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| The Originals Promo Poster |
Before Julie Plec announced the idea for a The Vampire Diaries spin-off that centered on The Original Family, I bet there were all sorts of ideas swimming around in her head on where to place the setting. Mystic Falls is a small town in Virginia that is devoid of culture, small-minded, and seems to live in a bubble. Caroline (the lovely Candice Accola) once said to Klaus (the handsome and sexy Brit) in Dangerous Liaisons, Season 3, "I've never been anywhere." Klaus told Caroline, "A small town boy and a small town life; it won't be enough for you." Of course not! There are many better choices for a 1,000 year old vampire to settle down in: New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, hell! even Los Angeles! All have rich history and culture that would provide so much material for any show. However, there was perhaps one city that outshone them all: New Orleans.
Although New Olreans was named after the French Dukedom of Orleans, the whole Louisiana territory was divided between the French and the Spanish. The Spanish for a time, ruled New Orleans. The buildings of the city in old parts are Spanish, but the over-all culture is predominately French. The Fleur-di-Lys, a symbol for French Royalty, is New Orleans' city symbol. If you ever go to New Orleans, you may notice that there are NO streets named after Abraham Lincoln. You'd think that a city populated by mostly African Americans that they would have street named after the Great Emancipator. Well it's still the South and as we all learned in grade school, the South did not appreciate Lincoln. Also you'll find that a street named for Martin Luther King Jr., doesn't really say Martin Luther King Jr. Instead it's a combination of King's name and the name of a muse, the Muse of Memory. It's not that the citizens don't like Martin Luther King, it's just that they didn't want to screw up the symmetry of the 8 other streets that are named for the 9 Muses. As a home to artists, the art of symmetry is very important. Even more so than honoring martyrs for civil rights!
Funeral Traditions
The typical New Orleans is interesting. As seen in newly released scenes (that were leaked on youtube by the producers) Marcel and Klaus are marching down Bourbon Street to an up-beat jazz tune. This was a funeral procession. When someone in New Orleans dies the procession to the cemetery is solemn and melancholy. Yet on the way back, the music changes into an upbeat celebration.
Congo Square
Few of the things that make New Orleans famous is its parties, music, and any kind of celebration. Back in the early days of New Orleans' development, there were Spanish and French Plantations in the surrounding area. The owners were so afraid of their slaves starting a rebellion that they limited them to little to no social interaction with other slaves or free people of color. The slaves would work from early to dusk. A visitor described the scene of the beaten, cowled slaves as a pitiful sight to behold as the over-seers kept sharp vigilance as they herded the slaves like cattle to their quarters.
Yet the mayor and governor decided that this strict conduct would deeply ferment rebellion and so decided to give the slaves and free mullattos and quadroons a time to socialize together. They chose a clearing, which would be known forever as Congo Square, which the slaves gathered (supervised mind you by the police) with food and play drums with tribal rhythms that entranced anyone watching. Later the gathering would be limited to only Sundays because the neighbors complained of the noise. The slaves were only allowed to attend if they had permission from their masters and they had to be back by curfew. Some slaves blew curfew. One visitor to New Orleans looked down on this weekly celebration; seeing it as disruptive and would lead to chaos, but the locals didn't really mind and the party goers didn't really cause chaos. The police were there to control any situation. There were never any problems. This whole arrangement stopped during the Civil War with the Confederate Occupation of New Orleans.
Now Congo Square is where you'll find many musicians and street performers.
Voodoo
New Orleans just wouldn't be New Orleans without Voodoo. In 1782, the fear of Voodoo was so hot that Governor Bernardo de Gálvez stopped the trading of slaves from the coast of Guinea, Santo Domingo, Martinique, and Guadeloupe because these were hot spots for Voodoo worshippers. This ban lifted after a few years by the Baron de Carondelet (governor 1792-97) and Voodoo flourished around 1806 and 1810.
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| Modern Day Voodoo Ritual |
Superstitious white housewives and even a few middle class gentlemen were gullible and bought into the pageantry of Voodoo hook, line and sinker. Voodoo hierarchy consisted of Voodoo Queens and Voodoo Doctors. These two were very different in their practice of the art. Yet the Voodoo Queen was seen as the head. She resided over the rituals and celebrations and had final say as to where these would take place and even changing the practices (as Marie Laveau did during her reign). The Voodoo priests took a more unconventional approach, by that I mean they practiced orgies. On one occasion, police raided a Doctor Don Pedro's residence in the middle of one of these orgiastic displays. They found 9 white women in chairs as 9 black men were at their feet and all of them were physically amusing themselves. Doctor Don Pedro protested that they were doing a ritual for a woman's daughter who suffered from some ailment. They were all promptly arrested. The husband of one of the white women committed suicide the next day.
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| Voodoo Priest |
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| Jane Anne Devereux casts a spell on "The Originals" |
Voodoo queens were thought to have a vast knowledge of strange and subtle poisons (that these queens also could dispense with great abandon). These poisons defied detection and could cause the victim to waste away and die of exhaustion. The famous "gris-gris", not only the most feared but also the most expensive charm of voodoo, was used as a hex. When someone found it on their door step, they promptly went to a voodoo queen or priest to help counteract it. Surprisingly a voodoo priest or queen an over power another. "Gris-gris" was nothing more than a cotton or leather pouch filled with powdered brick, yellow ochre, and cayenne pepper, with the occasional addition of nail clippings, hair, and bits of reptile skin.
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| Voodoo Queen |
If you've seen movies or read any fiction books, you'll discover that the voodoo ritual incorporates the snake, a symbol of the Mother Goddess; that much is true from eye-witness accounts. A recorded account by a plantation owner details the typical voodoo ritual. His maid took him to one when he was a boy in 1825. He described the event in great detail but I'll give you the spark notes. He describes the ritual taking place in an old abandoned slave cabin. There were half a dozen white men and just 2 white women among the many slaves. Each man and woman had tied a white band around their heads. There was an altar with stuffed cats. There was a black doll in the center of the room surrounded by Cabalistic signs and emblems and a necklace of snake vertebrae around her neck, which depended an alligator's fang encased in silver. The women danced seductively like snakes writhing in dirt to a tantric sound of drums and the chorus of voices. The Voodoo Queen sat between a few other black women in watch of the whole ritual. The boy was so frightened and hot from the ritual that he ran out of the shed.
Later on, these secret Voodoo rituals became a public spectacle for the citizens as well as for the tourists. They became more "friendly" and less outrageous.
Famous Figures & Living Ghost Stories
New Orleans is home to some pretty colorful characters. Some of these characters have been deified by participants of Voodoo. One Voodoo queen, Marie Laveau, still struck terror into children's hearts even after her death (and she lived to a well ripe age of 80).
A.) Annie Christmas: A famous Madame who owned a floating brothel. She was 250 lbs, 6'8", walked in bare feet, and was known as the strongest woman on the River to Dixie; she could carry a barrel of flour under each arm and a third balanced on her head. Annie once sported a mustache and dressed in men's clothes and worked as a super-stevedore; pulling sweeps or hauling heavy nets. Annie eventually abandoned her breeches and put on a skirt to run a brothel. The stories about Annie and her scarlet women of the river are unprintable, but one fact is known that Annie had a contest with a keg of whiskey as an award for the woman who can satisfy the most men in a given time; of course the winner was always Annie. Annie had a violent history of killing many men. Legend has it that she collected their ears as trophies and wore them as a necklace (said to be a mile long!) that she wore at her death. After Annie's death, she made her way into the Negro folklore of Voodoo, but instead of being white, she was coal-black with 12 coal-black sons, all 6 feet tall and born in one birth. Instead of being killed in a saloon while gambling (which is the most likely), Voodoo folklore has it that Annie died for love and that her 12 sons (all dressed in black) carried her to a long black boat that disappeared down the river.
B.) Bras Coupe´: a.k.a. Squier and the Brigand of the Swamp. He was a gigantic slave owned by General William de Buys. The General was known as a kind and indulgent master who doted on Bras Coupe and spoiled him. The General taught Bras Coupe how to shoot and let him carry a gun (it's because of the gun, Bras Coupe had his arm blown off). Whenever he ran away (which was often), Bras Coupe would be captured and returned to the General who would only give him light punishments. After his arm was amputated, Bras Coupe escaped into the swamp. For three years, Bras Coupe was the most feared outlaw of New Orleans, leading a band of thieves and murderers, both black and white, on raids. Nurses and mothers would frighten their children with stories about the dreaded Bras Coupe who was thought to possess supernatural abilities because he seemed invulnerable to bullets and could heal quickly. Bras Coupe was murdered by his friend (what a friend!), a Spaniard named Francisco Garcia in the Bayou St. John. Garcia took the body to the mayor's office and asked for the reward. In Voodoo folklore, Bras Coupe is counted as Annie Christmas's superior.
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| Art rendition of Marie Laveau |
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| Marie Laveau's Tomb |
C.) Marie Laveau: was one of the most powerful and influential Voodoo Queens of her time. She was a hairdresser and sometimes acted as a procurer of quadroon and mulatto women for rich white men. Also she acted as a go-between for lovers. Marie was a free mulatto woman and a born Roman Catholic. She incorporated the worship of the cult of the Virgin Mary and the Catholic Saints, turning Voodoo into a mixture of West Indian fetish-worship and perverted Catholicism. No one objected to this given Marie's strong personality. Many wondrous events are associated with Marie Laveau but the one that made her famous involved the son of a rich merchant who was falsely accused of a crime. On the day of his trial, Marie placed 3 Guinea peppers in her mouth, went to the Cathedral, where she knelt before the rail for more than an hour. Then she quickly went to the courtroom and deposited the 3 peppers under the judge's bench. The case was presented to the judge and although it was convincing, the young man was found not guilty. The wealthy merchant was so impressed with Marie Laveau's power that not only did he pay money but also gave her a cottage on St. Ann Street between Rampart and Burgundy, not far from Congo Square. Her descendants lived there until it was torn down in 1904. After she was asked to step down as Voodoo Queen, Marie Laveau continued to work for the Catholic Church. She would give comfort for prisoners set to be executed.
D.) Dr. John: One of the early recorded Voodoo priests of New Orleans. He had a tattooed face and carried charmed pebbles that were soaked in snake and lizard juices and carried in a pouch in his hair. One of his clients was the slave girl, Pauline, an attractive woman with charms all her own, but she enlisted the help of Dr. John to seduce her master, Peter Redeck. Pauline became Redeck's mistress, but when he went away, Pauline held his wife and 3 children (7, 4, and 2) hostage. She would beat Mrs. Redeck and starve her while flaunting her affair with Mr. Redeck. A servant tipped off the police about what was going on and Pauline was arrested. Since she was pregnant, Pauline's sentence was commuted to after she had her baby.
E.) Madame Larualie: She was a living embodiment of cruelty and evil. To the wealthy and privileged, Madame Larualie was polite and a wonderful hostess. Yet to her servants and slaves, she was the very devil. She had a footman, an unnamed mulatto who came with her everywhere and some questioned her relationship with him. He would go to the attic with her where he would whip her slaves as she watched in ecstasy. Larualie's character dominated her weak husband, Dr. Larualie (her 3rd husband) and her two daughters (one of whom was crippled). On one occasion a neighbor heard Madame Larualie screaming. He looked out the window, hearing a little girl scream. Madame Larualie was chasing a frightened Negro girl with a whip. The girl ran back into the house with Larualie close behind. The neighbor suddenly heard the lashing and the girl's agonizing screams. The girl escaped to the roof where she fell to her death. People tried to help the abused by taking them away but Larualie's family members bought them back and they were returned to her. However, what really whipped the whole of New Orleans into a roar was when Larualie's house was set ablaze. Police came and found that many slaves were naked and chained to the wall; they were broken in body and spirit. After the slaves were rescued and the fire was out, Larualie went back to her routine and directed where the furniture should go. The public was getting restless. Why was she not arrested? Larualie's faithful mulatto quickly shut the doors and once the riot started and they charged on the door, blasting through like a bat out of hell, a black carriage with Madame Larualie veiled in black running down the street. Her husband had a boat waiting for her. Her mulatto footman was killed on his way back by an angry mob. The Larualie's tried to settle in New York but were chased out once their identities were discovered. Madame Larualie was killed during a boar hunt in France. Some say that Larualie's house is haunted by the slave girl who fell off the roof and by Larualie herself. Her house has been converted many times into a house of charity.
The French Quarter
The French Quarter is not the only Quarter in New Orleans. There's an Irish Quarter and even an American Quarter. Yet the French Quarter is the most famous because of New Orleans' ties. The set of The Originals is to set here and they couldn't have picked a more perfect setting. The French Quarter was infamous as one of the many Underworlds where gambling, sex, and murder ran rampant. There was a murder almost everyday, with a new body thrown into the river. If a man wasn't careful he was robbed and left dead in the street. Gamblers would gamble away their money. A man who got carelessly drunk was quickly dispatched in the dark alley. The women of the Quarter were loose and clever in getting their patrons to give them all of their money.
Prostitution was around every corner, given the small space and convenience. New Orleans was famous for its prostitutes and bordellos. Before the Civil War, there was a system that women of color were bought by European men (mostly French) and taken as a mistress for life. The children of these unions were not legitimate heirs and the union between the parents was never a true marriage, but sometimes these unions were very happy ones and the man would spend more time with his mulatto family more than he would at home.
In the French Quarter you'll find a Voodoo shop every few steps. Owners of these shops are not just black but also white and all swear to have a remedy that can cure what ails you or will help you in love or get that promotion you've been angling for. There are also cafes and bars that serve whatever you like from Cajun delights to French delicacies.
There's still so much history surrounding New Orleans but unfortunately it would take longer to write down. Still I highly recommend the books The French Quarter: An Informal History of the New Orleans Underworld by Herbert Asbury, The World that Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette, and Very New Orleans by Diana Hollingsworth Gessler which have all helped me write this blog and are available on Amazon.com.
The Originals looks like it's going to be epic! A story set on who will run the criminal underworld; who will be the King of the Quarter and who will be put to bed in a tomb. The series premiere has been set to air a week earlier, which only ignites my excitement! In closing, there is no other city in the United States that is better suited for The Original Family to build a kingdom and bring a dynasty to last 1,000 years than New Orleans; a city where as the tour guide said, "the living are lost and the dead come out to play."
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