Everywhere you go in New Orleans, you will find some reference or honor given to Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Shops, merchandise, statues, and food can be found all over the French Quarter of New Orleans. Should you ever visit this incredible city, there are many sites that you can visit with connection to the Voodoo Queen. I love everything about the intricate and amazing history that follows this magical woman and had a blast seeing all of these sites for myself! I have also included their addresses should you decide you want to see them for yourself on your own trip to New Orleans.
Marie Catherine Laveau, Born September 10, 1801 – Died June 15, 1881 at the age of 80, was very popularly known as the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. Historical records state that Marie Laveau was born free in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana on September 10, 1801. Marie Laveau was able to rise to a prominent position in New Orleans through a combination of her strong personality, charity works, and natural flair for theatrics. A black priestess of astounding beauty, Madame Laveau wielded tremendous power in her community and rumors of her magical abilities were so persistent that visitors still visit her grave to leave tokens in exchange for small requests. Truly, there’s nowhere in the world quite like New Orleans.
Voodoo is as big a part of New Orleans’ history, although it is vastly different from the pop-culture perception. Like the popular conception of voodoo itself, Marie Laveau’s legend differs a bit from the reality.
She was the daughter of Charles Laveau Trudeau, a surveyor and politician, and the freed slave Marguerite Henry, a woman of color who was of Native American, African, and French descent. Marie was the first generation of her family to be born free. Laveau’s great-grandmother came to New Orleans as a slave from West Africa in 1743 and her grandmother, Catherine, eventually wound up being bought by Francoise Pomet, a free woman of color and successful entrepreneur. Catherine was eventually able to buy her freedom and build her own small home where her granddaughter would become famous.
The front room of her cottage housed altars filled with candles, holy images, and offerings, and she would lead weekly meetings (that included whites as well as blacks) where the participants would dress all in white, then chant and sing and leave an offering of liquor and food to the spirits. Although people of all races visited Marie Laveau and attended the ceremonies she led, the white community as a whole never accepted Voodoo as a legitimate religion (which is partly why today it is still associated with the occult). Racism and a natural tendency for newspapers to seek out sensational stories led to the descriptions of Marie Laveau’s ceremonies as occult “drunken orgies” and her nickname as a “Voodoo Queen”. As Voodoo Queen, Laveau predominately orchestrated rituals at three main sites: her home on St. Ann Street, Congo Square, and Lake Pontchartrain. Her religious rite on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain on St. John’s Eve in 1874 attracted some 12,000 black and white New Orleanians. At her home on St. Ann Street, Marie Laveau would converse with clients who would meet with her regarding any issues they were having. In her backyard, she would also have ceremonies that conjured the spirit of the Great Zombi, the deity Damballah Wedo who would manifest through a snake that she owned herself.
On your tour of New Orleans, you can stop by and visit Marie Laveau’s home but you cannot enter at:
1020-22 Rue St. Ann, New Orleans, LA 70116
On August 4, 1819, she married a Creole man named Jacques Paris (also known as Jacques Santiago in Spanish records), a French immigrant who had fled as a white refugee from the black Haitian Revolution in the former French territory Saint-Domingue (now named Haiti). Their marriage certificate is preserved in the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. You can visit this beautiful cathedral in the heart of the French Quarter and it is well worth the visit! It stands right behind Jackson Square, a small historic garden area, originally known in the 18th century as Place d’Armes, and later renamed in honor of the Battle of New Orleans hero, Andrew Jackson. The mounted rider in front of the cathedral is a statue of Andrew Jackson.
St. Louis Cathedral/ Jackson Square can be found at:
615 Pere Antoine Alley, New Orleans, LA 70116
Her husband reportedly disappeared and was later reported dead. Upon his disappearance, Laveau began referring to herself as the “Widow Paris.” After the reported death of her husband, Laveau started a 30 year domestic relationship with a white man of noble French background, Jean Louis Christophe Duminy de Glapion. Interracial relationships were not uncommon in New Orleans, although the couples were forbidden by the law to marry. Together, they had several children, some of whom were victims of the various yellow fever outbreaks that plagued New Orleans due to the city’s poor drainage system.
The second major ritualistic space, Congo Square, was a public square that was set aside by city officials as a gathering space for both enslaved and free African people. Laveau would gather her followers here on Sundays to dance and worship. No major ceremonies would take place here, but it was a place of spiritual gathering and rejuvenation for Africans who experienced major oppression and hardships both on the plantation and as free citizens. The last place of significance that was presided over by Laveau was Bayou St. John’s, which was located on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. It was here that major ceremonies took place among the initiated in the religion. Laveau would often be accompanied by her “king” or a second-ranking male officiate. Singing, dancing, drumming, and spirit possession would occur in these gatherings. Curious white people would often sneak into the woods to witness these ceremonies. For sensationalism, they would often report extreme tales of what they witnessed.
Marie Laveau became a hairdresser to provide economic stability for herself and her family. Through interaction with her black clients who were house servants, she was exposed to personal information about her wealthy white clients, who often sought her counsel. Laveau used this information to give informed counsel to the people who sought advice from her concerning their personal affairs. Marie Laveau also saw individual clients, giving them advice on everything from winning lawsuits to attracting lovers, when she died her obituary in The New York Times claimed: “lawyers, legislators, planters, and merchants all came to pay their respects and seek her offices.” Many wealthy and politically affluent individuals, both white and black, paid Laveau for personal advice, intervention in some situation, and protection against any evil energy that might have been placed against them. She also saw the poor and enslaved.
Voodoo held a strong presence in New Orleans throughout the centuries, and Voodoo ceremonies and activities took place at various sites around the city. People would seek out “conjurers” or other spiritualists for spiritual intervention or protection in their daily affairs. These favors ranged from those concerning love to political influence. Although most workers used their powers for positive forces, there were some who did not. It was probably the work of this small percentage of people that was sensationalized by people outside of the religion. This aspect of the religion became known as hoodoo and is often the basis for misconceptions that public society has about Voodoo.
On June 17, 1881, it was announced in the Daily Picayune that Marie Laveau had died peacefully in her home. According to the Louisiana Writer’s Project, her funeral was lavish, and attended by a diverse audience including members of the white elite. Oral tradition states that she was seen by some people in town after her supposed demise. Marie Laveau is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. In the 21st century, her grave site in the oldest cemetery is a major tourist attraction; believers of Voodoo offer gifts here and pray to her spirit. Each year, thousands of visitors flock to her tomb and adorn her plot with spiritual regalia, candles, money, flowers, and assorted personal items.
You can visit St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 at:
425 Basin St, New Orleans, LA 70112
Tourists continue to visit and some draw X marks in accordance with a decades-old tradition that if people wanted Laveau to grant them a wish, they had to draw an X on the tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, yell out their wish, and if it was granted, come back, circle their X, and leave Marie Laveau an offering.
The tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 was vandalized by an unknown person on December 17, 2013, by being painted over with pink latex paint. Apparently, according to my guide, it was some kind of protest for women’s rights which Marie Laveau has never even been associated with. The paint was removed because the structure is made of old plaster and the latex paint would seal in moisture that would destroy the plaster. It cost the city over $20,000 to remove it and upset many of her family members who are still alive and live in the city of New Orleans.
As of March 1, 2015, there is no longer public access to St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Entry with a tour guide is required because of continued vandalism and destruction of tombs. This change was made by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to protect the tombs of the Laveau family as well as those of the many other dead interred there. The only way you can get into the cemetery without a guide now is if you can prove you have a family member buried in the cemetery. However, the tour is not expensive, is very informational, and you can still leave offerings at her tomb. You just can no longer mark the tomb with an XXX. Some of the old XXX can be seen as they were carved very deeply into the stone.
Whether Marie Laveau was a powerful priestess with supernatural abilities or simply a clever entrepreneur who knew the value of giving people what they wanted, she is a fascinating figure for having been a black woman with great influence in the Deep South during the days of slavery. Marie Laveau continues even today to be a central figure of Louisiana Voodoo and of New Orleans culture.
I had a blast visiting New Orleans and each of these sites and I absolutely recommend it if you ever get the chance to do so yourself!
From our altar to yours, with love from the sea,
