Florida Water
Florida Water is a light citrus-and-spice cologne, made in New York by Murray and Lanman and later by Lanman and Kemp, and it became the most widely used scent in the folk magic of the Americas: the same bottle stands on an espiritista's table, in a Lucumí cleansing, in a hoodoo bath, and in a Spiritual church.
The label's own history is a marketing history - the firm's 1808 date is its own claim - and the corpus records the date as the firm's rather than as a documented fact. Its use across four traditions is not evidence that the traditions are one thing; it is evidence of a shared market.
Symbols and forms
- Alternate Names
- Florida waterAgua de FloridaMurray and Lanman's Florida Water
Practice
- Purpose
- To cool, cleanse and refresh a person, a room or an altar, and to carry a pleasant scent as an offering
- Tools
- Bowl
- Magical Uses
- PurificationProtectionHealingOffering
Nature and meaning
- Kind
- Substance
Details
- Region
- New York manufacture from the early nineteenth century; used across the Caribbean, the southern United States and Latin America
- Era
- From the early nineteenth century (the firm dates it to 1808); still in production
- Background
Florida Water is a light citrus-and-spice cologne, made in New York by Murray and Lanman and later by Lanman and Kemp, and it became the most widely used scent in the folk magic of the Americas: the same bottle stands on an espiritista's table, in a Lucumí cleansing, in a hoodoo bath, and in a Spiritual church. Its name has nothing to do with the state as a place of origin and everything to do with the 'fountain of youth' fashion of the early republic; its use in magic is a nineteenth-century development that spread through the same trade routes as the people who used it.
- Practice
It is added to bath water, splashed on the hands and face, used to dress a candle, sprinkled on an altar or in a room, put in the water of a floor wash, and used to 'cool' a person or a place. In espiritismo it is one of the standard offerings and cleansers at a table; in Lucumí and in hoodoo it is a bath and wash additive; in the Spiritual churches it is used in the same way as holy water. It is also, straightforwardly, a cologne, and people wear it.
- Keywords
- Florida waterCologneAgua de floridaCleansingCoolingOfferingLanman
- Ethical Note
Florida Water is a commercial cologne with a hundred and fifty years of magical use, which makes it the best example in this file of a substance that belongs to no one tradition and is used by several. Its cheapness and availability are the reason: it was what poor people could buy, and the traditions made it theirs. It is also flammable and should not be poured near a candle flame, which is a real hazard in a practice full of lit candles.
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Referenced by 18
Every entry that names Florida Water, grouped by the system it comes from.
🧿 Folk magic 18
- Hoodoo (Conjure, Rootwork) Materials
- Louisiana Voodoo Materials
- Haitian Vodou Materials
- Espiritismo Materials
- Santería (Lucumí) Materials
- The Atlantic Crossroads of the Folk Traditions Materials
- Spiritual Bath Materials
- Floor Wash Materials
- The Crossroads in Vodou Materials
- Dressing a Candle Materials
- Psalm Magic Materials
- Novena and Velación Materials
- Cascarilla Materials
- Hoyt's Cologne Materials
- Van Van Oil Materials
- Condition Oils Materials
- Blueing Balls Materials
- Camphor in Folk Work Materials
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