Little Haiti Voodoo

            In times of need everyone seeks a little bit of luck whether it’s for health, wealth, or love. Searching for luck in Miami is much easier in Little Haiti, with a voodoo botanica on almost every block waiting to meet your needs. At a botanica you may find healing medicines, religious candles, incense, and saints.

             While strolling through Little Haiti the numerous botanicas may evoke a sense of competition in the community, but they are all there for one reason, the voodoo religion. Voodoo is a religion that was brought to the Caribbean by African slaves, it has catholic elements and is similar to Santeria, in which they believe in different deities.

            After walking through the door of 3X3 Santa Barbara Botanica, the customer is immediately greeted by life-sized figures staring back with almost a hint of sadness in their eyes. On the right, a saint resembling the Virgin Mary is spotted with a red garment, wearing a “Happy New Years” tiara and a couple of beads with dollars attached to it; perhaps the new year will bring wealth.

                        Laide Andre owner of this 3X3 Santa Barbara Botanica is well known in the community. His soft-spoken friend Harrison Simmonds notes, “The store has a great name, a lot of people know about it. It’s on the internet, and newspaper”.

            When asked what customers come looking for he replies “Most of the time they come for luck and sickness”.  It’s hard to imagine that luck and health can be gained with just a couple of rituals, so is it faith or just coincidence? “No, faith, it’s a religion. You have to have faith,” says Simmonds.

            Voodoo has often been misunderstood in the past, sometimes as a practice of witchcraft and Satanism. These misconceptions made it difficult to gather certain information at the different botanicas. Some owners hesitated to answer a few questions almost giving a sense that there’s still stigma in the voodoo religion. Though according to Simmonds “These days, it is definitely more accepted.”

By: Iris Casanova 
3x3 Santa Barbara Botanica 
5700 NE 2 AVE
MIAMI, FL 33137
TEL: 786-262-7895

Sights and Sounds: Jackson Memorial Hospital

           Sunny day, as the train approaches the Civic Center station and suddenly comes to halt.  People begin to rush out to make it to work or appointments on time. An old man grabs his wife with his right hand guiding her carefully down the steps as he grabs his cane on his left hand. Approaching the streets you start to hear the motion of the cars as they accelerate at the glance of the green light. Then a mouth watering smell wafers in the air of the Nuts 4 Nuts cart filled with sugar coated roasted nuts, provoking a craving almost hard to resist.

            There’s not a sound of urgency at the moment, mostly peacefulness. Up ahead in the center stands the original Jackson building painted in pink with a few wooden benches with bushes surrounding the perimeter. A couple of people sit on the benches as they sip their morning coffee others a take a cigarette break.

            McDonald’s is just about a block away, a place to avoid since it’s always crowded. A few doctors sit on the side of a pizzeria in heavy conversation, getting their minds off work for a couple of minutes. Every now and then there’s a homeless person walking by asking for food or money, and when they’re not in sight there’s always a pigeon taking their place.