by Ya Sezi Bo Oungan, edited by Katherine Bonnabel
During the period between the 17th and mid -19th centuries it has been said that in the Southern parts of America it was better to be Native American than African, better to be a noble savage, than a non-human.
On Mardi Gras in 1885, 50 to 60 Plains Indians marched in native dress on the streets of New Orleans. Later that year, it is believed the first Mardi Gras Indian gang was formed; the tribe was named “The Creole Wild West” and was most likely composed of members of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show.
The Mardi Gras Indian “tribes” are a cultural and social function. However, the Plains Native American attire and art style that decorates their elaborate costumes was more of a mask, a representation of deeper African roots beneath.
The famous and well-known Mardi Gras song “Iko Iko” depicts a scene between two bands of Mardi Gras Indians. Iko Iko was an Amerindian war call that was said like “Iko IKO!” and meant something like “Pay Attention”
The original title of the song “Iko Iko’ was “Jock-a-mo”. Chakamo was a greeting used in confrontation during battle meaning something like “It is good”, though also often cited as meaning Brother John or jester.
Mardi Gras Indians have several different positions within the tribe that play various traditional roles. Many blocks ahead of the Indians are plain clothed informants keeping an eye out for any danger. The procession begins with “spyboys,” dressed in light “running suits” that allow them the freedom to move quickly in case of emergency.
Next comes the “first flag,” an ornately dressed Indian carrying a token tribe flag. Closest to the “Big Chief” is the “Wildman” who usually carries a symbolic weapon. The Forward people like the Guidon or flag bearer, and the Back people like the Chief and the Wildman follow a very well-known Congolese style of the Mavile and Mavumbo, the warriors and scouts upfront and the chief and supporting priests and medicine people behind.
Mardi Gras Indians sing in call and response style songs. Mardi Gras Indian chants are believed to be influenced by various languages spoken in Louisiana through its history. Many of these words have no official spellings and are offshoots of multiple different languages, given the city’s long history as a port city. It is estimated that up to 50 African languages, German, English, English-based Creole and a French-based Creole all influenced the of language in New Orleans.
In many ways the Mardi Gras Indians are one of the only surviving examples of the “masquerade” style dances having social and community justice implications, like Abakua, a kind of costumed dance surviving in Cuba. (Also sometimes known as Ñañiguismo, it is an Afro-Cuban men’s initiatory fraternity or secret society, which originated from fraternal associations in the Cross River region of southeastern Nigeria and southwestern Cameroon)
Abakuá’s roots are found in the Ekpe Society, or Leopard society of Nigeria and Cameroon which confers high social status and political authority; these men participate in ceremonies concerned with ancestral spirits and are believed to protect the community through magic and religious ritual.
Around 1970-80 two stores would open up established by the same company, House of Marie Laveau and Rev. Zombie’s. These two stores would open, bringing Brazilian Candomble and Kimbanda statues to the tourist market, followed by the opening of F&F Botanica in ‘83. These stores would bring the Orisha to the people and thus how the Yoruba deities became a focal point in an otherwise Congolese influenced city.
Modern New Orleans Voodoo was also heavily influenced by the various Spiritualist churches including the Spiritual Baptists, that laid a foundation that modern and popular culture built upon.
Voodoo stands as one of the world’s most maligned and misunderstood religions. This is because of how voodoo is presented in media and pop culture. More accurate representations of Voodoo occur in connection with the popular culture of regions where Voodoo is actually practiced. Humanity’s relationship with spirits is the primary focus, and the care and healing of its community.
New Orleans Voodoo, was a public ecstatic style of worship and veneration of a collection of Deities, folk saints, local heroes and legends, figures like Le Grand Zombi, Papa Lebas, Dani Blanc, St. Anthony, St. Rita, Sante Agassou, Pirate Rouge, Anne Christmas, and many others.
Surrounding the external public practice was a system of initiation and supporting magic, like we find in many African Diaspora Traditions. Borrowing largely from the Congolese and the Fon people from Dahomey, a first group of enslaved people brought to the colony. This tradition had a strong 200-250 years of public mixed class and race interaction. The Native people and the free Africans that lived and worked in the city lived on what is now named Bayou Road. It would be remiss to mention this spot in this history as the people and descendants hold a part of the story.
Edward Kemble’s illustration “The Bamboula” is a rare visual depiction of the activities in Congo Square, though Kemble never visited New Orleans and made the drawing in the late 19th century. (THNOC, 1974.25.23.54)
Public Voodoo services would be held at Congo Square, which at one point was on the very edge of the city of New Orleans. The service would be led by a Voodoo Queen, and a Voodoo King. We can tell by the use of these titles that this was probably a Congolese insertion, as the Congolese brought this power structure, levels of interaction and importance with them to the New World.
The most famous of the Voodoo Queens was Marie Laveau I, who lived a long and storied life. But by the time Marie II took over, the Americans had purchased Louisiana from Napoleon, installed a Protestant governor from Pennsylvania in the city, and had begun cracking down on the Catholic and Bohemian levels of intermingling that the city had always know.
St. John’s Day Ceremony with Sallie Glassman, on the Bayou St. John bridge
One of the things greatly changed was the level of interaction that black enslaved people could have with free people of color, and their intermingling with white people of the city. Only a few years before, a railway had been built to accommodate the many who desired to participate the annual head washing ceremony on Saint John’s Eve. Now they found themselves the objects of spectacle and ridicule, as the shifting in sensibilities had been introduced. It would not be long before the Americanization act, which made the public practice of Voodoo illegal with capital punishment. This became the choice way to deal with this undesired holding on to black African power, identity and self-expression. This was in keeping with the legislation that was introduced in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion outside of Charleston, South Carolina in 1739. The Stono Rebellion saw the end of the use of the drum by Africans.
It stands to mention that one of the few surviving drum rhythms from the past that is still played to this day is the baseline of New Orleans Bounce rhythm. It is accompanied by twerking, a dance that displays the hips, in the past and as it is now. As the public practice went underground, so did the knowledge of the practice. This was once a part of the supporting spiritual practice, like gris gris and other charms. Some of this is still found in the other surviving tradition of folk healing and magic preserved by traiteurs (or treaters), who combined Catholic prayer and folk remedies to cure everything from colic to cancer.
If one were to go to New Orleans back in the day, where would you find this Voodoo? Not in the French Quarter, not in the Garden District, but for sure in the housing projects where most of it lived up until the displacement of Hurricane Katrina.
The other part of the legacy of New Orleans Voodoo lives with the Black and Creole burial customs, and the other part with the Mardi Gras Indians. Everyone knows about the second line, but nobody talks about the first line and the rending of the veil. First line is the walking from the funeral service to the cemetery that culminates into the rending of the veil at the crypt side, where the entrance to the charnel house is open. This is a moment of incorporation by the deceased, or by the ancestors, or other forces experienced by the person who is opening the tomb.
Another funeral custom is the intentional leaving of shells on the grave. This is a direct relation and retention to the idea of the Calunga – the sea of souls.
(Calunga is a Congolese spirit of death and the sea. The word Calunga literally means “sea” but has implications in Congolese cosmology beyond salty watery depths. Calunga also refers to the realm of the ancestors. The realm of death in many African traditions is located beneath the sea. The ocean is associated with fertility, abundance, and death.)
For the most part, Mardi Gras Indians were and are still Native American masking African practices. To be Native American or black was enough of a disadvantage, but it was somewhat better to be Native American.
We are the Priests of our ancestors, and how to begin being the Priests of our ancestors.
When each one of us was born, we were initiated into the cult of our ancestors, the initiation weather planned or surprise, is officiated by the priestess of your ancestors, our mothers, and that through the rites of water and blood are we baptized and enter into our life, aware that we are alive, unaware that we are to be the next priest of our ancestors.
To be a priest is a lot of things. It is knowing the rites and ceremonies, it is knowing or understanding the nature of the world, the people, and the unseen world, it is knowing that while maintaining the knowledge of what has been done before, it is also having the wisdom, to stop the practices of some ceremonies, rites or practices, and to start new rites, ceremonies and practices for the times you live in.
There are lots of rituals we all do without considering them rituals especially here in the protestant west where ritual is something Catholics do, something that has become so uninterested with that it has been reinvented in other ways. Cooking meals, or treats during the holidays, birthday traditions, celebrations, and the things we do when mourning the passing of someone or welcoming a new life. While these may seem, mundane there is at the root a powerful spiritual symbolism. The things we take for granted today, tomorrow we will cherish the memory of. Some of us whose families are problematic, it may be the things our friends’ families may have done that we were included in, or the things we did on our own, nevertheless these ceremonies are important and should be respected as such.
As the priest of our ancestors we have the responsibility to learn the stories and the lessons therein of the people who we were born to, or raised by, even if the stories we lived through or learned are salty, and tearful or sweet and sumptuous. It is important to know where you are, where you were, and where you could go, it is important for you to know, so you yourself can avoid what needs to be avoided, and develop what needs to be developed.
You are the priest of your ancestors by virtue that you are the product of your ancestors, if we were to look before us and saw a line of all the people responsible while knowing, or not knowing that we would be here today, the line of people would meander far off in the distance beyond sight. Don’t hyperfixate on the problematic ancestors, or the traumatic ancestors, they are but a few among the many who support you. Build relationships with the ancestors of your trade, your spirituality, and other areas of your life, to build a foundation you need, where one may not be present.
We who are alive and draw breath are in the driver’s seat of our ancestral vehicle, we do not have to pay attention to the backseat drivers that are the problematic, or the longings or wishes others had for us that at no point in our lives did we ourselves want for us. Some of our ancestors made regrettable choices, or have interacted with unwholesome or unhelpful things. Correct these things, amend what you can, be better than them as a choice to be an example of what can be instead of what was.
You be the priest, and change the cult of your ancestors, build a better future for the new ones, build a brighter hope for the old ones. For the ones who need some help with this i offer you….
The following is an article i published with the Irish pagan school:
“One of the most challenging things to confront in the personal practice of ancestor veneration is dealing with the toxic, and challenging recently deceased. It’s all quite fine to romanticize about the long lost dead. But what about the troubling ones, the disappointing ones, the toxic or abusive ones? It’s not our job to “fix” abusers, but it is also not our job to take on the emotional labour of reconciling these relationships while trying to interact peaceably with your spirituality.
For many, family isn’t a positive experience and is not a helpful place to start. I would like to offer these suggestions of ways of interacting with the dead, and ancestors that have been helpful for both my self and clients in the past. These are not set in stone and so you should feel free to customize as you see fit. Ancestor veneration is also not set in stone, there is indeed no one way that is correct. There are perhaps some ways that are better than others. Personally I know a lot about my Ancestors, on both sides of my family. In my spiritual journey, my ancestors presented a lot of challenges, however the cure to this was not ignoring them and pretending like the problem in the relationship did not exist. The solution began when I took up the matter within my personal power to form and shape relationships just as I would with living breathing people, or the Spirits, Gods, and Guides within my own practices, and tradition.
Ancestors as a monolith, ancestors as the rock of ages:
This is advice I recommend to people who have been orphaned early or late in life. To have knowledge of your ancestors is helpful, but not exactly necessary. We all know what humans needed to live, anywhere where humans are to be found. Namely water and light, an occasional meal and shelter. It’s ok to not know where you are from, just as it’s ok to not have a connection to the most recent dead. Each human being walking the earth now, drawing breath and reading this article has ancestors spiraling back into time immemorial.
Amongst all these souls, dreams, and individuals there has to be at least *one* (more than likely more than one) that wants to see your journey successful and fruitful. Have you ever considered, why you a modern Pagan is paying so much lip service to Christian ancestors who do not expect, anticipate or even want the kind of devotion you are prepared to give? Why torture your self over how to deal with an abusive, destructive or unhelpful individual? Perhaps focus on the concept of your ancient ancestors, or your ancestors by virtue of your trade or occupation, or simply by the virtue of you being alive today. This can be accomplished in the way of the veneration of a single stone. Find yourself a stone, any stone will do, (don’t take them from sacred sites, nor do I recommend any from a federal/national/provincial/national trust sites either) – my first stone came from one of the many defunct railroad tracks that criss-cross the United States, and many people who have followed these instructions have gotten their stone from landscapers heaps. You have a lot of options, I recommend not spending too much time picking the stone, there is something to the random selection of this stone, much like the random selection that happened to each of us to our present circumstances.
Take your stone home, gather the following:
Water (tap is fine)
Candle, or other safe holders of Fire
A small clay plant tray, a saucer
Sit in your most comfortable spot, and hold the stone, feel it’s rough spots, smooth spots, all the spots, sides corners and edges. Hold the stone till you can feel the warmth of your body, or heartbeat however so slight. Breathe deeply, focus on your breathing, and heartbeat. Tapping gently on the stone, begin to call back, to your earliest ancestor, the primal grandmother, and grandfather, the ancient mother and father, who your life would have been a wild dream too. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, call the names of your chosen deities, guides, and other spirit helpers or trusted folk who have passed on who you know would have your back. Call on the forces you trust to make this possible, ask them to help you reconnect with the ancient source of you.
Sit with this energy a while, do this several times over with the same stone. Find a place of honour & respect in your home: for me and others I know who keep full on ancestor shrines, the kitchen or living room is acceptable. If you have a challenging relationship with your ancestors, consider leaving the stone with a trusted divinity, spirit guide, spirit helper or other predetermined sacred space for some trusted entity who can act as a mediator or caretaker of this new bond between you and them. You can even go so far as to leave them at the entrance to your front door.
Ancestors are in your blood, and bones; they go with you. Wherever this place is, consider doing the following. With the stone on your plate, dish or other receptacle, pour a little water on the stone, and set the water vessel near the stone – I aim to refresh this water once a week or when it starts getting murky. Start with water, its cooling, basic, and neutral. If anything, it may make your interactions with the ancestors more chill. If you can, light a candle (it does not need to stay lit, it just has to be on long enough to acknowledge them). If you cannot have a candle lit in your living space, you have the glorious power of the living and vivid sun!
While the ancestors I’m sure can discern what you are doing without words, I encourage you to speak out loud to them, tell them what is happening, and why, tell them what you need. Make them do some work, to meet your work halfway. It’s never wrong to ask them for what you need. Start with the basics, “food, water, electricity, rent for shelter”, tell them about the troubles you may be having at work, or school, or in your social or romantic life. Don’t worry if you think they agree with you or not, honestly, who cares? You are the one who’s alive and in the driver’s seat, they may have power, but that power is also from you. If you can’t think of anything to say or are uncomfortable with asking, sing a song, say a prayer, just say something. A few words, water and light may seem little to us, but it’s everything to the deceased.
Elevation of the dead is a special side effect of a weekly observance of water, light, and meaningful words that connect you to them. Ancestors don’t have to be a daily practice; they can be if they prove themselves worthy of that attention, but weekly is also very fine, and acceptable.
Ancestor veneration doesn’t have to be hugely complicated or a headache. It’s simply acknowledging your relationship with yourself, and the ones who came before you. Before you doesn’t have to mean logically, it just means prior to you. The venue of the ancestors is in you. The actions of a few don’t spoil the wholeness of where you are from, just like not having knowledge of your origins doesn’t change the intrinsic value of you being here and present today.
July 22nd is the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, who is the saint mask for Maman Brijite, and Metress Dayila found in the Rada, not the one of the same name found in Petwo. We can tell she is a saint mask for a Guede because of the skull in the image, and we can tell she is Rada, for the sake of her fair complexion. The masks for the Lwa are complex puzzles and involve looking at the image not for the who is in it, but for the what it is comprised of , not looking at the individual depicted as the way the Lwa appears, but as a code that if you can imagine living in a time when there are no televisions, no internet, that you could look upon some art work and see the depth of what is there, even if you don’t understand what your looking at or why its even there. I’m sure this was the case with many saint images used to disguise the Lwa. decoding this image further for you all is as follows: the book indicates that they know magic, and secret information, the cross -though that may be common in many saint images, here it is standing alone and not connected to the saint by touch so we can tell that they are not subject to the rules of mortality, or morality. because her hair is loose, we know she is a witch or possesses her own power in the world.
Sacred Well Ministries 