American Voodoo Chapter 1 Summary

• In 1788 the parish church is destroyed and St. Louis Cathedral is rebuilt. • In 1833 the first English-speaking Catholic church in New Orleans was dedicated

The weightier matter rest in the fact that this Catholic culture was the bride of Voodooism!

Catholicism also played a particularly crucial role in the development of slave religion in the coastal city of New Orleans where the meshing of Catholicism with traditional African religions withstood the onslaught of slavery; although the Code Nior was adopted in 1724 in Louisiana which made African slaves fall under the demands of conversion to Catholicism, still African gods merged with Catholic saints and a syncretism of Africa-American Catholicism was utilized.7 Consequently, Louisiana

Haiti, as we found out in chapter 3, was a melting pot of both Dahomey and Kongolese people from West and Central Africa. Each brought with them their native African traditional religion, what we have termed Voodoo. In the case of the Kongolese, they also had Catholic and French influences. Consequently Haiti was the home of a brand of Catholic-based Voodoo called “Haitian Voodoo” – which was practiced in the sugarcane fields of Haiti as the Dahomey and Kongolese people were melted together in a unique Creole setting.

Now comes Louisiana, the twin sister of Haiti. The same set of circumstances existed in Louisiana as did Haiti. Slaves were shipped to Louisiana including the Dahomey and Kongolese. Many had Catholic, French, Creole and Voodoo backgrounds. Some were from Africa. Some were from Haiti. Due to the pressures of the Haitian Revolution of 1791, a large number of Haitian planters, slaves and others had sought refuge in Cuba for several years. After being expelled from Cuba some 10,000 Haitian refugees made their way to New Orleans in 1809-1810 and doubled the population of New Orleans.8 The refugees were very compatible with New Orleans because of their shared Africanized & French colonial past. As French-speaking Roman Catholics they reinforced the existing Creole culture 9 while bringing Voodoo traditions with

10,000 Haitian immigrants flood Louisiana in 1809-1810 and bring their ancient African religion & Voodoo

Their arrival marked the beginning of “organized Voodoo” in Louisiana. It gave a “pure” Voodoo stream as the Haitian blacks had retained their ancient worship almost completely.11 And they appeared to have strengthened the ranks of Afro-Creole spiritual practitioners by merging seamlessly into the already existing Louisiana Voodoo traditions.12 They also may have contributed to the fact that Haiti and Louisiana share the term “Vodou” (regardless of how it is spelled) as the defining term for their Africa-derived syncretistic traditions with French Catholicism.13

Interestingly, like the parallel Pentecostals, many of these Haitians were “snake worshippers” and devotees of Voodoo.14 The “Snake God” plays an important role in Voodoo and Pentecostalism, one which will now scrutinize.

4.4 Louisiana: Voodoo Snake God Connection

The Voodoo Snake God was