Rooted African Spiritualism
February- 2004 Article 2-1
February is also Black History Month…. In 1976, as part of the nation's Bicentennial, Black History “Week” (February 12, 1926) was expanded and became established as Black History Month, and is now celebrated all over North America.. There have been many leaders to pave the way for many African Americans today. But one underlying trait is the rooted culture of African culture and spiritualism.
It has been said that the only things which Africans brought with them when forcibly removed to the New World were their bodies. The simplicity of this statement should not overlook the fact that the minds within those bodies held fast to African beliefs and traditions through the ravages of slavery. These retentions dramatically emerge in the works of 21st-century African-American artists who keep an ancient past alive.
Like black music, the works are generated by divine inspiration and display an incomparable spiritual energy. Mystical and cosmic in their content, these works share with the viewer some of the artists’ interpretations of the mysterious forces of the universe. Like African priests and mystics, these artists share a heightened sensitivity to materials of nature, to music and the spoken word, and to the movements of life around them. Just as the griot is an exalted presence within an African community, African-American artists often serve as vehicles, making signs and symbols which have come to them in dreams, meditation, mythology, folk tales and moments of déja vu accessible to the viewer.
The communal and spiritual forces fundamental to artistic expression in the African-American community appear frequently in art produced in the United States and the Caribbean. Strong religious beliefs were transposed from West Africa to numerous parts of the New World. Vodun is still practiced in Haiti, while in Jamaica, the Rastafarian movement, the Revivalists and the Orthodox Ethiopian church all have strong followings as well.
Marie Laveau
There aren't that many publicly known African American Mystics…but one that comes to mind is one woman of colour “Marie Laveau”, a legendary priestess in her own time and for many times over unseen, perhaps because almost nothing written or recorded about Marie Laveau can be cited as fact. Everything that is known about her comes from local legend, hearsay and oral tradition.
It is accepted that she was born in 1794 in Vieux Carre. Her father, Charles Laveau, is said to have been a wealthy white planter and her mother, Darcantel Marguerite, a mulatto. She married Jacques Paris, a free man of color, on August 4, 1819. Because the ceremony was performed in St. Louis Cathedral, her contract of marriage can still be found in the files there. At the time of her marriage, there is no evidence that either she or Jacques were practicing Voodoo. Marie and Jacques had both been raised Roman Catholic and she still practiced it devoutly, attending a daily worship at St. Louis Cathedral. Only a short while after the wedding, Jacques disappeared and Marie began calling herself the Widow Paris. A record of his death did not appear until several years after he had been gone.
It was after the strange death of Jacques that Marie became a professional hairdresser and began visiting the homes of wealthy white women. This is probably how Marie got her start in practicing Voodoo. Women historically have confided things to their hairdressers that they normally would not tell a soul.
Marie became the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans sometime during the 1830's. The behavior and style by which she ruled is largely debated. What is known about her at this time is mostly passed down orally. She had fifteen children by her second husband, one of which (Marie Philomene Laveau Glapion) walked in her footsteps and became almost as powerful as her mother.
In the later years of her life, Marie Laveau gradually moved away from pure Voodooism. Some of her critics claimed she was in league with the Devil (or "Papa La Bas" as the Devil was also known in New Orleans Voodoo, from the French word meaning "down" or "low," an obvious allusion to hell). Yet she had once been a devout Catholic, and over time she began to incorporate Roman Catholic elements into her Voodooism. Statues of the Saints, the belief in the Virgin Mary, and Holy Water were now mixed in with the snake, the Zombies, and the gris-gris. It’s told that eventually, Marie Laveau would give up on Voodoo altogether and return completely to the Roman Catholic religion.
In 1869, past the age of 70, Marie Laveau was replaced as Voodoo Queen by a woman named Malvina Latour. Supposedly, Marie was voted out by the Voodoo worshipers at a meeting near Maison Blanche on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain. Sadly, her followers had determined Marie had grown too old to be in charge. Marie spent the rest of her life as a devout Roman Catholic and dedicated much time and effort visiting the prisoners in the local jail as an act of charity; she even helped build prayer altars for them in their jail cells, it was said.
Malvina Latour could not, however, maintain cohesion within the Voodoo belief, and soon she was challenged by rival queens and Voodoo doctors who acquired their own followers. The most notable of the successor Voodoo doctors was James Alexander, who operated from Orleans Street at the back of the French Quarter. None of the subsequent queens and doctors who followed Marie Laveau could inspire or manipulate Voodoo worshipers to the degree of unifying the faith. As a result, Voodoo in New Orleans began its irretrievable decline. In 1881 Marie Leveau died, and she was buried in St. Louis Cemetery Number 1 down on Basin Street.
Today when one speaks of the Voodoo Queen in New Orleans, typically only one name comes to mind -- Marie Laveau.
The Voodoo Queen stills lives on today in New Orleans, if only in legend. Her grave is visited by the faithful and the curious year-round. Many come to her tomb and place small offerings there, like beans, food or various Voodoo items. Many make chalk marks on the face of her stone tomb, in the sign of an X or a cross.
Helpful Links:
African Hebrew Israelites in Jerusalem, http://www.kingdomofyah.com/
African Methodist Episcopal Church, http://www.ame-today.com/
The Black Catholic Information Mall, http://www.nbccongress.org or http://www.bcimall.org/
Black Jews, Hebrews, Israelites. http://members.aol.com/Blackjews/
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (formerly Colored ME Church) http://www.c-m-e.org/
Church of God and Saints of Christ, http://www.churchofgod1896.org/
Church of God in Christ, http://www.cogic.org/
Church of the Living God, the Pillar and Ground of Truth, http://clgpgt1915.freeyellow.com/index.html
Haitian Vodoun Culture, http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/5319/
Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge, http://www.blackwebportal.com/yellow/dt.cfm?ID=4446
The Nation of Islam Online, http://www.noi.org/
The Nation of Gods and Earths (5% Nation), http://www.allahsnation.net
Progressive National Baptist Convention, http://www.pnbc.org/
Rainbow Dharma (Buddhist People of Color) http://www.rainbowdharma.com/
Santeria, http://www.religioustolerance.org/santeri.htm
The Universe of Yahweh, http://www.yahwehbenyahweh.com/
Vodun, http://www.religioustoleance.org/voodoo.htm
Gospel Train. http://www.gospeltrain.com/
The North Star: A Journal of African-American Religious History. http://northstar.vassar.edu/
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