Marie Laveau (1801-1881) was the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
Marie Laveau (1801-1881) was the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans.
In honor of the spookiest month, we’re revisiting our favorite Womanica episodes featuring villains, troublemakers, magic, and mystery all October. Join host Jenny Kaplan — with a few special introductions — as she takes you back in time, highlighting women like Sadie the Goat, Marie Laveau, Patricia Krenwinkel and more who were ruthless, vengeful, and mystical. The riveting stories of these women are sure to keep you up at night.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Abbey Delk. I’m a production assistant, and I write scripts and produce Womanica episodes. I’m so excited to be introducing this “best of” episode of Womanica.
This episode was part of our October 2019 theme, “Witches and Saints.”
Today, we’re going back to 19th century New Orleans to talk about one of the most renowned practitioners of Vodou in American history.
I like this episode because the jazz music and sound mixing transports the listener back in time to a mysterious and exciting moment in American history.
Now here’s host Jenny Kaplan to talk about the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, Marie Laveau.
Marie was born in either 1794 or 1801 in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a free woman of mixed Native American, African, and French descent, and a wealthy white landowner and politician.
Little is known about Marie’s early years, but it’s likely that she was introduced into the Vodou tradition and its practices during childhood by her mother.
Her story picks up again around age 25 when she married a white immigrant from what’s now Haiti, named Jacques Park. Park had fled with other French refugees to New Orleans after the Haitian Revolution.
Marie and Park had two daughters together. Then, only a year or so after the wedding, Park mysteriously disappeared and was later declared dead.
Marie then began a domestic partnership with another man. It’s reported that they had as many as 15 children together and continued their partnership until his death.
During that period, Marie opened up a beauty parlor and worked as a hairdresser to help support her family and herself. She also got paid to provide spiritual counsel to those who sought her help, including many wealthy members of New Orleans society.
Marie had a familial background in African Spirituality and religion, and became even more drawn to it after her mother’s death. She studied under a famous Senegalese root conjurer named Dr. John Bayou, and after finishing her apprenticeship, she hit the ground running. In only a short period of time, Marie began to dominate the Voudou religious and cultural scene in New Orleans.
Marie used one job to support the other. When she styled the hair of black clients who worked for wealthy families, she would glean personal information about those families and reuse it when counseling members of those households.
She amassed a huge clientele of wealthy and politically powerful individuals, both black and white, who would come to her for advice on personal and business matters. If needed, Marie would use Vodou rituals to “intervene” in some situations, and similarly provided relief and protection from any evil energy or spellcraft that might be placed on her clients.
To provide a bit of background, Vodou is a religious system that’s derived from a variety of west African spiritual practices that are in many ways not wholly dissimilar from western religions, though they tend to put more stock in magic, divination, animism, and alternate ritualistic practices. Vodou originally made its way to New Orleans via the transatlantic slave trade, and then a slightly different form of Vodou was brought to the city by refugees fleeing the Haitian Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century.
The New Orleans style of Vodou, which differed slightly from that found in Haiti or in West Africa, consisted of conjuring known as “root work” and the use of gris-gris or ju-ju. People would seek out “root workers” for spiritual intervention or protection in their daily lives. The favors the clients asked for ranged from solutions to romantic issues to greater political power and everything in between. Although most Vodou workers used their powers exclusively for good, there were some who did not. Many historians believe it was the work of this small percentage of people acting on bad faith that was sensationalized by the media and non-believers. This aspect of the religion became known as hoodoo, and is the basis for misconceptions that the public still tends to have about Vodou today.
Known within the religion as a “Vodou Queen”, Marie spent decades doling out advice on everything from marital infidelity, domestic disputes, judicial issues, business, finances, personal health, and almost any other life problem you can imagine. Marie also sold protective spiritual objects such as candles, powder, and an assortment of other items mixed together to create a protective charm or amulet.
Marie presided over Vodou rituals at her home on St. Ann Street, in a public area called Congo Square that served as an officially sanctioned gathering place for both enslaved and free African people, and at Lake Pontchartrain, where major ceremonies took place for those initiated into the Vodou faith. These rituals consisted mostly of singing, dancing, drumming and spirit possession that would not be entirely out of place at a Pentecostal revival. Still, these practices were seen by curious white people as very strange and sensational at the time.
Though Marie faced off against many rivals over who should rule over the Vodou system and community in New Orleans, she remained Queen until 1850 without any serious challenges. She did eventually have to contend with some upstarts but used her powers of persuasion and immense political connections to maintain her position.
Marie died in 1881 still at the top of her game. After her death though, Vodou in New Orleans went through a period of decline. As more people of African descent assimilated, or were forced to assimilate, more fully into American life, many left behind the rites and rituals of traditional New Orleans Vodou. Vodou began taking on new forms and becoming incorporated into other religions, especially Catholicism.
In her death, Marie has become a veritable icon. Her tomb at St. Louis Cemetery in New Orleans is visited by thousands of people each year who leave behind all kinds of spiritual items, candles, flowers, and personal items in honor of Marie, Vodou Queen of New Orleans.
All month, we’re bringing you the best of villainy, magic, and mystery. Tune in tomorrow for another of our favorite episodes.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!