Why are catholic saints used in New Orleans Voodoo?
New Orleans was, until fairly recently, predominantly a Catholic city. One could argue that even now New Orleans is one of the most Catholic cities in the United States. We have more Catholic churches per capita than almost every other US city of similar size. This is because until the Americans purchased the Louisiana territory, the controlling powers were either France or Spain, both historically Roman Catholic countries. Just as the African slaves in Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Brazil and the Natives of Latin America disguised their spirits under the Catholic saints, so did the slaves of South Louisiana. The major difference between what occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean versus South Louisiana seems to be the loss of the clear connection between the African entities and their catholic counterparts over time.
