen as the Grand Zombi, whose name means "Great God" or "Great Spirit." The word Zombi comes from the Kongo Bantu word nzambi (god).
Another important god was Papa Lébat, also known as Liba or Laba Limba. He was seen as a trickster and a doorkeeper. He is the only one of these New Orleans gods with a clear origin from the Yoruba people. Monsieur Assonquer was linked to good luck, while Monsieur Agoussou was linked to love. Vériquité was a spirit linked to causing sickness, and Monsieur d'Embarass was linked to death. Charlo was a child god. Other gods are known by name, but not much is known about what they were linked to. These include Jean Macouloumba, Maman You, and Yon Sue. There was also a god named Samunga, called upon by followers in Missouri when they gathered mud.
The Voodoo revival in the late 1900s brought in many gods from Haitian Vodou. These gods are called lwa. Some common lwa honored are Oshun, Ezili la Flambo, Erzuli Freda, Ogo, Mara, and Legba. These can be grouped into different nanchon (nations), like the Rada and Petwo. For example, Sallie Ann Glassman's Voodoo temple in New Orleans has separate altars for the Rada and Petwo lwa. Each lwa is linked to specific items, colors, numbers, foods, and drinks. They are often seen as helpers or messengers of God, who in Haitian Vodou is usually called Le Bon Dieu.
Honoring Ancestors and Saints
The spirits of people who had died were very important in Louisiana Voodoo during the 1800s. This focus on spirits of the dead might come from the fact that many African Americans in New Orleans were descendants of enslaved people from the Kongolese region. Their traditional religions greatly respected such spirits. In the 2000s, Louisiana Voodoo is seen as a system of ancestor worship. Talking with ancestors is a key part of the practice. These ancestral spirits are often called upon during ceremonies.
When Africans arrived in Louisiana, they learned about Roman Catholicism. Because of this, various West African gods became linked with specific Roman Catholic saints. Interviews with older people in New Orleans in the 1930s and 1940s suggested that in the late 1800s, Voodoo mostly involved asking saints for help. Saint Anthony of Padua was very popular. He is also the patron saint of the Kongo people, which likely connects to the many Kongo descendants in New Orleans.
Brenda Marie Osbey, a Voodoo follower in the 2000s, does not see saints as central to her practice. She describes them as "servants and messengers of the Ancestors." She noted that in Louisiana Voodoo, unlike Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería, the Roman Catholic saints kept their own identities instead of being seen as the same as West African gods.
Respect and Women's Roles
In its modern form, Louisiana Voodoo shows special respect for elders. Many people have said that Louisiana Voodoo is led by women because priestesses have played a very important role. Osbey described the religion as being "entirely within the sphere of women, whom we call Mothers."
The feminist writer Tara Green created the term "Voodoo Feminism." This term describes how African American women used Louisiana Voodoo and magic to fight against unfair treatment based on their race and gender. Michelle Gordon believed that the fact that free women of color led Voodoo in the 1800s was a direct challenge to the ideas of "white supremacy and patriarchy" (white male dominance).
Voodoo Practices
A Voodoo ritual usually has four parts, each known by the song being sung: preparation, invocation (calling spirits), possession (when a spirit enters someone), and farewell. Songs are used to open the door between the gods and the human world, inviting spirits to enter someone. Louisiana Voodoo rituals are based on African traditions that have taken in Christian, especially Roman Catholic, influences. Because of this Catholic influence, some recorded ceremonies have started with the Apostles Creed and prayers to the Virgin Mary.
It is said that Saint John's Eve (June 23) is very important in Louisiana Voodoo. Big celebrations took place on this date along Lake Pontchartrain in the 1800s. Some Voodoo groups today still celebrate on St John's Eve. Others, like Osbey, do not believe St John's Eve is important in Louisiana Voodoo. Many modern followers celebrate All Saints' Day (November 1), which they link to the lwa Gede, following Haitian Vodou.
In the 2000s, various Voodoo groups wear white clothes for their ceremonies. Influenced by Haitian Vodou, people may dance around a central pole called the poto mitan. Special flags called drapos might be brought out, and songs are sung in Haitian Kreyol. Drawings called vèvè may be made on the floor to call upon spirits. Offerings are given to the spirits. Modern Voodoo rituals often involve spirits entering a follower's body. Through this, they can heal or give blessings. The person possessed by the spirit is called the "horse."
Altars and Offerings
Historical writings describe the altars made by the famous 1800s Voodoo priestess Marie Laveau in her home. These descriptions are similar to altars used in Haitian Vodou. Many modern followers have their own personal altars, often in their kitchen or living room. These altars help them talk with ancestors. Food and drinks are offered to the ancestors at these altars.
Sacrifice was a common part of Louisiana Voodoo in the past, just as it is in Haitian Vodou today. Some Voodoo followers in the 2000s do sacrifice animals in their rituals. They then cook and eat the animal. However, this is not a practice for everyone in Louisiana Voodoo. For example, Glassman's group does not allow animal sacrifice. While there is little proof that human sacrifice happened in Louisiana Voodoo, rumors often claimed that white children were being taken and killed during some rituals.
Plates of food might be left out, surrounded by a ring of coins. Drinks might also be poured as offerings. Marie Laveau used to hold weekly services called parterres. Music is often a part of Voodoo rituals. Many historical Voodoo rituals included a snake. Marie Laveau, for example, was said to communicate with a snake during her ceremonies. This practice mostly stopped by the end of the 1800s. However, some Voodoo revivalists have brought snake dances back into their practices. In the 2000s, the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple has its own "temple snake."
Charms and Healing
Charms, made to either help or harm, are called gris-gris. A common charm for protection or good luck would be made of material wrapped in red flannel and worn around the neck.
One expert, Touchstone, believed that gris-gris meant to cause harm worked either by making the victim believe they would be harmed or by containing poisons. One example of a Voodoo curse was placing an object inside the victim's pillow. Another involved placing a coffin (sometimes a small model, sometimes larger) with the victim's name on their doorstep. In other cases, Voodoo followers tried to hex others by placing black crosses, salt, or mixtures with mustard, lizards, bones, oil, and grave dust on a victim's doorstep. To stop these hexes, some people cleaned their doorstep or sprinkled it with powdered brick. Despite its name, the "Voodoo doll" has little to do with Louisiana Voodoo or Haitian Vodou. It comes from a European tradition of small dolls called poppets. It is possible that the idea of putting pins into a human-shaped doll to cause harm was wrongly linked to African traditions because of a misunderstanding of the nkisi nkondi figures from Bakongo religion.
Healing is a very important part of Louisiana Voodoo in the 2000s. Many shops called botanicas exist in New Orleans. They sell herbs and other items used for healing preparations. Sallie Ann Glassman has created her own New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, a set of tarot cards used for telling the future.
Animal Sacrifice in Voodoo
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Animal sacrifice is a traditional practice in Africa. It is done as an offering to spirits. It also asks a spirit for protection, healing, and other requests. When Africans were enslaved in the United States, this practice continued in Voodoo and Hoodoo. The animals sacrificed are often chickens. In West Africa, among the Yoruba people, blood offerings are left for Eshu-Elegba at crossroads. The crossroads is seen as a spiritual doorway to the spirit world where Eshu-Elegba lives. This practice came to the United States during the transatlantic slave trade. African Americans continued to perform animal blood sacrifices at crossroads into the 1900s. Eshu-Elegba became known as the crossroads spirit in Voodoo.
Animal sacrifice has become rare in the African American community. However, it was recorded often in the late 1800s and into the mid-1900s. For example, animal sacrifices are sometimes done at crossroads as an offering to the crossroads spirit and to ask for a request. At Stagville Plantation in North Carolina, enslaved Africans performed animal sacrifice to call spirits for help in the slave community. At the Kingsley Plantation in Florida, archaeologists found proof of West African animal sacrifice inside a slave cabin. West-Central African people were illegally brought to Florida after 1814 by plantation owner Kingsley. These African people were from Angola, Igbo, Senegambia, and Zanzibar. Their spiritual cultures blended into one Voodoo culture on the plantation. Inside a slave cabin, archaeologists found a sacrificed chicken and other charms (blue beads and red clay brick) used in rituals to call spirits for protection.
In 1883 in Alabama, a rootworker sacrificed a chicken to leave a blood offering to spirits to remove a spell. An African American man in North Carolina sacrificed a chicken at a crossroads. He was "asking for salvation from an epidemic" (a widespread disease) that killed his farm animals. Zora Neale Hurston wrote in her book Mules and Men about an animal sacrifice of nine black chickens in the 1900s. A Hoodoo man named Turner in New Orleans performed an animal sacrifice for a client. The client wanted her brother-in-law to leave her alone. Turner sat at his snake altar and thought about his client's problem. Afterward, he told Hurston to buy nine black chickens and some Four Thieves Vinegar. Turner and Hurston performed a ritual at night with the nine black chickens and Four Thieves Vinegar. They asked the spirits and the spirits of the sacrificed chickens for the client's brother-in-law to stop bothering her. The ritual included Turner dancing in a circle, swirling the chickens in his hand. He killed them by taking off their heads. Hurston continued to beat the ground with a stick to make a rhythm with Turner's dancing. Four Thieves Vinegar was poured onto the ground where the ritual took place. In some African American Spiritual churches, sacrificing live chickens to heal church members was practiced. Mother Catherine Seals did this in a Spiritual church in New Orleans in the early to mid-1900s.
History of Louisiana Voodoo
The beginnings of Louisiana Voodoo are somewhat mysterious, and its history often includes legends. French settlers arrived in Louisiana in 1699. The first enslaved Africans were brought to the colony in 1719. In 1763, the Spanish Empire took control and ruled until 1803. The religions of the West African slaves mixed with parts of the folk Catholicism practiced by the French and Spanish colonists. This blend created Louisiana Voodoo. Under French and Spanish rule, Voodoo was not heavily persecuted. There are no records of the Roman Catholic Church trying to stop the religion in Louisiana.
All the West African groups contributed to Louisiana Voodoo. Their knowledge of herbs, poisons, and how to make charms and amulets (objects meant to protect or harm) became key parts of Louisiana Voodoo. During the French colonial period, about 80 percent of enslaved Africans brought to Louisiana were from the Bambara people near the Senegal River. Most of the other 20 percent were Kongolese, with a few from Dahomey. After Spain took control, more slaves were brought from the Kongo region. This led to a "Kongolization" of New Orleans's African American community.
The enslaved community quickly became larger than the white European colonists. The French colony was not very stable when the enslaved Africans arrived. The newly arrived Africans had a strong influence on the slave community. A census from 1731–1732 showed that there were more than two enslaved Africans for every European settler. Only a small number of colonists were plantation owners who needed many workers for their sugar plantations. Because Africans were kept in large groups, somewhat separate from white people, they were able to keep their African traditions and culture alive. In northern Louisiana and other European colonies in the American South, enslaved families were often split up. Many African slaves who were related were sent to different plantations. However, in southern Louisiana, families, cultures, and languages stayed more together than in the north. This allowed the cultural traditions, languages, and religious practices of the enslaved people to continue there.
Under French law and Catholic influence, officials recognized family groups. They did not allow slave children younger than fourteen to be sold away from their families. The high death rate of the slave trade brought survivors together, creating a sense of unity. The enslaved community was not broken apart. This, along with the strong bonds formed by the difficulties of slavery, resulted in a "strong, working, well-connected, independent, and confident enslaved community."
Making and wearing charms and amulets for protection, healing, or harming others was a key part of early Louisiana Voodoo. The Ouanga, a charm used to poison an enemy, contained toxic roots from the figuier maudit tree. This tree was brought from Africa and grown in Louisiana. The ground-up root was mixed with other things, like bones, nails, holy water, holy candles, holy incense, holy bread, or crucifixes. The person leading the ritual often asked for protection from Jehovah and Jesus Christ. This openness of African belief allowed Catholic practices to be adopted into Louisiana Voodoo.
Another element from West Africa was the respect for ancestors and elders. Because of this, many elderly enslaved people survived, further "Africanizing Louisiana Creole culture." Records of African traditional religious practices in Louisiana go back to the 1730s. At that time, Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote about the use of gris-gris.
Louisiana Purchase and Haitian Influence
In 1803, the United States gained control of Louisiana through the Louisiana Purchase. Around the same time, the Haitian Revolution was happening. In this revolution, people of African descent in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue overthrew the French government and created an independent country, Haiti. Many people fleeing this war came to Louisiana, bringing Haitian Vodou with them. This religion came from a mix of Fon and Yoruba traditions with Roman Catholicism. Many migrants arrived; in 1809 alone, 10,000 people came from Saint-Domingue, doubling New Orleans' population. These migrants introduced their religion to many Black people born in Louisiana. Their practices mixed with the African-based religious traditions already in Louisiana, helping to form Louisiana Voodoo.
Legend says the first meeting place for Voodoo followers in New Orleans was an old brickyard on Dumaine Street. Police often broke up these meetings. So, future meetings mostly took place in Bayou St. John and along the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The religion likely appealed to African people, whether enslaved or free, who had no other way to get justice for the bad treatment they received. Voodoo probably spread from Louisiana to African American communities throughout the Mississippi River Valley. There are records from the 1800s mentioning Voodoo rituals in St. Louis and St. Joseph in Missouri.
Voodoo was never officially banned in Louisiana. However, officials worried that Voodoo might be used to start a slave rebellion. In 1817, the city passed a law that stopped enslaved people from dancing on any day except Sundays. They could only dance in specific places. The main allowed place was New Orleans' Congo Square. But Voodoo dance rituals continued secretly in other places. In the early 1800s, newspapers began criticizing the religion. In August 1850, about fifty women, some of whom were white, were arrested at a Voodoo dance. They were later fined. In 1855, a crowd tried to grab a follower, Elizabeth Sutherland, accusing her of casting spells. The local police protected her at the station.
During the American Civil War, the Union Army occupied New Orleans and tried to stop Voodoo. In 1863, forty women were arrested at a Voodoo dance in Marais Street. Efforts to stop Voodoo grew stronger after the Civil War. From the 1870s onward, white writers became more concerned that Voodoo rituals were allowing Black men and white women to interact. In that decade, large gatherings took place at Lake Pontchartrain on St John's Eve. Many onlookers and reporters attended, but these gatherings became smaller after 1876. In the 1880s and 1890s, New Orleans authorities again cracked down on Voodoo. Voodoo was used as an excuse by the white elite to claim that Africans were not as good as Europeans. This helped support their belief in the need for legal segregation.
Various followers set up shops selling Voodoo items and charms. They also started making money from the religion by holding ceremonies and charging people to watch.
Important Voodoo Leaders
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Free women of color were the main leaders of Voodoo in New Orleans during the 1800s. They earned a living by selling and using amulets, or "gris-gris" charms, and magical powers. They also offered spells and charms that promised to "cure sicknesses, grant wishes, and confuse or destroy one's enemies." Like in other French colonies, a group of free people of color developed. They had specific rights and, in New Orleans, gained property and education. Free women of color had a good amount of influence, especially those who were spiritual leaders.
Among the fifteen "voodoo queens" in different neighborhoods of 19th-century New Orleans, Marie Laveau was known as "the Voodoo Queen." She was the most important and powerful of them all. Her religious ceremony on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain on St. John's Eve in 1874 attracted about 12,000 Black and white people from New Orleans. Although she seemed to help everyone, she might have favored enslaved servants. Her most "influential, wealthy customers...runaway slaves...said their successful escapes were thanks to Laveau's powerful charms." Both her mother and grandmother had practiced Voodoo. She was also baptized a Roman Catholic and went to church throughout her life.
Laveau worked as a hairdresser. She also helped others by preparing herbal remedies and charms. She died in 1881. Her influence continues in the city. In the 2000s, her grave in the oldest cemetery is a major tourist attraction. Voodoo followers leave gifts there and pray to her spirit. Across the street from the cemetery where Laveau is buried, offerings of pound cake are left at the statue of Saint Expedite. These offerings are believed to speed up the favors asked of the Voodoo queen. Saint Expedite represents the spirit between life and death. The chapel where the statue stands was once only used for funerals. Marie Laveau remains a central figure of Louisiana Voodoo and New Orleans culture. Gamblers shout her name when throwing dice, and many stories of seeing the Voodoo Queen have been told.
Another very important Voodoo leader in the mid-1800s was Jean Montanée, or "Dr John." He was a free Black man who sold cures and other items to many clients. He earned enough money to buy several enslaved people. He claimed he was a prince from Senegal who had been taken to Cuba and freed there before coming to Louisiana.
Voodoo in the 1900s and 2000s
By the early 1900s, there were no more well-known Voodoo leaders openly active in New Orleans. According to historian Carolyn Morrow Long, "Voodoo, as an organized religion, had been completely stopped by the legal system, public opinion, and Christianity." In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the first serious efforts were made to record Voodoo's history. As part of a government program called the Works Progress Administration, the Louisiana Writers' Project paid fieldworkers to interview seventy older Black New Orleanians. They asked about their experiences with Voodoo between the 1870s and 1890s. Many told stories about Marie Laveau. This interview material was partly used for journalist Robert Tallant's book Voodoo in New Orleans. First published in 1946, it contained exciting stories but became the most important book on the topic for many years.
As Voodoo, as a community religion focused on worshipping gods and ancestors, declined, many of its practices continued. These practices were designed to control or influence events and people. They were often called hoodoo. In New Orleans, hoodoo showed more Roman Catholic influences than similar African American folk practices elsewhere in the southern states. Hoodoo specialists, known as "doctors" or "workers," often worked from their homes or shops. They provided gris-gris, powders, oils, perfumes, and incense to clients. Such practices worried the white Protestant leaders. Laws were introduced to limit various healing and fortune-telling practices in the city. As a result, many hoodoo practitioners were found guilty and either fined or jailed in the first half of the 1900s.
The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s marked a new time. The New Orleans tourist industry began to see African American culture as an important part of the city's heritage. From the 1960s onward, the city's tourism increasingly used Louisiana Voodoo to attract visitors. In 1972, Charles Gandolfo opened the New Orleans Historic Voodoo Museum, which was for tourists. In New Orleans' French Quarter, and through mail-order catalogs and later the Internet, people started selling items they claimed were linked to Voodoo. Several companies also began offering walking tours of the city. These tours pointed out places said to be important in Voodoo history, and sometimes even held Voodoo rituals for paying onlookers. One company, Voodoo Authentica, started organizing an annual Voodoofest in Congo Square every Halloween. This event included stalls selling food and Voodoo items, and a public Voodoo ceremony.
In the late 1900s, Voodoo saw a comeback in New Orleans. This was due to some old practices surviving, some ideas brought from other African religions, and some people actively trying to revive it. Various groups appeared. In 1990, the African American Miriam Chamani opened the New Orleans Voodoo Spiritual Temple in the French Quarter. This temple honored gods from Haitian Vodou and Cuban Santería. A Ukrainian-Jewish American who had learned Haitian Vodou, Sallie Ann Glassman, started another group, La Source Ancienne, in the Bywater neighborhood. She also ran the Island of Salvation Botanica store. The most well-known of the new Voodoo followers was Ava Kay Jones. She was a Louisiana Creole woman who had learned both Haitian Vodou and Orisha-Vodu, a U.S.-based form of Santería. Long believed that these groups showed a "Voodoo revival" rather than a direct continuation of 18th and 19th century traditions. She noted that this new Voodoo usually looked more like Haitian Vodou or Santería than the Voodoo of the 1800s. These groups tried to help people understand their religion through websites, newsletters, and workshops.
Who Practices Voodoo
Some children are born into families that already practice Louisiana Voodoo. Others discover the religion on their own. In 1873, the Daily Picayune newspaper guessed that there were about 300 dedicated Voodoo followers in New Orleans. It also estimated about a thousand more people who followed it less strictly. In 2014, Newsweek reported a claim from "locals" that there were between 2,500 and 3,000 followers in New Orleans at the start of the 2000s. But after Hurricane Katrina and many people left the city, that number dropped to under 300.
White people have been involved in Louisiana Voodoo since its early days. Stories told in the 1930s and 1940s suggest that many of Marie Laveau's followers and clients were white. Tallant noted that, in the 1940s, about a third of the religion's followers were white. Tallant also thought that about 80 percent of followers were female.
Long noted that the "Voodoo revival" of the late 1900s attracted many "well-educated" and middle-class Americans, both Black and white. Glassman's group has been described as having mostly white members. In a 1995 article for The New York Times, Rick Bragg noted that many modern followers were "white people — nose and tongue piercers, middle-aged intellectuals and men with foot-long ponytails — who enjoy the religion's drumming and cultural aspects." Osbey thought that this revival appealed especially to "young-ish whites." She believed they felt it offered "something at once forbidden, magical and compelling in its dramatic appeal." In her view, they were not true followers of Louisiana Voodoo because they do not come from the ancestral spirits that the religion honors.
See also
In Spanish: Vudú de Luisiana para niños
