The Life and Legend of Marie Laveau
Much has been written about the legendary Marie Laveau but there has been grey area between her actual life and her reputation she had built for herself and the perception people had and continue to have about her.
Marie Laveau was born in 1801, the first in her family to be born free in the Antebellum South (Ward). Maries childhood has extremely limited information written on it, not much has been officially (and unofficially) documented about Marie’s childhood, unfortunately.
At the age of 17, Laveau got married to a free man of color named Jacques Paris. Laveau and Paris had two daughters together, named Marie Angèlie Paris and Felicité Paris (Denise). The records from the church about the daughters were lost and no one knows for sure what became of her daughters. In 1824, Marie’s husband disappeared (Dimuro). He was not found anywhere and was eventually presumed dead. Some sources say he signed a contract to become a merchant marine and fell overboard, while others say he fled New Orleans and left all together (Denise). There is not an official answer as to what happened to Jacques Paris. Laveau was designated in official documents as “La Veuve Paris” meaning “Widow Paris”. Almost a year after Laveau’s husband disappeared, she remarried a wealthy white man by the name of Jean Louis Christophe Duminy de Glapion (Ward). Together they had several children but due to the poor drainage and sewage system in New Orleans at the time, many died due to yellow fever.
So what shaped her as the notorious “Voodoo Queen”?
The stories about Laveau state that she had familial background in African traditions and spirituality. It wasn’t until the death of her mother that she became drawn to religion (Ward).
All of her life Laveau was a devout Catholic and never thought that her practice of voodoo interfered with her Catholic faith (Dimuro). She attended mass and her home was filled with photos of saints, candles, and prayers(Ghost City Tours). Marie was a religious woman with a passion for helping those in need. Her compassion and work in the Black community, helped to make Laveau the influential person who made her mark in New Orleans.
Laveau was known to have healing powers and could bring someone back from their death bed. Laveau would nurse yellow fever patients, post bail for black women, and would spend time and pray alongside condemned prisioners (Lewis).
Marie Laveau was actually said to have become a hair dresser to help contribute to some economic stability for herself and surviving children. Laveau saw many clients, both Black and White. Clients would come to her seeking advice and she would provide counsel when it was sought out after. According to some sources, eventually word about her counsel got around and people would pay strictly for her advice and protection of evil put out against them. She would offer clients with advice and even provide them with protection by giving them spiritual objects like candles and powder (Lewis).
She held rituals at a couple main sites including her home and Congo Square in the French Quarter. At these gatherings singing dancing, and spirit possession would take place (Lewis).
Although many people of all races attended her ceremonies and seeked out her advice and “magic”, the white community never accepted voodoo as a religions that was legitimate
Works Cited
Alvarado, Denise. “The Birth of a Queen,” 2019. https://www.marie-laveaux.com/birth-of-a-queen-1.html.
Dimuro, Gina. “The Real Story Of Marie Laveau, New Orleans’ Witchy Voodoo Queen”. 2018. All Things Interesting.https://allthatsinteresting.com/marie-laveau
Lewis, Shantrelle P.. “Marie Laveau”. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Marie-Laveau. Accessed 30 April 2021.
Ghost City Tours. “Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans”. Ghost City Tours New Orleans. https://ghostcitytours.com/new-orleans/marie-laveau/
Ward, Martha. Voodoo Queen : The Spirited Lives of Marie Laveau, University Press of Mississippi, 2004. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/umw/detail.action?docID=515665.
