Once a year around Halloween, the city of New Orleans host a music festival unlike any other in the country. It doesn’t have the Instagram aesthetic of Coachella or the unforgiving heat of Hangout; it is a place where ‘normal’ is not allowed and all things weird run free.
Voodoo Fest!
I have gone to this festival for three years, and every year there is something new and surprising. You never know if the guy dressed as Daenerys Targaryen screaming the words to Marilyn Manson is about to be your new best friend, or if the girl wearing in the unicorn onesie is about to save you by letting you have some of her water. You might find your view observed by the presence of three large carrots.
Voodoo Fest is a strange place, to say the least; all the restrictions put on a person by society fall away when you enter the gates. There are people from all walks of life dressed in costumes waiting for the next band to start.
While, the bands great, the costumes superb, and the food to die for, there is one tiny little thing that really makes Voodoo special… the mud. Let me explain, New Orleans, suffers from “being built below sea level” syndrome. Besides the Uptown, the part of the city closest to the Mississippi River, the city can be up to 13 feet below sea level. What this means for the city is that all water must be pumped out of the city. So when the remnants of a hurricane come through the night before Voodoo Fest the mud came too.
Now some people may see mud as a negative, they are not the people at Voodoo. The mud at Voodoo only adds to the experience. Also with navigation through the night, light and craziness you now must avoid the major mud puddles. In my experience, there are only two types of ways to handle the mud. One must either come fully prepared on a form of waterproof shoes and sacrifice a bit of there costume ‘look’, or throw caution to the wind and wear those unicorn slippers proudly. I saw many a shoe or part of a shoe sacrificed to the Voodoo Mub Gods that weekend. I also some a few people baptized by the sacred mud.
In the previous years, the fans have made the most of the mud by creating mud sliding pit and having a grand old time. While this may seem silly, there is an important message in the pit of mud. Just because something may seem horrible, messy, and in the way, I may only require the proper footwear or a different attitude to conquer So learn from us weirdos at Voodoo Fest and conquer your mud pits. Who knows, you might even have a little fun!