03 Graveyard Dust

Graveyard Dust
Barbara Hambly

Special thanks to those, in New Orleans and elsewhere, who have helped me with this book: to Paul Nevski of Le Monde Creole; to the Staff of the Historic New Orleans Collection; to Tim Trahan of Animal Arts in New Orleans; to Priestess Miriam of the Voodoo Spirit Temple; to Greg Osborn of the New Orleans Public Library; to Adrian and Victoria; to Kate Miciak; to Diana Paxson; and always, to George.

TERMINOLOGY OF VOODOO Since voodoo terms were originally transliterated from various West African languages through creolized French, spelling is a matter of guesswork. I have in most cases used the modern Haitian spellings and names as found in Metraux's Voodoo in Haiti, the starting point of much of my research.

The shape and structure of voodoo in Louisiana in the 1830s is something that can only be guessed at. Refugees fleeing the uprisings in Sainte Domingue (the island now divided into Haiti and Santo Domingo) brought extensive voodoo beliefs with them to a land that already had its own variants of these same practices, and much depended on the religion's interaction with its immediate surroundings. In Haiti, after the black revolution, voodoo became an accepted religion; in Louisiana its evolution was marked by external pressures from the prevailing Christianity and culture. In addition, the voodoo loa tends to proliferate: There are dozens of variations of the spirit Ezili (or Erzuli), of Ogu (Ogou)-Ogu Feray, Ogu Badagri, Ogu Osanyl, and Sen (or San) Jak, Maje and others-of Baron (or Bawon) Samedi or Cemetery, also known as Baron La Croix. I have simplified as much as I can without doing violence to what I understand to be the basic tenets of the religion.

Some loa:

Ogzc (or Ogou)-warrior spirit of justice, often depicted as a soldier; frequently identified with Saint James the Greater Shango-blacksmith spirit, also warrior; a spirit of iron and fire Ezili (or Erzuli)-spirit of womanhood, in various incarnations a mother and an Aphrodite flirt Baron Samedi (or Baron Cemetery)-lord of the dead, often depicted as an obscene trickster, lord ofthe Gu?d?

Gu?d?-family of dark and dangerous spirits, spirits of power and death Papa Legba (or Limba)-ruler of the crossroads, of doorways and bridges, and of transition states; he is the first loa petitioned in Haitian ritual, that he may open the doors for the other loa to pass through Damballah-Wedo-the sacred serpent, spirit of the rainbow and of water; called also the ZombiDamballah Bosou-bull spirit of potency and strength The loa may possess worshipers of either their own identified gender, or the opposite, and may possess them to various degrees. Some "horses," as the possessed are called, do not remember things said and done during their possession; the woman I talked to who had been possessed by Ogu said she was perfectly aware of herself, but observing: craving cigars, for instance (which Ogu loves, though the woman possessed was a nonsmoker), and rum.

Other voodoo terms: v?v?s-complex designs drawn on the ground to focus or summon the loa hougan-voodoo priest or "king" in old New Orleans terminology mambo-voodoo priestess or "queen" gris gris-an amulet or charm tricken bag-amulet made of several ingredients sewn together in a bag, usually a gris-gris of ill luck or malice wanga (or ouanga)-spell wangateur or root-doctor-magician, sorcerer congris-mixture of black-eyed peas and rice, a favored food of the loa