Gris-gris
A small charm bag or packet, from West Africa and New Orleans, for protection or luck.
Also: grigri, gree-gree, Louisiana charm, Quranic amulet
Gris-gris, pronounced gree-gree, names a charm in two linked places. In West Africa, notably Senegal and The Gambia, a grigri is a small leather or cloth packet holding a Quranic verse or other prayer, worn for protection by Muslim and non-Muslim people alike. In Louisiana, the word came with enslaved Africans and became part of New Orleans Voodoo and hoodoo, where a gris-gris is a small bag made for luck, love or protection, or sometimes described as sent to harm. Its word origin is debated. Tourist shops in New Orleans sell them as souvenirs. Practitioners in Louisiana note that Voodoo there is a living religion and that the bag is only one part of it.