Gris Gris

Voodoo, The Practice
So you've got your mojo workin', but really, what is this voodoo religion/practice/tourist trap thing all about?

Voodoo Defined
A West Indian (especially Haiti) religion made up of a combination of African religions and Catholicism; its ceremonies center on rituals developed to please the Iwa (spirits). Many claim that its history can be traced even further to African roots.

Voodoo practitioners believe in the existence of one supreme God. Below God, spirits rule over the world's affairs in matters of family, love, happiness, justice, health, wealth, work the harvest or the hunt etc. Offerings are made to the appropriate spirit to ensure success in those areas. Each spirit has its preferred fruits or vegetables, color, number, day of the week, etc. The spirits also manifest through elements of nature such as the wind and rain, lightning and thunder, the rivers, the ocean, springs and lakes, the sky, the sun, certain animals, trees and stones. Learn more about the history and culture of voodoo at New Orleans Voodoo Crossroads.

There are many places in the city where you can learn or even experience the voodoo practice. You can start with a visit to the New Orleans Voodoo Museum. Part history, part touristy show, this museum is a fun reflection on the history, culture and practices of voodoo. Or you can try the more recently opened Voodoo Spiritual Temple at 828 N. Rampart St. in the French Quarter.

In New Orleans, voodoo is just part of the magic of the city. Some well-known vampires have (and some say continue to) lurked the darker corners of the city and with the dead "buried" above ground in what appear to be minature homes, new Orleans has a unique relationship with those of the other world. Any night of the week you can take a tour of our more famous cemeteries and even visit the grave of one of our most famous Voodoo Practioners, Marie Laveau. The Haunted History Tours Company offers ghost tours, vampire tours, cemetery tours and combinations thereof.

Terms you need to know:

Avalou - One of the voodoo dances, characterized by violent arm and shoulder muscle movements. Literally, "supplication".

Bamboula - a sensual dance performed 200 years ago by Africans and their decendants in the Caribbean to the beat of long bamboula drums

Bamboche - Dance party

Congo- An important region of equatorial Africa. To Haitian Voudoun it has given - along with many people - distinctive ritual, drums, dances.

Creole - Pertaining to the people, language and customs of Haiti; also used with reference to other cultures both West Indian and Latin American. This word comes through the French from a Spanish word meaning "born outside the homeland."

La Flambeau - Literally "The Torch." This title is added to the names of certain Rada Loa when a Petro cult invokes an especially fiery form of their power.

Loa - A Voudoun diety: that is, the power of a divine archetype working through a congenial personality built up for it by human worship and invocation in Voudoun. The most frequent means of manifestation of the Loa is by temporary possession of a devotee. (The word "Loa" has but one form for singular and plural.)

To learn more about Voodoo, click here.

By the way, what is Gris Gris?

"Gris Gris" has come to mean many things. It is said to have come from the French word for gray (gris), meaning that the mixture of black & white creates a balance. In New Orleans, the term is mainly used to apply to gris gris bags (also known as mojo bags). These bags are normally made of red flannel and filled with herbs, roots and other powerful magickal, purpose-appropriate ingredients. They are tied up with black yarn and anointed with the appropriate potion oil for their purpose. The finished bag should be carried or worn by its recipient. Many say that a woman should keep hers on her left side and a man, on his right. Also, that a person should never open their bag or let others touch it. The theory being that the magick will "spill out" if the bag is opened and that the wrong influences may be placed in the bag by someone else touching it. The bag is a focusing tool, made to assist the recipient of it in bringing certain specific positive influences his/her way and should be meditated with regularly. It should also be reanointed with the appropriate potion oil from time to time.