Tales from the levee: The folklore of St. John the Baptist Parish (Louisiana folklife series)

Excerpt from Introduction: St. John the Baptist Paris is located on the Mississippi River about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The west bank of the parish is a small, fairly isolated area. The three small towns on the west bank, Lucy, Edgard, and Wallace, are located along the River Road, and the remainder of the west bank is field, forest, and swamp. Because of this relative isolation, these communities have retained many old customs and have maintained a population largely descendant from the the original settlers.Folklore is that whole body of knowledge passed down from one generation to the next by the spoken word or by example and practice. This collection of the folklore and customs of the west bank of St. John the Baptist Parish does not deal with history, per se, but with what the people have to say about their past, the folk tales, folk songs, customs, attitudes, superstitions, traditions, legends, and other items of folklore. The main areas included in this study are holiday customs; rituals surrounding birth, marriage, and death; lore of the river and levee; folklore concerned with the Catholic church in Edgard; superstitions, folk medicine, and cures; folks tales, folk songs, and folk games; and tales of slavery and other black experiences. The emphasis in the collection is on what the people have to say about their folklore and customs and how they interpret events in the past and in their own lives. Since some of the items collected and interviews are in French, they are presented in French with an accompanying English translation.