This is a series of articles about my spiritual experiences in New Orleans in April 2011, when I traveled to make a pilgrimage to the statue of St. Expedite, who resides in the Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church on Rampart Street.
The day began very humid and was rapidly becoming warm. My first stop was the Chapel to place my clients’ petitions at the base of St. Expedite, however, the church shop where I was to purchase the candle was not open. I decided to return later in the morning and made my way to the St. Louis Cemetery #1, just a few short blocks away. I was ‘glistening’ with the effects of the humidity, reported to be at 88% on the morning news, and my hair bacame a puff ball as a result of it. I decided the best way to control it was to keep it clipped in a bun.
It was a short but warm stroll from the Church to the Cemetery. The cemetery gates were locked as I arrived just a few minutes before 9 am but within a couple of minutes, a gentleman came up to us (I was with my husband) and began to exchange pleasantries with us. The gates were opened by the NOLA city staff as the gentleman introduces himself as Walter Ross, cemetery historian and guide. He then proceeds to take us on a tour of the cemetery, along with two more couples who joined us at the gate.
Walter, articulate and very knowledgeable, tells us of the origins of the cemetery, whose dirt base was from dredging Lake Pontchartrain, bringing the dirt from there and containing many tiny seashells. He explained the reason those who are buried here are in vaults above the ground, as the water table for New Orleans is within 2 feet of the ground we were standing on and that in times of flooding, if the coffins were not encased in concrete, they would shift in the soft earth and relocate themselves elsewhere – including outside of the cemetery walls! He also explained the original wall, which resembles a row of brick pizza ovens, are used sometimes as temporary ‘housing’ for the recently passed, until they are able to open the family plot and inter them there. In the St. Louis Cemetery #1, the plot of land, with it’s upright tomb, is considered family-owned, and that more than one family member can be buried there. Walter explained that some of the tombs can hold up to 75 family members, sans coffins, in one place. There are many beautiful monuments, and there are still spaces this very day for families who want to be buried there.
There were many interesting tombs to see. Walter explained the origins of the tips of the iron gates that encase some of the burial plots. traditions holds that if the iron pillars were tipped with a spike, then the family was Spanish, as the belief was that the points would keeps away bad spirits. The French families were more hospitable, using pineapples, a popular symbol of hospitality and welcome, on the top of their iron fences. There were beautiful pauper’s grave sites from the societies of the French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese families in New Orleans, who care for those countrymen who cannot afford a funeral. There were some new additions to the cemetery like the one that Nicholas Cage had built for his upcoming third installment of “National Treasure” by Disney Studios.
Walter at the Nick Cage “National Treasure 3” pyramid
Walter took us by the original Marie LaVeau grave, the ‘other’ Marie Laveau (her granddaughter) grave and the famous Doctor John DuPre, who taught the original Marie LaVeau herbal knowledge and healing wisdom. Legend has it that Marie, a hairdresser by trade, began to pray and light candles for them when hearing of the troubles her ladies were having in their lives. Marie’s success in prayer and candle work spread, so much so that she began to see the gentlemen of some of the same ladies that were asking her for spiritual help with! Marie, along with a good friend named Ann, became spiritual workers in their own right, but both owe their botanical education to Dr. John, a Haitian voodoo priest.
Now, for most who visit the cemetery, right beyond the gates, one sees a tomb for the Laveau and Paris families. This is the site of the second Marie Laveau, who is the granddaughter of the original Marie. Marie had many daughters, each named Marie, but to distinguish one from another, each had a different middle name, so one might have been named Marie Suzanne and another Marie Blanche, for example. When visitors who tour the grounds without the aid of a historian like Walter Ross, one would assume that this is the grave site of the original Marie Laveau, the one who started it all.
Not so, as this is the second Marie’s grave:
Marie LaVeau the second tomb
This is the tomb of famous Voudoun priest, “Dr. John” DuPre:
Tomb of Dr. John DuPre
Marie LaVeau the first tomb
Above, pictured is the tomb of Marie LaVeau the first
It is said that is you wish the spirit of these famous spiritual workers to assist in a problem you need work on, you are to mark three X’s like this X X X on the tomb when making an offering of your choice, whether it be flowers, tobacco, liquor or some of the other smaller items such as a coin, seashell or rock. It is said that if the spirit assist you and the situation is a success, that you must make a trip back to the cemetery to make a circle around your X X X marking to shoe that it was complete. There are signs around the area that state violations regarding tomb desecration, and Walter and I chuckled about the difference about religious belief and governmental law and how it can misconstrued, depending on your purpose. Walter told us that the Catholic Church in New Orleans turns the other way in regards to Voodoo, as it is a belief system that has been in place with certain societies for too long to attempt to suppress it.
Walter took us around and showed us a few areas where parts of the movie,“Easy Rider” were filmed, including the infamous Peter Fonda/Karen Black lovemaking scene. He has quite an interesting story about the reaction of the Catholic Church with that scene and how many Italians were so upset about another scene that the sent ‘dignitaries’ out to California to visit the filmmaker to ‘encourage’ them to cut the scene.
If you get to visit the cemetery, look for Walter Ross, a wiry older African-American man who rides up on a bicycle at 9 am at the gates of St. Louis Cemetery #1 and has a lanyard full of badges. Make sure you tuck a few dollars into his hand a the end of the tour and maybe he will take you back to a special place where you can see inside an unknown tomb, one whose faceplate blew off during Hurricane Katrina and is currently being researched for restoration.
UPDATE: I have been told that Walter Ross was recently arrested for vandalism regarding the tombs in St. Louis Cemetery No.1.
Tarot by Jacqueline nor Rev. Sister Jacqueline Mathers condones any desecration of any final resting place of any soul and I am saddened to see that this has occurred.
On the day mentioned in the article, Mr. Ross did not defile any graves during our tour, was most pleasant and informative, and a true gentleman during his time with us. – Jacqueline
