REAL
NEW ORLEANS VOODOO ALTAR
THIS
BACKGROUND PAINTING
VOODOO WALLPAPER IS
TAKEN FROM A PHOTO OF
SALLIE ANN GLASSMANS'
ISLAND OF SALVATION
BOTANICA. NEW ORLEANS,
LOUISIANA.
THE
ORIGINAL ACTUAL PIECE
IS A HANPAINTED WATERCOLOR
BY NEW ORLEANS MARDI
GRAS FLOAT BUILDER AND
ARTIST RICARDO PUSTANIO©
2006.
ENTITLED
VOODOO WISHES, AND IS
CURRENTLY IN A PRIVATE
COLLECTION.
THE
PAINTING ENCOMPASES
THE FEELINGS AND MAGIC
THAT IS INDICITIVE TO
NEW ORLEANS OWN BRAND
OF VOODOO HOODOO, THE
PIECE HAS BEEN PHOTOSHOPED
HERE TO ADD CERTIAN
INTENSITIES AS A WALLPAPER,
THE ACTUAL PIECE MESURES
18 X 24 INCHES
"Participation
in voodoo hurricane
and other rituasl reaffirms
one's relationships
with ancestors, personal
history, community relationships—and
the cosmos. Voodoo is
a way of life in New
Orleans." Each
religion also focuses
its ceremonies around
a center point—an
altar in Catholicism,
a pole or tree in voodoo.
There is a diversity
of practice in Vodou
across the country of
Haiti and the Haitian
diaspora. For instance
in the north of Haiti
the sèvis tèt
("head washing")
or kanzwe may be the
only initiation, as
it is in the Dominican
Republic and Cuba, whereas
in Port-au-Prince and
the south they practice
the kanzo rites with
three grades of initiation
– kanzo senp,
si pwen, and asogwe
– and the latter
is the most familiar
mode of practice outside
of Haiti. Some lineages
combine both, as Manbo
Katherine Dunham reports
from her personal experience
in her book the Possessed
Island.
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