Was Marie Laveau Pretty in Pink?

Somehow voodoo queen Marie Laveau doesn't strike me as a girly-girl, but apparently someone thought her tomb needed to be pink.

Via The Dead Pelican and KATC:

Dozens of tourists in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 gathered around the tomb of Marie Laveau as tour guide Renee Dodge explained the mysterious history of the famed Voodoo queen. But most had one question on their minds: Why was the tomb painted bright pink? In mid-December, in the middle of the night, someone sneaked into the cemetery and painted the tomb, Dodge said, but she didn't think the person had malicious intent. "The person really came in to paint over the thousands of thousands of "X'''s all over this tomb," she said. "And that's the real desecration." Decades ago, someone started a rumor that if people wanted the 19th century voodoo priestess to grant them a wish, they had to draw an "X'' on Laveau's tomb, turn around three times, knock on the tomb, yell out their wish, and if it was granted, come back, circle their "X," and leave Laveau an offering, 

It seems the vandal used latex paint which traps in moisture; the soft, porous marble tablet on the front of the tomb was also painted - white.

Whoever painted the tomb used latex paint, which does not breathe and traps in moisture which is "the single biggest threat to the survival of these brick-and-mortar tombs," Dodge said. The vandal also painted the marble tablet on the face of the tomb with white paint. That is damaging because marble is very soft, porous, and fragile, 

Somehow I think Laveau would have preferred black, or purple, but who knows.  Maybe she just wants to be left alone.

Restoration methods are being examined.

Read the whole thing.