[StBernard] Houma Nation Tribe holds Thanksgiving feast in St. Bernard, hoping to pass on tradition to its young people

[Westley Annis]

Houma Nation Tribe holds Thanksgiving feast in St. Bernard, hoping to pass
on tradition to its young people 

NOLA Community By  NOLA Community   
on November 26, 2013 at 6:37 AM, updated November 26, 2013 at 6:45 AM 

Brandy Bourgeois of Chalmette, a Houma Indian, said she is glad the tribe is
trying to maintain its culture and pass it on to its young people through
gatherings like the Thanksgiving dinner she attended recently with her
husband, Nicholas, and their children, in St. Bernard Parish.

 "I like where I come from,'' Bourgeois said as she looked over an exhibit
of Native American art works at the dinner held Nov. 16 in the multi-purpose
building at the Islenos complex in eastern St. Bernard.

She said, "I am from a long line of Houma Indians,'' that settled in St.
Bernard, Plaquemines and many other parishes of coastal Louisiana, including
Terrebonne, St. Mary, Lafayette and Jefferson, as long as thousands of years
ago, according to historians.

"I am interested in my culture and I want my children to know about the
culture,'' Bourgeois said. "My children were interested in coming. I am all
for getting groups together and I thank the people who made it happen.''

For the second consecutive year, the Houma Nation Tribal Council, in which
Pete Billiot, 74, of eastern St. Bernard is the representative for St.
Bernard and Plaquemines parishes and parts of the West Bank, held a
Thanksgiving dinner.

This time, the tribe invited the Los Islenos Society of St. Bernard to
participate, making for a large turnout. The groups ate and mingled and
enjoyed Native American music, including Bryan Billiot of Gretna on the
flute and Pete Billiot on the drum.

Proceeds from a raffle will help support a youth summer camp the tribe has
been holding for several years.

Pete Billiot said there were probably 400 Houma Indians living in St.
Bernard at the time of Hurricane Katrina, but the number is reduced now.

Getting together for the Thanksgiving dinner, he said, "was important to
keep our people together to remember our heritage - especially the young
people.''

He admitted, "It is hard to get young people interested in understanding
where we come from.''

Pete Billiot and his wife, Verna, are also members of the Islenos Society,
he said, saying it made sense to invite the Islenos group to jointly have a
dinner.

He said Houma Indians were in eastern St. Bernard as hunters and trappers
before the Islenos, or Islanders from the Spanish colony of the Canary
Islands, arrived in the 1780s. "Our people helped show them how to build the
palmetto huts'' associated with early Isenos settlers.

"My wish is for this (the dinner) to get bigger and bigger each year,'' Pete
Billiot said.

Frances Johnson of Waveland, Miss., a former Tribal Council representative
in the 1980s and 1990s, attended and said of the Thanksgiving get-together:
"I think it's wonderful. It was like a family reunion'' because it brought
Houma Indians and Islenos from various areas to eat and have fun.



The information in this article and pictures were provided by the St.
Bernard Sheriff's Office Director of Public Information Steve Cannizaro.