October is the season of the spirits in New Orleans – from now until Halloween , more tours than ever will roll through the city's cheap last minute airline tickets famous cemeteries to Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau s tomb. Even if you re not as much of a purist as New Orleans Healing Center founder Sallie Ann Glassman, who created her own voodoo tarot deck, this is a fitting time of year to learn more about Voodoo.
The tomb of Marie Laveau at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 draws thousands of visitors every year, many of whom make half of an X on the tomb to make a request to the spirit of the voodoo queen. Supplicants come back to cross out the X when their wish is granted, and the tomb is now covered in Xs, making it one of the most popular stops on New Orleans haunted tours. Offerings of pound cake are sometimes left to the statue of Saint Expedite at an adjacent cemetery to speed the granting of favors.
Burning the appropriate candle on an altar is another form of prayer for Voodoo practitioners. Candles, charms and amulets are part of any voodoo queen s stock in trade, and Marie Laveau s particular brand of helping the lovelorn was so popular, her home on St. Ann Street in the French Quarter became a high society destination. A devout Catholic, cheap last minute airline tickets Laveau s reign as Voodoo Queen lasted so long, it is rumored that her daughter secretly portrayed her after she died.
A Voodoo King known as Dr. John was Laveau s compatriot in ritual ceremonies along Bayou St. John in the 1800s. New Orleans musician Mac Rebennack, better known as Dr. John The Night Tripper, took on not only the stage name in the 1960s, cheap last minute airline tickets but also the beliefs. He paid homage to his religion when he rode as King of Carnival Krewe du Vieux dressed as the Loa Ghede and rode with New Orleans Voodoo priestess Mother cheap last minute airline tickets Miriam Chamani.
Dr. John was historically accurate down to Ghede s black top hat, black coat with tails and one-lensed sunglasses to keep one eye on this world and one in the spirit kingdom. In Voodoo, Ghede stands at the eternal crossroad between life and death. The god of love, death and resurrection, Ghede also has a predilection for rum.
In this video of Where You At Mule, filmed on a trippy ride through a junkyard, Dr. John explains: "Voodoo is like anything else. It s something you do, I do and anyone else do. If you want to call it voodoo, hoodoo … but you know, not all voodoo is sticking pins in dolls."
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