Note 23 — Chapter XII · —APPRECIATIONS AND EPITOMES
Reading edition
Di moin si to gagnin homme! Mo va fé ouanga pouli; Mo fé li tourné fantôme Si to vlé mo to mari....
"Tell me if thou hast a man (a lover) I will make a ouanga for him—I will change him into a ghost if thou wilt have me for thy husband."
This word, of African origin, is applied to all things connected with the Voudooism of the negroes.
In the song, "Dipi mo voué, toué Adèle," from which the above lines are taken, the wooer threatens to get rid of a rival by ouanga—to "turn him into a ghost." The victims of Voudooism are said to have gradually withered away, probably through the influence of secret poison. The word grigri, also of African origin, simply refers to a charm, which may be used for an innocent or innocuous purpose. Thus, in a Louisiana Creole song, we find a quadroon mother promising her daughter a charm to prevent the white lover from forsaking her:
"Pou tchombé li na fé grigri." "We shall make a grigri to keep him."