As surely as God molded Adam and Eve from the clay of The Garden of Eden, New Orleans people sprang from the mud of the mighty Mississippi River. The city’s reputation is dark, dirty, sticky and tough. In 1718, on an inhospitable mound of land, surrounded by swamps and bayous, mosquitoes, and alligators, the first swarthy soldiers planted their French national flag. Brick by brick the mysterious homes of the enduring French Quarter were formed and layered of the malleable mud. Soon Paris dispatched its smugglers and convicted felons to New Orleans. Acadians from Nova Scotia descended on the town seeking shelter from British rule as did Frenchmen fleeing Revolution. Taking ownership, Spaniards began to settle there and for decades attempted to bridle the imbroglio. French – Haitians washed ashore in boatloads bringing plantation owners, their slaves, and thousands of free blacks. Sicilians sailed over from Palermo. Sailors, trappers, Native Americans, military troops, pirates and prostitutes all found respite in the city. And with them came their languages, religions, superstitions, music, and dance.
The United States gained custody when Napoleon deemed the territory untamable. The haughty Europeans refused to associate with the base Americans, and they built Canal Street as a line in the mud to keep them apart. Americans retaliated, and banned the French language. Yet, today the lilting “speak” heard downtown is not southern American drawl, but combines French Creole and Caribbean-Haitian Creole with an English-Italian twang, sounding something like “Boston-eze.”
The Americans might have been crass, but they brought with them business and commerce, and soon New Orleans had developed into a significant financial center. The city’s major shipping port bustled and the (infamous) sugar plantations flourished. Despite her unlikely beginnings, by 1840 New Orleans was the wealthiest city in the U.S.
European Catholics tried to convert the Haitian Voodoo worshipers in New Orleans but succeeded primarily in intricately blending the two contradictory religions. They invoked Jehovah and Jesus Christ with spells and magic. They whispered Hail Marys and The Lord’s Prayer to the spirit world while candles and herb stuffed “gris-gris” or amulets, were reverently leaned against sun-bleached tombs in the above-ground cemeteries. Jubilant songs and chants, orally passed through generations, pleaded for ancestors to bargain between Catholic Saints and the human world.
New Orleans was the only city in North America to allow public display of African Voodoo celebrations and ceremonies. The rhythms, chants, and dance in “Congo Square” became embedded into the fabric of the city’s culture. The sensual sounds and hip-swinging movements, accompanied by European brass instruments, produced an experimentation of stimulating music that evolved into the hallmark of New Orleans’ identity. Zydeco, Cajun, Delta Blues, Funk, Bounce, Cowpunk Country and of course Jazz with its trademark brass bands and staccato “scat” all oozed out of this Afro-Caribbean proclivity.
The music migrated up from the south, but the food migrated down from the north. When the Acadians, or Cajuns as they became known, arrived from the Canadian Nova Scotia islands, they brought with them their prowess in fishing and their love of seafood. Native Americans introduced them to the small, lobster-like crawfish living in the dark, slow-moving waters of the bayou and the crustacean became a staple of the Cajun diet. Second-generation Europeans — French, Spanish, Italian, with a little African stirred in for good measure — were a melting pot of DNA known as Creole. Their confluence of influences enhanced the flavor of their recipes with hot spices and cream sauces. Delectable New Orleans specialties remain unmatched the world over.
With a multi-national history, for hundreds of years New Orleans suffered from the lack of a singular strong leadership to get her through the hard times. And she saw her fair share of hard times. In 1788 fire incinerated 856 buildings, followed a few years later by a 2nd fire that demolished 212 more structures. There was rampant disease in the late 1800s and early 1900s including syphilis, small pox, malaria and a yellow fever epidemic. When an earthen levee failed in 1849 water from the Mississippi River inundated most of the low-lying areas. During and after the Civil War, Union soldiers, not known for being kind to southerners, set up occupation of the city and the formerly elegant French Quarter slouched toward decay. Intense spring rain storms caused severe flooding in 1882, followed by numerous hurricanes, each delivering more flooding. The Great Mississippi River Flood in 1929 was at the time the worst flood in U.S. history, but gave up that distinction when in 1965 Hurricane Betsy roared in bringing an 8-foot storm surge, again submerging a substantial portion of the city. Just forty years later Hurricane Katrina pushed a 24-foot storm surge up into the rivers and lakes, causing levee breaches considered to be one of the most catastrophic engineering failures in history. Eighty percent of New Orleans was underwater, in some places as deep as 15 feet. After Hurricane Katrina the world wondered if the decimated city would or should ever rise again. But five months later the bankrupt, broken, and exhausted residents produced their first parade as a symbol of their resilience.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, the rigid Catholic season of Lent is a solemn observance sidelining pleasure and vice for 40 days. From the beginning of Christianity, the day before Ash Wednesday, called Shrove Tuesday, has been a day of gluttony. As synonymous with New Orleans as her arousing music is the city’s raucous celebration of Shrove or Fat Tuesday, or in French, “Mardi Gras.” With its vital parade of brass bands, shiny costumes, interpretive dancing, and bead tossing, the intent is to celebrate life! Get it all out of your system; sin as much as you please, because, in the Catholic way, you may ask forgiveness on Wednesday. So, dance uninhibited, parade through the streets, flash your breasts, eat fatty foods and imbibe until you can no more! And if you don’t want your neighbors to recognize you in your debauchery… wear a mask!
New Orleans is a distinctly unique city today with a depth of culture unmatched anywhere. Stand downtown and on every corner, to the risk of sensory overload, you will experience a mélange of French and Spanish architecture, delicious smells, bright Caribbean colors, and sensual music and dance. Yet when you focus, you still see the people, young and old, descendants of many nationalities, beliefs and traditions. Birthed on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, the gritty folks have mud on their streets and in their music and in their veins. They have inherited an acceptance of their station, a certainty of better times to come, a drive for adventure, and a pure love for life. In their own words, “Laissez les bon temps rouler!” Let the good times roll!
New Orleans, with its “joi de vivre,” is unique and special. This is one of the places we are already losing as oceans continue to warm and the sea level continues to rise. I will discuss this further in my next post. Freight ships don’t turn quickly, but they do turn. You don’t have to save the world by yourself, but if everyone does what little they can, we can turn this freight ship around for the next generation.
- Curious about the flooding and devastation after Hurricane Katrina? Watch the documentary, When the Levees Broke, directed by Spike Lee.
- The HBO series, “Treme” is an excellent depiction of life in New Orleans, including the way they talk, the importance of music, and many of their embedded traditions. It features as actors several of the people interviewed for Spike Lee’s documentary, and musical performances by many New Orleans-based artists. The story begins three months after Hurricane Katrina.