Years ago I
did a newspaper story on ghost, cemetery and voodoo tours in the French
Quarter. Over the years I had become the Halloween writer, so to speak,
collecting fun spooky stories for the publications I worked for, one reason why
I wrote “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” for The History Press.
Strangely
enough, I wasn’t impressed with the New Orleans ghost tour but the cemetery and
voodoo tour proved fascinating, continuing me on a journey with my interest in
mojo bags that resulted in another book of mine, “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets” with Jude Bradley.
None of my
books follow the voodoo traditions but I did learn that voodoo or vodou is a
bonafide religion and not the craziness one witnesses through Hollywood. What
originated in West Africa and Haiti may also differ in what one may find in New
Orleans.
“By no
means is it a faith dedicated to working evil,” writes Jeffrey E. Anderson,
editor of “The Voodoo Encyclopedia: Magic, Ritual, and Religion.”
Anderson,
the Dr. William R. Hammond professor of liberal arts at the University of
Louisiana at Monroe and author of “Conjure in African American Society,” offers
an invaluable dissection of the religion in this encyclopedia form, from altars
to yoruba. “The Voodoo Encyclopedia” is a compilation of numerous scholars on
the subject with detailed descriptions of primary documents, photos and a
lengthy bibliography.
“This is a valuable reference work
for public, high school, and college libraries and for special libraries
focusing on religion or folk arts,” wrote Booklist.
I couldn’t agree more.
Looking for additional books on the
subject? LSU assistant professor Kodi A. Roberts has just published “Voodoo and
Power: The Politics of Religion in New Orleans, 1881-1940” with LSU Press.
New releases
University
of Louisiana at Lafayette Press has released “Preventing Lethal Violence in NewOrleans” by Lydia Voigt, Dee Wood Harper and William E. Thornton Jr., a book
inspired by the conference of the same name held in October 2012 at Loyola
University of New Orleans. “Preventing Lethal Violence” offers a sample of the
presentations and roundtable discussions relating to the historical and
cultural uniqueness of New Orleans and its record of homicides over the years.
Special attention is given to research on the most promising programs that may
be applied to New Orleans addressing the problem of interpersonal lethal
violence. Contributors include Voigt, Harper,
Thornton, Jeffery Adler, Peter Iadicola, David Hemenway, Sean Goodison, Rae
Taylor, Jay Corzine, Lin Huff-Corzine, Aaron Poole, James McCutcheon, Sarah Ann
Sacra, Wendy Regoeczi, and Ronal Serpas.
The
Southern Review’s Winter 2016 issue is now available and features a mix of poetry,
fiction and essays, plus artwork by New Orleans-based Deedra Ludwig. Published
from the LSU campus, the literary review is available at bookstores and online
at thesouthernreview.org.
New York Times best-selling author
Greg Iles’ latest installment of his epic “Natchez Burning” trilogy, “The BoneTree,” comes out Tuesday in paperback. Stephen King called it “extraordinarily
entertaining and fiendishly suspenseful” and the Wall Street Journal called it
“A whopping tale.” Iles lives in Natchez, Miss.
Cheré Dastugue Coen is
the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic Guide to Acadiana” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris
Bags and Sachets.” She
also writes Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
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