title: Day of the Dead Handbook
author:  Denise Alvarado 
description: Denise Alvarado was born and raised in the "Hoodoo Capital of the World," New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a ritual artist and independent researcher with degrees in cultural anthropology and psychology, and she has over 40 years experience in the conjure arts and mysticism. She is the author of several books, including the Voodoo Doll Spellbook: A Compendium of Ancient and Contemporary Spells and Rituals, the Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook, The Conjurer's Guide to St. Expedite, and Gypsy Wisdom, Spells, Charms and Folklore. She is coauthor of Workin' in da Boneyard and Crossroads Mamas' 105 Spiritual Baths for Every Occasion with Madrina Angelique, and the Hoodoo Almanacs, coauthored with Carolina Dean and Alyne Pustanio. She is also the founder and Editor in Chief of Hoodoo and Conjure Quarterly and Hoodoo and Conjure New Orleans Magazine Journals.
zlib_text: Copyright © 2008 by Uwem Akpan
  
  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976,
  no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in
  any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without
  the prior written permission of the publisher.
  
  Little, Brown and Company
  
  Hachette Book Group
  
  237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
  
  Visit our website at
  [_www.HachetteBookGroup.com_](http://www.hachettebookgroup.com)
  
  First eBook Edition: May 2008
  
  The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real
  persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
  
  Map designed by John Barnett
  
  Acknowledgment is made to The New Yorker, where “An Ex-mas Feast” and “My
  Parents’ Bedroom” first appeared, in slightly different form. “An Ex-mas
  Feast” also appeared, in different form, in Kwani? and the Guardian (Nigeria).
  
  ISBN: 978-0-316-03252-0
  
   **Contents**
  
   _Dedication_
  
   _Epigraph_
  
   _An 