Holly Duchmann

hduchmann@gannett.com

Dressed in the traditional beaded and tassled Native American regalia, dozens of members of local tribes filled the Wilbert Guillory Memorial Farmer’s Market in Opelousas in celebration of the Attakapas Opelousas Prairie Tribe and their shared culture together.

The smell of burning sage and the low beating of drums helped set the mood for the Third Annual Three Moons Festival, where tribe members from all over the country gathered, according to the Attakapas Opelousas Prairie Tribe Chief Nolan Gobert.

Festivals such as the annual Three Moons Festival help bring people closer together as friends and is an opportunity to dress in traditional regalia from people’s own tribe, as well as dance tribal dances, said Harvey Whiteford, also known as Many Night Man, a visitor from the Blackfeet Reservation in Browning, Montana.

"It's really important because without that (the Native American culture) would go away,” said Whiteford. “This is how we pass on our culture. It's how we pass on our traditions to our children and our grandchildren."

Whiteford’s wife is a member of the Attakapas Opelousas Prairie Tribe, which can be traced to the 1700s and is currently more than 2,500 members strong.

Although the Attakapas used to call themselves the Ishak, meaning “the people,” the Attakapan name comes from the Choctaw Indian language for “man eater,” referring to the cannibalistic ritual practices adopted by the tribe after the Spanish began settling in North America in the 15th and 16th centuries.

The tribe welcomed two new members on Saturday as Gobert’s great-granddaughter received her Attakapas name “Prairie Dawn” and Joan Guillory Williams, 70, was adopted into the tribe.

Williams said she had always been interested in the Native American culture and after meeting the chief and his wife at a Native American gathering at the Vermilionville Living History and Folk Life Park, she traced her family lineage to sharing an ancestor with the chief of the tribe.

“Today I receive my Attakapas name,” Williams said dressed in baby blue and gold regalia that was designed by the chief’s wife, Shadow Dancer. “I’ve been excited all week.”

"If we don't have gatherings, the culture is gonna disappear,” said Whiteford. “Then we won't be Indians anymore, we'll just be regular people. And we want to be Indians all our days."



