Sondance ~ My Writings ~ Louisiana

This is a picture of Atchafalaya bayou in South Louisiana.

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Louisiana ~ My Home State





      I was born and raised here and have lived here all of my life except for a few months when I was elsewhere many years ago.
      Although I was raised in a large city in the northern part of Louisiana, I'm proud of all of Louisiana.
      Louisiana people are friendly, hospitable people as a whole. We hug a lot and joke around a lot, we know how to have fun. We enjoy get togethers that involve food, we love to eat. We eat All-American food but we also love the country cooking and the Cajun or Creole cooking which you can find at most outings.
South Louisiana

    To visit the southern part of the state is a flavorful experience. Many of the people speak other languages, especially French. The senses are also brought to life by the aroma of local cooking as well as the flora familiar with this land.
      South Louisiana, as we call it, is a completely different world from the northern part of the state.
      Being coastal, there are a lot of bayous,(we say by-o', not by-you, as it is spelled) these are bodies of water that run inland.
      This is like a separate country where people actually live away back from the rest of the world. Many of these people are called Cajuns, short for Acadia, where they lived after leaving France centuries ago.
      These people were forced to leave Canada because of discrimination of their religion, they were Catholic.
      They were some of the first settlers of present day Louisiana and although they keep mainly to themselves, are great contributors to our culture.

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Mixed bloods
      Louisiana has been occupied by several other nations in the past and has been left with a diversified race in it's wake. You can probably find more native born peoples of mixed bloods here, than any place in the world, literally.
      This is mostly blends which include American Indian, (different tribes), Spanish, French, Portuguese, African, German and people of the broader aspect of Great Britain and Europe.

Creole State
      When I was growing up, Louisiana was known as the Creole State, I believe it's the Sportman's Paradise now.
      Since we don't really hear about the Creole people anymore, I suppose titles should change with the times.

My Mother
      I wish my Mother could be writing this, she was born in the mid-western part of the state in the first half of the twentieth century and as a writer herself, could do this page more justice than I.

Creole People
      My old encyclopedia (1958) describes the Creole people as descendants of the early French and Spanish, who originally took the land from the American Indians. I believe there was more to it than that. I believe the Creole's were actually a mixture of ethnic races, a proud people, well known in the New Orleans area.

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Parishes of Louisiana

      In Louisiana, instead of counties separating the state like the other states, we have parishes.
      I believe that this came about because so many people of the state were Catholic when it was being organized.


Louisiana State Flag

      Our present flag bears the image of a Mother pelican tearing the flesh from her breast, feeding the meat to her young. This symbolizes how the people of Louisiana will care for it's own, regardless how hard it may be to do.
      Our State has been under several flags, depending on the current leadership.



Brown Pelican

      Our state bird is the brown Pelican, I've only seen a few in my whole life. It's a rather large bird whose beak is in the shape of a bowl when it's full.
             


Magnolia Flower

      The Magnolia is our flower, a large cream colored, fragrant flower that blooms on the tree with the same name.
      You are truly blessed if you happen to live near this tree.

a   Settling of the State of Louisiana    b


      I believe Louisiana has more interesting history than any in the nation.
      The Indians (three principal tribes, the Tunicans, the Muskhogeans and the Caddoans) lived here until France declared it to be their's.
   The Spaniards took it from them only to have the French reclaim it until 1803, when it was sold to the USA as the Louisiana Purchase.
       Negros were brought into the state as slaves in the very earliest days and although many migrated to the northern states after the War between the States, (the Civil War), are still at least one-third of the population.
      Germans were brought over in 1719 to help settle the state.
      The Revolutionary War brought many British sympathizers from Eastern settlements so they could stay in this country and not be harrassed.		       After the Louisiana Purchase, Americans who had come from every nation, began coming to settle this land since it now belonged to the USA.
      As the Louisiana Purchase, it covered 875,000 square miles, almost one-third of the now continental USA.

a         Geography and Weather in Louisiana    b

      Louisiana is in the Southwest corner of the Southern States. On the west is Texas, Oklahoma is our northwest corner state, Arkansas is directly north and Mississippi is our eastern boundary across the Mississippi River; the Gulf of Mexico is our southern most boundary.       Louisiana is tropical, we have very humid weather, mild winters, hot summers. I've only known it to snow here a few times in my lifetime. We don't have mountains and the land is mostly flat but we do have hilly, wooded land in abundance.
      We have many large lakes for recreation, fishing, etc.


      People who live here are very loyal to the state as well as to the South.
     Even though the Civil War was fought almost one hundred years before my birth, my family was still talking about it when I was growing up.
       Many people have been put through US Service here and stayed on to raise their families.
      Yes, we really do have alligators (even in northern Louisiana) and no, they aren't cutesy little animals.
      People from here pronounce Louisiana, Lu-zee-anna, not Lu-wee-zee-anna. In movies or on news stations, you can always tell who's not really from here because of this one thing.



Louisiana is a very unique experience indeed, don't you agree?
Y'all come back now, y'hear?



Sondance ~ Table of Contents

      Because of Louisiana's far reaching tentacles, you are possibly affected by what happens here.
      If you feel like you can send money or products to help not just Louisiana but where ever there is damage being done because of natural or unnatural disastors, this is where I would put it: Samaritan's Purse. This is a very honorable organization which helps people around the world, regardless of nationality.