Voudou according to The WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University means:

1. a religious cult practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries (especially Haiti); involves witchcraft and animistic deities [syn: voudou, voudouism, hoodooism]
2. a religious cult practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries (especially Haiti); involves witchcraft and animistic deities
3. A religion practiced chiefly in Caribbean countries, especially Haiti, syncretized from Roman Catholic ritual elements and the animism and magic of slaves from West Africa, in which a supreme God rules a large pantheon of local and tutelary deities, deified ancestors, and saints, who communicate with believers in dreams, trances, and ritual possessions.

Brief History of Voudoun:

The word "vodoun" derives from vodu, meaning "spirit" or "deity" in the Fon language of Dahomey, now part of Nigeria. It arose in the 17th century on slave plantations in America as a combination of Roman Catholicism and West African religious traditions; believers retain membership in the Roman Catholic church. Beliefs include the existence of lwa or spirits, some of whose identities mesh with those of Christian saints.

The lwa are invoked by the priest (houngan) or priestess (mambo) at ceremonies, during which members of the congregation become possessed by the spirits and go into a trance. A voudou temple (houmfort) has a central post from which the lwa supposedly descend to "mount" the worshiper. The lwa can be identified by the characteristic behavior of the possessed person. Because of its unique blend of French, Spanish and Indian cultures, New Orleans offered a perfect setting for the practice and growth of voudou.

Today, some say as much as 15 percent of the population of New Orleans still practices voudou. Modern voudou has evolved in many ways, including spiritualist reverends and mothers, who have their own churches and support a drugstore cult that involves the sale of potions

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Beliefs about Voudoun:

A central belief in voudou is that everyone has a soul, or spiritual life force, called the 'gros-bon-ange'. This soul is separate from the material body and can live on after death. The gros-bon-ange can attain the status of a divine spirit, a lwa.

There are hundreds of lwa, each representing an aspect of life, natural element, or a moral principle. The lwa are the link between humans and the spiritual world. A lwa can take temporary possession of a human body. The possessed no longer control their actions and words; the lwa use them to make their wishes and instructions known to the voudou practitioners.

Voudou is an accompaniment of magical beliefs and practices followed in parts of Africa, South America and into the West Indies, especially in Haiti in specific. But there are also practitioners in Creole also.

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Most Powerful Voudoun Queen - Marie Laveau:

Believed to be born in New Orleans in 1794 and died in New Orleans on June 15th, 1881. A free woman of color as well as a quadroon (African, Indian, French and Spanish), she became the most famous and powerful voudou queen in the world, so powerful that she acclaimed herself the Pope of voudou in the 1830s. She was respected and feared by thousands including the Catholic church. A devout catholic, going to mass each day, she got permission to hold rituals behind St. Louis Cathedral.

Starting out as a hairdresser and later as a selfless nurse, Marie Laveau became the first commercial voudou queen. She had fifteen children by her second husband, one of which (Marie Philomene Laveau Glapion) walked in her footsteps and became almost as powerful as her mother. Marie Laveau's tomb in St. Louis Cemetary Number I is frequently covered with rosaries, flowers, coins, and various other offerings. Some visitors also tap three times on the tomb or mark three Xs with a piece of brick or chalk, and then ask Marie for a favor.