Trick or treat

31.10.

While Reformation Day is celebrated in Germany, this day is a turbulent day in the USA.

It's Halloween.

Irish immigrants brought this tradition to America.

The evening before All Saints Day is celebrated. All Hallows Eve became Halloween.

The houses are decorated with pumpkins and ghost figures.

Legend has it that the villain Jack Oldfield lived in Ireland and used a trick to trap the devil. He only wanted to release him if he stopped getting in Jack's way.

After Jack's death, he was barred from entering heaven because of his evilness, and the devil didn't want to let him into hell either because Jack had betrayed him. But the devil took pity on him and gave Jack a turnip and a light with which he could henceforth walk in the dark. The Irish immigrants made a pumpkin out of the turnip from the legend because there were tons of pumpkins in the USA. This pumpkin was henceforth called Jack 'o Lantern.

To scare away evil spirits, faces were carved into the pumpkins.

And so in the USA on Halloween, little devils, witches, goblins and fairies wander from house to house and demand sweet treats with the slogan trick or treat.

For adults, Halloween is a huge party and New Orleans is one of the Halloween hotspots.

Of course we won't miss this event. We also want to capture the evil spirits and have a lot of fun doing it.

But first there is a spooky program in the morning.

We visit St. Louis Cemetery No.1.

Together with skeletons, princesses and dark ladies, we walk through the city's oldest cemetery. We almost feel a little out of place in our everyday clothes.

The first stop on the tour is at the grave of the city's most famous voodoo priestess. Marie Leveau was a very smart woman who did people's hair. And as every hairdresser can do, she teased out little dark and less dark secrets from her customers and willingly passed them on. She cleverly uses her knowledge of the city's residents.

For example, if she knew that the shoe store owner was afraid of dead chickens and a deceived customer of the store owner asked Marie for advice on how to scare him, she advised him to place a dead chicken on the shoe store's doorstep. This would scare him to death.

The plan worked, Marie became rich and was known among people as a woman who knew something about voodoo.

To this day, all of New Orleans and half of the USA believe in the powers of the voodoo priestess and believers make pilgrimages to Marie's grave hoping for help. Three crosses are painted on the wall of the tomb to summon the spirit of Mrs. Laveau. The wish is presented and if it comes true the crosses are circled.

I saw many crosses on the woman's grave, but not even a circle around it, which suggests to me that Marie Laveau's spirit is either overwhelmed or too lazy.

We also see an unusual burial site in the cemetery. A white pyramid stands between all the old graves.

Nicholas Cage, has already secured his personal resting place here.

Now Mr. Cage doesn't believe in paying taxes to the city where he wants to be buried. That's why New Orleans quickly confiscated two of its houses in the city. The only thing left to him now is his “simple” grave. He can thank Napoleon for that. At that time he passed a law that every person has the right to a grave and that this cannot be taken away from them, no matter what crime they have committed.

New Orleans has taken over this right since it was occupied by the French for a long time. So Mr. Cage, send a friendly thank you to Napoleon. Perhaps the spirit of Mrs. Leveau can help you get in touch with the little general. You know, three crosses...

The tour of the cemetery was incredibly interesting.

Now it’s Ready for Halloween for us.

In fact, our suitcases still made it to us and so I squeeze myself into my outfit. The corset I wear only allows chest breathing. But if you want to be gloomy, you have to suffer.

Glenn, our host, gave us the tip to go to Frenchman Street because that's where the biggest party is.

Come on, Frenchman Street, dress warmly, the dark guys from the party stronghold of Northern Germany are coming.

Maybe we should have taken the warm-dressing thing to heart. Even the Eskimos would be green with envy if they were in New Orleans today.

But the cold doesn't bother anyone in the city that evening. The streets are full of wizards, Teletubbies and Cheshire cats.

In the bars with absolutely fantastic live music, Frankenstein's monster dances with Snow White and the pizza treats itself to a chat with a harem lady. The atmosphere here is unbelievable. Even my husband, a true Mecklenburger, falls into true ecstasy. He taps his feet to the sounds of the blues.

The whole of Frenchman Street is one big party. Everyone is celebrating and drinking, flirting and being happy. That's the Big Easy, baby.

• Halloween in New Orleans, we were there.