Interest in Vodou Surges
As long as I am on the topic of Vodou/Voodoo/Voudoun, this New York Times story ties a “surging revival of interest” in the religion to 9/11, oddly enough. (Free registration required to read the article.) “The appeal of voodoo now cuts across racial and national lines. Some specialists say that in the United States, and particularly in New Orleans, many of those who now gravitate toward it are white.”
“Something very real is happening,” said Martha Ward, a professor of anthropology at the University of New Orleans who wrote one of the forthcoming books about [famed early 19th-century Voodoo priestess Marie] Laveau. “Americans today are hungry for spiritual fulfillment, and voodoo offers a direct experience with the sacred that appeals to more and more people.”