La Toussaint - Lighting of the Graves

La Toussaint

Lighting of the Graves

BY SANDRA SCALISE JUNEAU

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOANIE JOHNSTON

Obscured within winding bayous, sheltered by moss-laden pines and nestled with palmetto fronds, centuries-old cemeteries enlace Lake Pontchartrain’s northern shores. Within these cherished places of remembrance, families gather on All Saints Day for La Toussaint, les Lumieres du Morte or the Lighting of the Graves.

For centuries, Nov. 1 has served as a special day of prayer and remembrance for families in our Northshore communities. The observance’s origins are shrouded in mystery, but La Toussaint stands as a testament to the timelessness of our region’s earliest traditions.

La Toussaint is a blending of cultures. It combines the ancient Mayan practice of Les Lumieres des Mort—Lights of the Dead—with the French-Catholic custom of honoring ancestors on All Saints Day when families offer flowers, candles and prayers in reverent homage to their deceased.

Edolia Barros, who lives in Slidell near Bayou Lacombe, has family members interred in both the Dubisson and Morgan Cemeteries, “going back, at least 7 or 8 generations.”

“In our family, the men begin cleaning the gardens and the graves during the second week in October. On the day of the Lighting, families bring flowers and candles as we gather for the Blessing in remembrance of our deceased loved ones,” she said. “This is how we teach our younger generations to honor our deceased ancestors. The annual Blessing of the Graves continues, always as a joyful celebration of their lives.”

Some scholars believe the tradition had been celebrated in Lacombe by Native American dwellers centuries before French settlers arrived in the early 18th century. Tom Aicklen, a historian, author and lecturer who has studied First American cultures, tells of an ancient migration that may have brought the tradition to our shores.

“Legend tells of a migration 1,200 years ago of the followers of the Mayan Rain God Cha’ac from Yucatan to Louisiana, bringing with them the advanced culture and religious traditions of the Maya Yucatan. Tribesmen would gather in the dark forest on a certain night to light ritual bonfires to guide the spirits of departed ancestors back to earth,” he said.

Aicklen says archaeological and scientific evidence confirm the theory and these tribal people ultimately became the Southeastern temple mound builders and the Chacta (Choctaw).

The ministry of Catholic Priest Père Adrien Rouquette likely served to combine these traditions. A child of Creole-French heritage, Rouquette visited family in Lacombe and became familiar with the Choctaw language and customs. After studying law in France, Rouquette returned to Louisiana in 1859 as an ordained priest, the first native-born Louisiana Creole to do so. He spent 27 years living among the Choctaw as a missionary and became known affectionately as Chahta-Ima, which means “like a Choctaw.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTHONY "CHOPPER" LEONE

Many believe Rouquette was the first white man allowed to view the Choctaw’s secret ceremony for the Feast of the Dead. According to the book Pere Rouquette Day Lacombe, during the Feast for the Dead, Choctaw would disperse into the woods at sunset and build small fires. Special lamentations and chanting continued until midnight. Then, the group returned from the woods for a banquet and ritual dances.

Rouquette incorporated Choctaw traditions into his faith, and along the way, the Feast of the Dead became known as Les Toussaints les Lumieres du Morte. The bonfires became candles, and the chanting became Catholic prayers.

“It was always a beautiful thing,” said Laura Balancier Narcisse. “The priest came to bless the graves. I remember that we would sing songs, and the gathering would go on into the night. We decorated the graves with paper flowers. My grandmother would make wreaths and crosses with silk and paper flowers. She would melt a pot of wax on the stove and dip in the flowers to coat them. If you went to the cemetery months later, those flowers still looked real with all their colors still showing!”

In years past, gatherings usually included hampers of food to sustain families through a full day of prayer and remembrance. In recent years, Narcisse said families gather after the Blessings in nearby homes, and everyone brings food to share.

As a child, Narcisse remembers hearing about traveling to the cemeteries by boat. “Before there were motorized vehicles or even reliable roads, the funeral processions traveled by skiffs and pirogues through the bayous to the cemeteries. Losing your loved ones, there was the sacred comfort of always having a priest there to lead the prayers. Our cemeteries are truly Holy Ground,” she said.