New Orleans Vampire Association

     Since talking about the vampires in New Orleans, I have become more curious about what exactly this entails.  To be honest, vampirism never even crossed my mind as existing, and if they did I thought those people to be few and far between and probably sitting in jail for cannibalism.  Because there are people who believe themselves to be vampires, I thought I would look into this and see exactly what these people are truly about.  In my research, I immediately found the New Orleans Vampire Association official web page that provides a great deal of information.  The site states that there are different types of vampirism, from energy to biology, to spirituality to racial identity.  This means that some vampires actually feed on other human beings, and some just feel that they suck the energy out of others.  There are seven different houses in the New Orleans area that represent a certain type of vampirism such as: the House of Mystic Echoes, Esoteric Gateway Order, House white Tiger, House Rakoczy, House of the Muses, House >, and House Etherium.  In my research, I learned that the House

Belfazaar (Zaar) Ashantison,
Head of the House of Mystic Echoes

 of Mystic Echoes' leader and founder is Zaar, and I do believe that is the vampire that we met in Voodoo Authentica.  Each of these houses are equal, and are allotted a vote at the council meetings.  Apparently, NOVA is comprised of all sorts of people: artists, priests, lawyers, teachers, writers and parents among many different types of people.  NOVA began just after Hurricane Katrina, when a group of "self-identified vampires" agreed that the vampire community would benefit from some organization.  NOVA is a non-profit corporation as of February 14, 2011.  Their short term goals comprise of fund-raising to continue expanding and fundraising to provide food and shelter for those in need.