Louisiana Voodoo is a New Orleans centred tradition, related to but historically and ritually distinct from Haitian Vodou, formed over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from the West African Vodun and Kongo religious practice carried by enslaved people, reinforced by Haitian refugees arriving after the Haitian Revolution, blended with Louisiana Catholic devotional practice and with the folk conjure tradition of Hoodoo. Its most documented nineteenth century leaders are Marie Laveau and her predecessor Doctor John; the tradition survives today in both reconstructed devotional lineages and commercialized public forms.
Facts
Origins
Place of Origin FounderNo single founder; formed through the gradual blending of West African Vodun, Kongo religious practice, Haitian Vodou, Louisiana Catholic devotion and Hoodoo over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 1 History
Separation or DivergenceFormed over the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from West African Vodun and Kongo religious practice blended with Louisiana Catholic devotion and the Hoodoo conjure tradition, rather than by a schism from a single parent body. 2 Status
Status TodayLiving tradition, practised today 1 Organisation
OrdinationAuthority conferred by initiation rather than by ordination 2 Practice
Liturgical Language Cross-Tradition Connections
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