Erin Segura

Bayou Vermilion District

Before Lafayette was Lafayette, (and before it was even called Vermilionville, for that matter), a Native American trading center existed at what is today the area around Pinhook Bridge (the crossing of the Old Spanish Trail and the Vermilion River) — a small settlement for indigenous people, as well as trappers and colonists, that was called Petit Manchac (and later, “Pin Hook”).

The Attakapas District — what is present-day St. Martin, St. Mary, Vermilion, Iberia and Lafayette Parishes — named for its first inhabitants, is where many Acadians eventually ended up after being expelled from their native lands in 1755. The Native American, Creole and Acadian cultures, while distinctly different, have been intertwined ever since.

According to Vermilionville Living History Museum and Folklife Park artisan Chief John “Sitting Bear” Mayeux, the Acadians fit in well with Louisiana’s Native American people — a large percent were of mixed heritage with Mi’kmaq blood, and many of Louisiana’s Native American tribes already spoken French, having learned it from the Creoles. Today, it is said that approximately 40 percent of Cajun people have some Native American heritage. Many Native American words are incorporated into Louisiana French, including “bayou,” “chaoui” (raccoon), “maringouin” (mosquito), etc.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, Vermilionville will host its free annual Native American Culture Day, a celebration of Louisiana’s numerous and vibrant indigenous tribes.

“Louisiana, with the second largest Indian population in the east, certainly has the most diverse cultural scene,” said professor of anthropology H.F. “Pete” Gregory. “The swamps and prairies have provided refuges for Indian tribes; and while others have been forced into losing their cultural identities, the Louisiana Indians have clung tenaciously to their old ways.”

The culture day will offer visitors the chance to experience a culture first-hand outdoors in its historic village and folklife park, rather than learning about it second-hand in a classroom. During the celebration, at least 11 of Louisiana’s tribes will be on-site, including the Louisiana Attakapas Opelousas Prairie Tribe, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Canneci N'de Band of Lipan Apache, the Atakapas-Ishak Nation, the United Houma Nation, the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians, the Point-Au-Chien Indian Tribe, the Avogel Tribe of Louisiana, the Louisiana Attakapas Eagle Tribe, the Chitimacha Tribe and the Akokisas Band of the Atakapa Ishak Nation. Representatives from the Acadian Mi'kmaq Heritage Association will also be present.

In addition to Mayeux of the Avogel tribe, Vermilionville’s Native American artisans include Janice “Morning Sun” Mayeux, a Mississippi Philadelphia Choctaw, as well as Traci Ahshapanek of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana. The Mayeuxs often bring their son and grandchildren to the historic village and folklife park, and Ahshapanek, her daughters, to contribute youth perspective on their heritage. The theme of this year’s celebration is “Youth in Culture.”

According to Mayeux, there is a great connection between Native Americans and nature: his father taught him how to hunt and fish “like the tribe did in the old days,” and his mother, Azema Marie Brouillette Mayeux and his grandmother, Alice Roy Mayeux, taught him everything he knows about healing herbs and how to use them, like the ones that are found in Vermilionville’s healer’s garden. The Avogel Tribe will be performing a gourd dance for the opening ceremony, and visitors can also meet and discuss with them while playing the stone jumping game and the memory game, or while trying their hand at tomahawk throwing.

Other activities for the day will include garden tours, film showings, craft making demonstrations, cooking demonstrations, drumming, dancing, games for children, boat tours of the Vermilion and canoeing in the Petit Bayou. For more information and a timeline of events, visit Vermilionville.org.