{"id":4797,"date":"2014-06-08T07:00:53","date_gmt":"2014-06-08T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=4797"},"modified":"2014-06-08T07:00:53","modified_gmt":"2014-06-08T06:00:53","slug":"city-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/history\/city-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"City of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The gates of New Orlean’s oldest cemetery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I\u2019m back from a fabulous road trip \u2013 crossing the USA from south to north along the Mississippi River \u2013 1400 miles (or close to).<\/p>\n

Over the next few weeks I want to share some of that with you \u2026<\/p>\n

There were a lot of literary references during the trip \u2013 and a lot of music as well\u2026<\/p>\n

It all started in one on my favourite places \u2013 a graveyard (no surprise there really).<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ever since reading Anne Rice\u2019s Interview With A Vampire, I have wanted to visit the New Orleans Cities of the Dead \u2013 the cemeteries where the tombs are all above ground. (Note to self \u2013 must re-read the book now that I have been there.)<\/p>\n

Like most people, I always thought the above ground tombs were because of the high water table in New Orleans \u2013 and the flooding of the graves. This is in part true \u2013 but the tombs also reflect some of the cultural heritage of the Creole people of Louisiana.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This tomb was being restored. Looking inside it I could see the damp soil. No vampires though.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is the oldest of the cemeteries \u2013 just a few blocks from the city centre in the French Quarter.<\/p>\n

In the bright New Orleans sunshine, the glare from the white tombs was blinding \u2013 and the heat was ferocious.<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/a>
Some of the tombs are in ruins \u2013 perhaps there are no more family members left \u2013 or maybe they moved away.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was a bit startled to realize the cemetery is still in use. I had thought it was just a historic site \u2013 but burials are still taking place in those family tombs.<\/p>\n

Apparently the law says that a tomb must remain undisturbed for two years after the funeral. But any time after that, it can be re-used. They take the remains of the previous occupant and place them in a container at the back of the tomb and then destroy the coffin. This makes way for the next coffin. These tombs look small \u2013 but they may contain a dozen or more occupants.<\/p>\n

\"I<\/a>
I was fascinated by the design of the wrought iron rails and crosses \u2013 beautiful! And the rust only adds to the poignancy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

This cemetery holds the tomb of Marie Laveau \u2013 who was considered the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans during the 1800s. (She makes an appearance in Neil Gaiman\u2019s American Gods \u2013 another of my literary references for this trip). Voodoo is a fascinating mix of old religions and legends brought to the New World by African slaves and the Christianity that was imposed on them. Marie was supposed to be able to\u00a0\u00a0create charms and magical powders guaranteed to cure ailments, grant desires or\u00a0bring ill to\u00a0your enemies.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"These<\/a>
These girls tossed coins onto the roof of the tomb as an offering – were they looking for a love potion, I wondered?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marie\u2019s official grave is well marked, and attracts a lot of visitors \u2013 both locals and tourists \u2013 many of whom paint voodoo symbols or leave tokens there. However, popular legend says her body was removed from that grave and buried elsewhere in the cemetery, where she would not be disturbed.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A grave rumoured to be where Marie really lies – and the voodoo tokens left there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another popular tomb is definitely uninhabited \u2013 actor Nicolas Cage has purchased a pyramid tomb where he plans to be buried.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A shiny new tomb – looking appropriate for an actor who played a Ghost Rider and a magician.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While walking through the rear of the cemetery \u2013 I noticed that a housing estate behind it was being torn down. It was a large estate \u2013 that must have been home to a lot of people. I stopped to ask one of the workmen if the estate had been flooded or damaged by Hurricane Katrina.<\/p>\n

No he said \u2013 the apartments had been well built \u2013 and had survived the disaster. They were now being torn down to make way for fancy new condos and shopping centres. He sounded so infinitely sad as he said it, I had to wonder if he was one of the people who had seen their homes survive the worst Katrina could do \u2013 only to lose it to \u2018progress\u2019.<\/p>\n

In many ways \u2013 that was much sadder that anything I saw in the cemetery.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The graves remain- but homes are lost.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I\u2019m back from a fabulous road trip \u2013 crossing the USA from south to north along the Mississippi River \u2013 1400 miles (or close to). Over the next few weeks I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-my-travels","category-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}