Pink Saturday - Vodou Shrine

Beverly at the blog How Sweet the Sound has a great idea! It's Pink Saturday. Post about something pink, on Saturday. Here are the rules if you want to Get Pink!

Three years ago this weekend, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall just east of the City of New Orleans. The city has still not recovered from what happened in the following days.

This is a shrine made by a New Orleans vodou priestess named Scully Elly. Elly and her husband Louie were exiled from New Orleans for a while after Hurricane Katrina. They returned to the city to start anew. Elly makes one of a kind items that, depending on your belief, are either sacred items of vodou practice, or folk art.

This shrine depicts a pink house in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood. The flood waters have knocked the screen door off its hinges, and left a stain high on the house's wall. Painted next to the front door is the symbol left by FEMA searchers. According to the symbol, 3 people died in this home.

Neighborhood cats run wild, abandoned. The Lwa, or vodou "saints", linger in the attic where the residents chopped through the roof to try to save themselves from the rising water. These particular Lwa are the Gede, who are associated with gravediggers, and help shepherd the dead into the next world. Despite the tragedy, these Lwa are mischievous spirits, chasing the cats and goofing around.

The Vodou Lwa who would most appreciate Pink Saturday is Erzuli Freda. She is the Lwa of love, jewelry, dancing, femininity and luxury. Her colors are pink, red and gold. Her favorite sacrifices include jewelry, perfume (Anais-Anais by Cacharel is her special favorite), and sweet cakes, desserts and liqueurs. She is the goddess of unrequited love, and is often pictured weeping. She is also a flirt, who acts more like a mistress than a wife. She likes light cigarettes, like Virginia Slims. She is the Lwa of motherhood, of lovers, of women who like to shop.

But this is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the flood that devastated New Orleans. Hurricane Gustav is building in the Gulf. The city is anticipating another blow. Residents are evacuating. Officials are planning for disaster.

On this anniversary, do we beseech the Gede for the dying? Or do we seek Erzuli Freda, to bask in her delightful luxury?