Destination Unknown 23: Voodoo My Ass!

Day 215

Our second day into NOLA we decided to repeat the process of parking in the Garden District and utilize our second day pass on the HOHO 😂 Hop-On-Hop-Off. We arrived in the Garden District and felt it would be best to park the truck in front of Sandra’s house so Matthew McConaughey could keep an eye on it for us. After leaving our instruction with Matthew, we headed to the HOHO stop to grab the next bus.

The bus arrived within a few minutes, and this time we were fortunate to get seats inside the bus. Today was expected to be a little warmer than yesterday, but the added wind from the bus moving would still get pretty chilly upstairs. Our destination for today is the French Quarter to do the walking tour and visit the Voodoo Museum.

When we arrived in the French Quarter, the next walking tour was scheduled to start in just over an hour, plenty of time to squeeze the Voodoo museum in beforehand. The museum was a quick three block walk from our location, so we made like bananas. We did not place any expectation on the museum, figuring it would be a small complex, when we arrived the entrance fee was $10.00 per person. Acceptable risk if the place was a dud, I would have reconsidered if I was the family of five who came in before us, who paid $50.00…. Ouch. The entrance to the museum was a small dark room crowded with all sorts of souvenir for sale, very few having anything to do with voodoo. Behind the counter an employee, owner or scam artist (take your pick) took our money and directed us to a narrow hallway that led too two tiny rooms in the back.

The hallway was lined with all sorts of paintings and portraits of famous voodoo icons from the past. The two rooms were cluttered with all sorts of voodoo paraphernalia. Descriptions were provided on most of the pieces, but I found they provided no real enlightenment to what voodoo really is. What I did learn is the museum felt like a scam! Save your money and walk on past this place.

After we did our best to make the most of our twenty bucks, we left the museum and headed for the meeting place for the walking tour of the French Quarter. The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carre, is the oldest neighbourhood in NOLA. When NOLA was founded in 1718 the city developed around this area creating a central square where French influence thrived, even after the area burned down twice, survived Spanish rule and then the Louisiana purchase. Our tour guide arrived on time and we were off to explore a little history of the area.

The tour was well done and provided lots of insightful history of the area, and how the French Fleur-de-lis continues to dominate the area.

Leaving Sandra’s house.

Downtown NOLA

A note at the entrance to one of the rooms stated that there were active voodoo shrines inside that people still worshipped here. This looked like one of the shrines.

This display was talking about how voodoo worshipers speak with spirits by using human bones and personal possessions. The skeleton was fake.

Display case of “authentic” voodoo dolls.

This I found interesting. Apparently voodooest believes that some spirits live on the underside of mirrors, and use it as a portal to the physical world.

It’s also noted that graveyards were a common location for voodoo worship. If you notice, there is money scattered through all the exhibits, the positive side of me would like to think this was given to the spirits of the artifact in return for a wish or help, the cynical side of me pictures the owner, employee, scam artist laughing as they gather up the money at the end of the week.

These two keep photo bombing my pictures! 😖

St. Louis Cathedral behind Jackson Square.

The cast iron railings is one of the primary features of NOLA. Back in the early 1800s, iron work was very costly and used as a measure to how wealthy you were. The more iron you had on your house, the wealthier you were believed to be. By the mid 1800s cast iron work came onto the scene allowing for more intricate designs without the expensive price tag. With it being more affordable it became the standard for every home.

When the Spanish acquired the area from France, Spanish settlers build their houses with a private courtyard for the family to enjoy and entertain guests.

I was unable to back this up, but according to our tour guide, this hotel was once a Quadroon ballroom where young women of colour would be brought by their moms to attend lavish dances in the hope of forming a placage relationship with wealthy white men. We were given the impression that many of these men were looking for mistresses. If the male took interest in a young woman, the two would go over to the St Louis Cathedral courtyard just down the street, to have a contractual agreement drawn up. In these arrangements for monogamous or extramarital relationship, women were typically set up with a house and income, and any children were financially provided for by the father. Americans had outlawed marriages between races and made it very difficult for children of colour to inherit form their colonial fathers. Placage agreements were a logical alternative.

Henrietta DeLille, a child from a quadroon relationship, purchased the ballroom in 1836 and turned it into the Sisters of the Holy Family nunnery, with the goal to evangelize New Orleans enslaved and free persons of colour.

Subject of much legend and lore, the back courtyard of the St Louis Cathedral was a gathering place for pirates and scallywags. The church, for a modest fee, allowed these men to operate a market in the courtyard to sell their stolen goods. Locals purchased the merchandise through the fence of the courtyard, giving rise to the expression “fencing stolen goods”