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Make Your Own Magic! is a hands-on youth program created to introduce young participants to the creativity, symbolism, and natural wisdom found in African and diasporic traditions. Through storytelling, crafts, and imaginative activities, youth will explore how intention, nature, and creativity can come together to create something meaningful.
Presented as part of Diaspora and Memory – New Orleans International Vodou Day, this program offers a fun, welcoming, and age-appropriate space for learning, expression, and cultural connection.
Story Time with
Malou Beauvoir
Participants will enjoy a reading of Our Vodou: A Vodou Bedtime Tale, a beautifully illustrated children’s book celebrating Haitian culture, ancestral wisdom, and the beauty of heritage. Our Vodou: A Vodou Bedtime Tale is her first children’s book, created to share the magic and history of Haitian and African heritage with young readers around the world. In addition to writing and performing, Malou promotes cultural understanding through music, literature, and fashion through her luxury brand, Modern Manbo.
Malou Beauvoir is an award-winning singer, songwriter, actress, designer, and storyteller dedicated to celebrating the beauty of her Haitian culture and history. Deeply connected to her ancestral roots, she draws inspiration from the spiritual traditions of Vodou as sources of wisdom, love, and resilience.
Make Your Own Gris Gris Bag
Youth will create their own wearable gris gris bag using colorful fabric, plants, affirmations, and craft materials. Participants will learn about the meanings often associated with herbs, symbols, and personal intention while making something special to take home.
Create Your Own Veve
Participants will explore symbolic art through a guided veve-making activity. Using a simple framework, youth will learn how symbols can express intention, creativity, and meaning, then create their own unique veve design.
Outdoor Creative Practice
If permitted, participants may also practice drawing veves outside using chalk or cornmeal, bringing their designs into a shared creative space.
Miss Jasmine
Miss Jasmine is a school bus driver in one of the swampy Louisiana Gulf parishes. She has been practicing Haitian Vodou for nine years and is excited to make some magic with young participants through crafts, storytelling, and creativity.
Parent / Guardian Information
Parents or guardians are asked to remain on the Xavier University campus while youth participants are in the program.Youth participants will check in with a parent or guardian at the program area. Parents may remain nearby or attend symposium activities, but should stay on campus during the program.The program area is accessible via a flat concrete walkway with no stairs from the main entrance into the hallway where activities will take place. Please note that the nearby lecture hall includes stairs.
Space is limited to help create a safe and interactive experience for all participants.
We look forward to welcoming families and young participants to this creative and meaningful experience as part of
Diaspora and Memory – New Orleans International Vodou Day.
If you would like to support the continued growth of this cultural and educational programming, you are invited to share or contribute to our community fundraising campaign. While participation in the symposium and youth program is free, donations help support programming, educational exhibits, and future cultural initiatives.