New Orleans Voodoo
American History Hit
History Hit
4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 October 2023
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you've ever watched a Voodoo scene in a horror movie, you might be forgiven for envisioning zombies, dolls and witchcraft when asked what it is. But in this episode of American History Hit, Don speaks to Elizabeth James to find out the truth about the New Orleans strand of this misunderstood religion and spiritual practice.
Where does Voodoo come from? How has it been practised over the years? And who was Marie Laveau?
Elizabeth James is a programme associate for Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan. She had the practises of Voodoo passed on to her by her grandmother in Louisiana.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Take a stroll with me down the streets of Old New Orleans. The air is thick, humid, oppressive even. |
| 0:11.0 | The narrow streets and alleys are tightly packed with one and two-story buildings lining the sidewalks. |
| 0:18.0 | There are walls beyond which we hear every sound and feel every movement. |
| 0:22.0 | Colors flourish everywhere, all the shape. sound and feel every movement. |
| 0:22.8 | Colors flourish everywhere, all the shades, pastels and earth tones. |
| 0:28.0 | Overhead, on the famous balconies with their intricate cast iron railings, happy voices filter into the jazz riffs played from below in the clubs. |
| 0:37.0 | And there's the smells, of course, the fried Beniers and chickory coffee, the gumboo mingling with the scent of |
| 0:45.0 | Jasmine and diesel fumes for the tankers on the river. On through Jackson Square |
| 0:50.8 | and deeper into the French Quarter the hustle-bussle streets become quieter, |
| 0:55.1 | more sedate. |
| 0:56.2 | And we hear a chanting, a faint drumming, down near the end where the road leads to Congo Square. |
| 1:03.2 | Now an asphalt park, this timeless sight |
| 1:05.7 | is still full of mystery and memory. |
| 1:08.6 | The sounds and sensations of New Orleans voodoo of the past. Hello friends welcome to American history hit. I'm Don Wildman. |
| 1:33.0 | If there is a more alluring and genuinely mysterious city in this country, |
| 1:38.0 | than New Orleans, Louisiana. I haven't been there. |
| 1:41.0 | Sure, New Orleans is a convention Mecca and Bourbon Street can be a bit much, |
| 1:45.7 | but that the city remains such a massive tourist attraction and yet maintains its very real |
| 1:51.3 | mystique is no miracle. |
| 1:53.0 | Its attribute to its proudly diverse population |
| 1:56.4 | and its substantial and fascinating heritage. |
| 1:58.8 | No other town in America can match New Orleans proud and particular origins. No city contains such a rich |
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