Voodoo in New Orleans

Voodoo in New Orleans A type of folk magic used in New Orleans and surrounding areas of New Orleans marked by a belief in sorcery, primitive deities, fetishes, and magical spells and curses. In voodoo, objects like roots, gris-gris bags, powders, graveyard dirt, and poppets or voodoo dolls are employed for magical effect for the purpose of material gain or against an enemy. Voodoo is more or less synonymous with hoodoo and is not to be confused with the religion of Vodou. – Pad of Definitions (1.01 Pilot (episode)), Official Website

Contrary to the Pad of Definitions, Louisiana Voodoo is *not* synonymous with Hoodoo, although it is true that both Voodoo and Hoodoo are distinguishable from the Haitian religion of Vodoun. Put simply, Vodoun is a religion with elements borrowed from African religions and Catholicism, Hoodoo is a system of folk magic that is adaptable to the religion of the practitioner, and Louisiana Voodoo combines both: it has a stronger emphasis on folk magic than does Vodoun, and a stronger explicitly African (or syncretic African-Catholic) religious context than does Hoodoo. Also, Lousiana Voodoo borrows its Christian imagery and elements from Catholicism, and often includes veneration of the Catholic saints, many of whom, as in Vodoun, have been syncretized with African deities; Hoodoo, by contrast, is more usually influenced by Protestant Christianity. The deities of Voodoo and Vodoun are only "primitive" if one considers African gods, or any non-Christian gods, as such.