Voodoo, also known as Louisiana Voodoo, New Orleans Voodoo, and Delta Voodoo, originated from the ancestral religions of the African Diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Voodoo religions which developed in the French and Creole speaking African-American population of Louisiana. It is one of the many incarnations of African-based religions rooted in the West African Dahomean Vodou tradition and the Central African traditions found in Haitian Vodou. They became syncretized with the Catholic religion as a result of the massive forced migrations and displacements of the slave trade.

Voodoo is often confused with Haitian Vodou and southeastern US hoodoo. It generally shares the same loa (spirits of the religion) as Haitian Vodou, but it lays a generally greater emphasis upon folk magic (like hoodoo). It was through Louisiana Voodoo that such terms as gris-gris and voodoo dolls were introduced into the American lexicon.
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