Laveau, Marie (1801–1881)
Laveau, Marie (1801–1881)
American voodoo priestess. Name variations: Marie Laveau I; Marie Laveaux; Marie Lavieu; Widow Paris. Born a quadroon in 1801 in New Orleans, LA; died June 15, 1881 in New Orleans; illeg. dau. of Charles Laveau and Marguerite Darcantrel; m. Jacques Paris (freeman of color from Haiti), Aug 4, 1819 (died 1824); began living with a white man who she could not legally marry, Louis Christopher Duminy de Glapion, 1826 (died 1855); children: (with Paris) 1; (with Glapion) 5, including Madame Legendre and Marie Philomene Laveau Glapion (aka Marie Laveau, voodoo priestess).
One of the most powerful voodoo priestesses in world history, was a freewoman of African, American Indian and European blood; began career as a hairdresser than nurse; a devout Catholic, healer and spiritualist, was said to hold voodoo rituals behind St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter; became enormously influential and powerful, a power that came from her network of spies and informants among slaves and servants; helped the wounded during the Battle of New Orleans. Often featured in novels, folklore and songs, has reemerged at the center of a far-reaching religious movement and her tomb in St. Louis No. 1 Cemetery has become a place of pilgrimage.