Louisiana Easter Traditions

[18thVirginia]

Louisiana has several Easter traditions that date back to the antebellum era. The first is Easter Rock, a religious dance that had been performed in Africa and then came to the antebellum South. Professor Joyce Jackson noted that George Washington Cable and Henry Latrobe talked about this circular dance ritual as being performed in Congo Square in New Orleans. However, the Easter Rock is an antebellum tradition that has been carried forward only in North Louisiana. Originally in four parishes in the Delta region, today it's celebrated only in Franklin Parish.

The Easter Rock is performed the Saturday night before Easter by 12 women who file into the church. The women wear white and carry in 12 lamps and put them on a table placed in the middle of the sanctuary. Then, they carry in 12 white cakes and place them on the table. The twelve represent either the 12 disciples or the 12 tribes of Israel. In earlier times, red homemade wine was placed on the table to represent the blood of Christ, but today it's red punch. Easter eggs represent the stone that was rolled away from the tomb.

As the women move around the table and place these items there, they sing "Oh when the Saints go marching in." They continue to move around the altar table in what is called The Rocking and sing a spiritual, "Oh, David" and sometimes continue into another one, "Elijah Rock."

http://www.afropop.org/30045/interv...-easter-rock/#v=onepage&q="rock the city with

 

[18thVirginia]

According to scholars, African slaves were brought directly to Louisiana starting in 1719, many from the Senegambia region. This region was chosen in particular as the Senegal Valley was similar to the Mississippi Valley and the enslaved people from there had been rice growers.

The Easter Rock may be similar to a "ring shout" tradition noted in an 1864 diary by Charlotte Forten in the Georgia Sea Islands (another rice growing region):

The children and sometimes adults form a ring and move around in a kind of shuffling dance, singing all the time. Four or five stand apart and sing very energetically clapping their hands, stamping their feet, and rocking their bodies two and fro. These are the musicians to whose performance the shouters keep perfect time. http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/EasterRockDescription.html
​

http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/EasterRockDescription.html

 

[donna]

Interesting. Didn't know. Always learn something new on the forum. Thanks for posting.

have a Happy Easter.

 

[18thVirginia]

There are varying interpretations about the significance of The Rocking, but many of the traditions are attributed to the Easter story, with the women in white representing the women who appeared at the grave of Christ. The 12 lamps and 12 women may represent the 12 tribes of Israel, although some now attribute the lamps to the parable of the 10 virgins waiting with lamps for the bridegroom. The lamps also might have been part of lighting the church in earlier times, since the Easter Rock started between 9 and 10 p.m. on the Easter Saturday. The step used in moving around the table is a shuffle step, somewhat like that mentioned by Charlotte Forten.

The actual "Rocking" is presented after a regular devotion service. Part of the ceremony is that it takes place in a church with a wooden floor, which acts in place of drums during the motion around the table. Many traditions in Louisiana that come out of slavery are seen in Southeast Louisiana or around New Orleans, but this one happens in North Louisiana, with celebrations in Winnsboro in Franklin Parish.

True Light Baptist Church near Winnsboro
http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/easterrock.html

 

[18thVirginia]

1860s maps of Franklin Parish
https://www.etsy.com/listing/281427...eHmCI5yM25XV7tv8pN1h0bHNUf3uRylRHAaAixp8P8HAQ

Current Louisiana map showing location of Franklin Parish
http://pix.epodunk.com/locatorMaps/la/LA_3364.gif

 

[18thVirginia]

The Easter Rock was originally documented by folklorists Mariana and Lea Seale in the Journal of American Folklore in 1942. They stated that the oral history of the event indicated that the ritual pre-dated the Civil War. The sites where where Seales' saw the ceremony were at a church near Clayton in Concordia Parish--St. John the Baptish Church on Dunbarton Plantation and at a Baptist Church on Remarque Plantation nearby. The Seales' observed three Easter Rock services: two at St. John the Baptist Church, at Dunbarton Plantation, near Clayton in Concordia Parish and another at the Baptist Church on Lemarque Plantation, next to Dumbarton.

Concordia Parish, Louisiana
https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Concordia_Parish,_Louisiana_Genealogy

 

[18thVirginia]

The description of the Easter Rock beginning, as documented by the Seales' in 1942 is very similar to the current tradition in a different Parish at Winnsboro in Franklin Parish:

Precisely, at midnight by the deacon's watch, the deacon orders the congregation to "come quiet." Shortly thereafter, the voices of many women and a single man rise in the song, "When the Sancts [sic] Go Marchin' In," and a procession moves into the church through a door at the rear. ​

At the head of the procession is a Negro man carrying what is called "the banner." The banner is a barrel hoop attached to one end of a six-foot stick. The hoop has, stretched across its area in drumhead fashion, a covering of white crepe paper, and to its circumference is attached tasseled crepe of various bright colors. (1942: 213) http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/easterrock.html​

 

[18thVirginia]

The Rock Step - with 21st Century variations

http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/easterrock.html

 

[18thVirginia]

In earlier times, the Easter Rock ceremony lasted all night and people brought lots of food to share. Today it's just cake and punch as it all ends between 10 and 12 p.m. One feature of the Rock is a "banner" with a round top and a staff, that is supposed to represent the cross and crucifixion. Professor Jackson believes that the circular part of the banner comes from the African tradition, as does the counter-clockwise movement of the participants.

On this page from Louisiana folklife, you can view several videos of the actual ceremony. http://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/easterrock.html

The Easter Rock Banner

Originally, the banner was made of a barrel stave as the circular part, with later versions using strings made of pieces of sheets, and eventually when barrels were no longer available, all manner of round items were used. The current versions use crepe paper for the streamers.

 

[18thVirginia]

Another Louisiana tradition, from a different cultural group--Cajuns, is "paqueing" eggs. Easter in cajun French is known as Pacques. This tradition also supposedly goes back to antebellum Louisiana and even further, back to Europe. "Pacqueing" is pronounced "pocking" and relates to Easter, but also to the sound that the eggs make when knocked together, "pock, pock." Eggs are supposed to represent rebirth, the symbol of the resurrection.

Marksville, Lousiana made this a traditional an annual event in 1956 with a contest each year in which people gather with their hard-boiled eggs and knock them together, small end down. The egg that cracks loses the contest. As in all things Louisianan, there are family recipes for boiling the eggs to get them to a desired hardness to crack later. Also, guinea hen eggs are used in a separate contest, as they're much harder and more difficult to crack.

Egg knocking on Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday
http://deepsouthmag.com/2010/03/29/art-of-egg-knocking/

 

[18thVirginia]

Egg "pocking" in Ville Platte in Evangeline Parish.
https://www.villeplattetoday.com/local/joyeuses-pâques

 

[18thVirginia]

Part of the ritual was dying the eggs on Good Friday and then knocking them on Holy Saturday or Easter Sunday. Although commercial dyes have been used in recent times, they were originally dyed with red onions and other local plants.

 

[18thVirginia]

Another Louisiana tradition is a crawfish boil on Good Friday. But that's for the Food Forum.

 

[Bee]

Enjoying this thread immensely! I have taken part in egg pocking....sometimes it would get out of hand and get rather aggressive

 

[18thVirginia]

Interesting. Didn't know. Always learn something new on the forum. Thanks for posting.

have a Happy Easter.

Thanks, donna, I only just learned about the Easter Rock while researching something else about Louisiana, but thought it was fascinating, the combination of African and Christian traditions.

 

[18thVirginia]

Enjoying this thread immensely! I have taken part in egg pocking....sometimes it would get out of hand and get rather aggressive

Read a funny article about the LaFleurs and Aucoins in Ville Platte, with the LaFleurs arriving on flat bed trucks with live bands and cheers, while the Aucoins come in schoolbuses while singing, "We will, we will Paques you."

Glad you're enjoying the memories.

 

[Nathanb1]

Sort of like Cascarones with food instead of paper!! Since my DNA turned up Cajun ancestors, I am totally down with this.

 

[Nathanb1]

Cascarones with edible innards! I love having Cajun ancestors!

https://www.google.com/search?q=cas...VCMUQ_AUICSgC&biw=1216&bih=677&dpr=2.25#spf=1

 

[JPK Huson 1863]

BEST Easter thread EVER!! Thank you SO much! Been knocking myself out looking for Easter traditions during the war- or any! We WASPs have been done a great disservice. Best case, standing outside in the snow at 6 a.m. for Sunrise Service. No one yell at me. That may be tradition but it's cold.

Having these traditions shown to us is so valuable, thank you again! Too easy, getting lost in plastic grass, chocolate bunnies and jelly beans. This is Easter, celebrated.

Have one, if off thread. Ours is shooting eggs, after Easter dinner, dessert and er, maybe Easter spirits. Troop on outside, set up the eggs no one will eat anyway and take turns - start with the .22. Larger caliber leave less for the animals albeit more fun.

 

[18thVirginia]

What would a Louisiana Easter thread be without music? The Easter Rock is led by a strong lead voice and When the Saints...is probably sung a cappella. So, a version with a female singer.