I bet one of the first things that come to mind when you think about New Orleans is Mardi Gras and binge drinking and (hopefully) Jazz music / music in general. Crawfish and Cajun food and oysters and ghosts and vampires might also come in a close second.
Then there is the Voodoo…a spiritual practice that has been part of the blood running through Nawlin’s viens for centuries…as well as a hybrid Native American and African culture- brought to life through the Cultural tradition of the Mardi Gras Indian.
My wife and I took some time yesterday to visit the tiny-but-hard-working Backstreet Cultural Museum as well as the New Orleans Voodoo History to learn a little bit about the rich cultural history of this lively ghost town (and make our offerings to the Gods) 🙂
Both spaces allowed pictures so I thought I would give you fine curious folks the chance to read up on some of those traditions yourself.
Lets start with some Voodoo / Hoodoo:
Now here is some info on Mardi Gras Indians and a couple costume snapshots (note: most of these hand beaded costumes take at least one year to make- and some up to five…Not a disposable, one time use cheap grillz type of costume ):
The Narcissistic (American) Anthropologist 
Great post. Ronald Lewis’ House of Dance and Feathers is also is based in African American Mardis Gras traditions:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/house-of-dance-and-feathers-new-orleans
There is a book by the same name that is quite informative and available at least at the local independent bookstores like Maple Street Books and Octavia Books and of course Amazon.com
And this Sunday is Super Sunday, not to be missed:
http://www.mardigrasneworleans.com/supersunday.html
Thank you for the suggestions! We are bummed I hadn’t even thought about Super Sunday and we might miss it due to our flight times. Might go catch the line/up before we head out.
Got a chance to check it out before the parade started and so glad we did. Check out my brandsherpa Instagram feed for photo documentation if the Super Sunday festival in Davis park
Reblogged this on Madame Belle and commented:
I found this to be quite fascinating although my understanding of what exactly “Hoodoo” is or rather what it has become is a bit different than what this article say’s it is here…..still a good read!
Thanks for the reblog. Would love to know how your definition of HooDoo differs from the information I was able to gather…