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Acadians
honor Native Americans who helped them
By LEBRON MILES, Houma Courier,
8/2/99
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The Bayou Eagles, a ceremonial dance
team representating the United Houma
Nation, performs during Congrès Mondial
Acadien opening ceremonies Sunday at the
Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center.
Photo by CINDY SKOP/THE COURIER.
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Two native groups recognized as people who helped the Acadians
survive both the harsh winters of Canada and the sweltering summers
of Louisiana met in ceremony Sunday night for the first time.
Representatives of the Mi'kmaq
Grand Council and the United Houma Nation celebrated their
heritage and their contributions to the Acadian people while inside
the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center for the opening ceremonies of
the Congrès Mondial Acadien.
It was the Mi'kmaq who befriended the Acadians in the Maritime
Provinces of Canada in the 17th century. About 100 years later, the
Houmas did the same for the Acadians, many of whom made their
way to Louisiana after being expelled from Canada by the British.
"The Mi'kmaqs and the Acadians, the Houmas and the Acadians,
they had a real close relationship," said Brian Comeaux, the
executive director of the Congrès Mondial Acadien festivities in
Louisiana. "We invited them to participate because of the friendship
that has been shown to the Acadians by the native Americans.
"The Acadians couldn't have survived without them."
The native ceremony, forced inside Sunday by evening
thunderstorms, featured spiritual and cultural moments.
John Joe Sark, the spiritual leader of the Mi'kmaqs, began by
thanking the Great Spirit for the wonders of Mother Earth. He then
blessed those gathered with a feather and a burning mix of sage,
tobacco, sweet grass and cedar.
Sark was followed by the Bayou Eagles, the United Houma Nation
dance group. Dressed in feathers and ceremonial outfits, the
Houmas danced in a giant circle and invited their friends and
relatives to join them. Several dozen did.
Lanor Curole, a member of the United Houma Nation, said the
tribe's contact with French-speaking people dates back 300 years.
She said the Houmas were instrumental in helping the French
establish their communities in southeast Louisiana even before the
Acadians arrived.
"Coming from France, everything was different: the food, the game,
the soil," said Curole, who is from Golden Meadow. "They had to
learn to live. The Houmas taught the French where to hunt and fish,
how to farm, how to survive off the land."
The Houmas also were trading partners with the French, Curole
said, providing the new arrivals with corn, sassafras and hides.
Brenda Dardar Robichaux, tribal chairwoman of the United Houma
Nation, said that her ancestors learn to speak French for better
interaction between the two peoples. That, she said, remains
bittersweet.
"It was easier for us to learn French than for them to learn our
language," Dardar Robichaux said, explaining this change is the
reason so many American Indians in Terrebonne and Lafourche
parishes still speak "formal" French. "As a result, we lost our own
language."
Dardar Robichaux said the Houmas and the Louisiana Acadians -
later to be called Cajuns - had more in common than many people
realize.
Both spoke French, and as the English influence increased in the
United States, that language was shunned. Both also have had to
adapt to a society that sometimes sees them as "different."
"There were hard times and struggles on both parts," Dardar
Robichaux said. "If you went out and showed how proud you were of
your heritage, you were punished. In essence, we both had to hide
who we were. Only now is that changing."
Lebron Miles is city editor at The Courier. He can be reached at
857-2201 or by e-mail at hdcnews@nytimes.com.
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