Walk softly and carry a big Zulian stick
Sounding like a test of faith, Rosalie Alley lies midway between Piety and Desire (Streets). It’s a slim grass-covered corridor between houses in the middle of the 3300 block of North Rampart Street in the Bywater. You’d barely notice it if not for the ever-evolving fence paintings of grinning skeletons (often wearing top hats, sometimes smoking cigars), painted roses, hearts, ornate Christian crosses, the ubiquitous three X’s, and odd enigmatic phrases in Spanish like Recemos Nos Para Nuestros Art Pasados, which literally translates as “We pray for our art past.”
On many Saturday evenings, Rosalie Alley comes alive with people, mostly dressed in white and red, walking the path while chanting and swaying to the sounds of the conga drum. These are members of La Source Anciene, New Orleans’ most active Voodoo congregation, led by mambo Sally Ann Glassman, who studied Voodoo in Haiti. While the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans does not recognize Voodoo as a legitimate religion (even the plaque on the tomb of NOLA’s most famous Voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau, states she practiced the “cult” of Voodoo), the Catholic Church in the Vatican officially recognized Voodoo as an ancestor-worship-based faith back in 1960. Pope John Paul II even attended Voodoo ceremonies in Togo, Africa, in 1985 and Benin in 1993.
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Address 3319 Rosalie Alley, New Orleans, LA 70117 | Tip Rosalie Alley is mere blocks from New Orleans’ number-one pizza parlor. Pizza Delicious (617 Piety St) was established by Greg Augarten and Mike Friedman, two guys from New York City who came to college at Tulane and fell in love with the city but thought the pizza sucked. So, they decided to stick around and open a pizza place themselves.
If you show up for a Saturday ritual with a large group, you’ll likely receive a less-than-gracious reception; one or two people, however, should be fine. The ceremonies are peaceful and benevolent. You’ll neither witness nor be dragged into any bizarre rites involving hexes or animal sacrifice. You might think about bringing some small gifts to honor the space and to please the spirits. Typical offerings are flowers, plants, candles, or religious statues or pictures. If you decoupaged the image of a Loa or the Black Madonna, that might be considered a bit much for a first timer.
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