Culture of Louisiana
Encyclopedia
According to the National Geographic
, a group's culture
defines its way of life and its own view of itself and other groups. The elements of a culture include religion, music, food, clothing, language, architecture, art, literature, games, and sports. All of these elements combine to create the culture of Louisiana. Often, these elements are the basis for one of the many festivals in the state.
and then the Spanish
controlled the colony. At the time, both were Catholic countries. After the Louisiana Purchase
in 1803, members of various Protestant
religions moved into the territory. Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians were later joined by other Protestant religions such as the Lutherans, who were often German
immigrants. Members of the Jewish faith have come to Louisiana at various times. More recent immigrants have brought Buddhism
and Islam
into Louisiana.
is a kind of music with strong rhythms and much syncopation
, often improvised. Brass bands and piano players helped create this new sound. Jazz has spread across the planet, an ambassador for Louisiana culture. In New Orleans, jazz funerals for musicians feature marching groups called second lines. The music of contemporary jazz greats like the Marsalis family owes much to the music of earlier artists. Al Hirt's trumpet and Pete Fountain's clarinet entertain both tourists and locals with exciting jazz.
The blues
is also a link to the past. This music style is based on black folk music, especially on the chants of the black workers on the plantations. Those rhythms were memories of their African culture and made the slaves' lives and the work more bearable. The instruments most associated with blues music are the guitar and the harmonica. Later, when horns were added and the tempo changed, the new style was known as rhythm and blues
.
In the 1930s, a cultural anthropologist
toured the United States collecting folk music. The blues music Alan Lomax
recorded in Louisiana is now part of the Smithsonian's Folkways Collection. One of those he recorded was a Shreveport musician named Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly
. A statue of this artist now stands in downtown Shreveport.
A very young Cajun musician is sharing his culture with the world. Hunter Hayes recorded his first CD at the age of five. Playing his accordion and singing in French
, Hayes has entertained national television audiences. He plays with a Cajun band, which features fiddles, the triangle, and the accordion. The Cajuns, who are descended from the Acadians, learned to play the accordion from the Germans who moved into southwest Louisiana in the 1880s.
The early Cajuns often held dance parties at their rural homes. Entire families came, and the young children were put on blanket pallets in the bedroom. They were told to go to sleep, which in French is fais-do-do. This became the name of these dance parties, and today the term fais-do-do
refers to a Cajun dance.
Zydeco
is the special type of music of French-speaking African Americans of South Louisiana. It is much like Cajun music; the song is sung in French and played on an accordion. An added instrument, the rub-board is used for rhythm.
Country music is part of the heritage of North Louisiana. In the days before television, when people gathered for entertainment, musicians brought their instruments. Their string bands usually usually included a guitar, a fiddle, and a mandolin. This traditional southern country music developed into bluegrass music
and then into modern country music. This heritage continues with a state fiddling championship held each year at Marthaville in Natchitoches Parish.
Country music and blues were adapted to become rock and roll
. Rock and roll started in New Orleans as early as the 1940s. Antoine "Fats" Domino and Little Richard recorded 1950s rock-and-roll hits. A young musician named Elvis Presley performed his new music in the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport before he gained national fame. Jerry Lee Lewis
left Ferriday in Concordia Parish to become a piano-pounding rock-and-roll star. The Beatles
and the Rolling Stones listened to Louisiana musicians as they developed their own style. The Neville Brothers and many other musicians continue Louisiana's contribution to rock and roll.
Many early rock-and-roll musicians started out singing gospel music
. Gospel is church music that blends elements of folk music, spirituals
, hymns, and popular music. You can hear gospel music in churches throughout Louisiana every Sunday morning. Songs sung in African-American churches preserve the old spirituals and add contemporary music. Rural churches in North Louisiana feature gospel quartets.
More formal classical music also contributes to the musical sound of Louisiana. Orchestras have created musical culture since colonial days. Young musicians today continue this tradition as they audition for the Louisiana Youth Orchestra in Baton Rouge.
Community brass bands were popular at the turn of the century. Today high school bands perform concerts and provide the marching bands for local parades. Music continues to add a tempo to life everywhere in Louisiana.
, Tony Chachere's
, Zatarain's
and its Louisiana hot sauce, While Louisiana is world famous for Cajun cuisine
, Native American
and Creole combinations preceded their contributions. Early Louisiana residents enjoyed native cuisine (Chitimacha
, Choctaw
, Chicksaw, Natchez
tribes), Spanish, English, and French foods. The cuisines of these cultures blended into what we know as Creole cuisine. Creole cuisine became a blend of traditional French cooking with Spanish, African, and Indian influences.
Although the food most identified with the state is the Cajun
and Creole
food of South Louisiana, North Louisiana
also has its own unique cuisine. Traditionally, southern style soul food
such as smothered pork chops, chicken and dumplings, candied yams, hot water cornbread, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and black eyed peas are commonly eaten in North Louisiana. For many years, crawfish were not eaten outside of Cajun country. People north of Alexandria
were more likely to eat fried chicken or barbecue. Fish fries featuring catfish took the place of crawfish boils. Today, boiled crawfish is served throughout the state.
Other foods popular in Louisiana include Gumbo
, Etouffee
, Jambalaya
, Mufellettas, Po boys, and Red Beans and Rice
(traditionally eaten on Monday). Seafood is especially popular in Louisiana either as an ingredient or as a main dish such as Shrimp
, Crawfish, Crabs, Oysters and Catfish
. Swamp
denizens such as Gator or Alligator
, Frog Legs, and Turtle Soup
is popular around the bayous of south Louisiana.
Famous desserts and snacks include King Cake
, beignets, Pralines, Sweet Potato pie and Pecan pie
.
, Essence Fest, and its most famous, Mardi Gras
. Other popular festivals throughout the state include the Louisiana Crawfish festival, Breaux Bridge Crawfish festival, the Independence Sicilian Festival, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, Louisiana Seafood festival, Franklin Parish Catfish festival, Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival, Annual Louisiana Watermelon Festival in Farmerville, Mudbug Madness in Shreveport, Bridge City
Gumbo Festival, International Rice Festival
, Louisiana Cajun Food Festival, Louisiana Yambilee Festival, Jambalaya festival, shrimp festival, annual crawfish boils, and crawfish cook offs.
is probably the most popular sport throughout the state. Other popular athletic sports include basketball and hockey. Also, recreational sports such as hunting and fishing are also popular, especially in North Louisiana. Louisiana has possibly the biggest in state college rivalry, the Bayou Classic
between Southern University and its North Louisiana counterpart, Grambling State University, which is played annually in New Orleans. Louisiana also has a sports Hall of Fame. Since 1958, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
has honored the
elite figures in state sports history. Only 248 men and women
have been chosen for induction into the Hall of Fame.
The state has many sports teams for highschool, college and professional athletes.
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, a group's culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
defines its way of life and its own view of itself and other groups. The elements of a culture include religion, music, food, clothing, language, architecture, art, literature, games, and sports. All of these elements combine to create the culture of Louisiana. Often, these elements are the basis for one of the many festivals in the state.
Religion
The first religion in Louisiana was Roman Catholic because the FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and then the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
controlled the colony. At the time, both were Catholic countries. After the Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S...
in 1803, members of various Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
religions moved into the territory. Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians were later joined by other Protestant religions such as the Lutherans, who were often German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
immigrants. Members of the Jewish faith have come to Louisiana at various times. More recent immigrants have brought Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
into Louisiana.
Music
New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz. JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
is a kind of music with strong rhythms and much syncopation
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...
, often improvised. Brass bands and piano players helped create this new sound. Jazz has spread across the planet, an ambassador for Louisiana culture. In New Orleans, jazz funerals for musicians feature marching groups called second lines. The music of contemporary jazz greats like the Marsalis family owes much to the music of earlier artists. Al Hirt's trumpet and Pete Fountain's clarinet entertain both tourists and locals with exciting jazz.
The blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
is also a link to the past. This music style is based on black folk music, especially on the chants of the black workers on the plantations. Those rhythms were memories of their African culture and made the slaves' lives and the work more bearable. The instruments most associated with blues music are the guitar and the harmonica. Later, when horns were added and the tempo changed, the new style was known as rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
.
In the 1930s, a cultural anthropologist
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
toured the United States collecting folk music. The blues music Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax
Alan Lomax was an American folklorist and ethnomusicologist. He was one of the great field collectors of folk music of the 20th century, recording thousands of songs in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, the Caribbean, Italy, and Spain.In his later career, Lomax advanced his theories of...
recorded in Louisiana is now part of the Smithsonian's Folkways Collection. One of those he recorded was a Shreveport musician named Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly
Leadbelly
Huddie William Ledbetter was an iconic American folk and blues musician, notable for his strong vocals, his virtuosity on the twelve-string guitar, and the songbook of folk standards he introduced....
. A statue of this artist now stands in downtown Shreveport.
A very young Cajun musician is sharing his culture with the world. Hunter Hayes recorded his first CD at the age of five. Playing his accordion and singing in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Hayes has entertained national television audiences. He plays with a Cajun band, which features fiddles, the triangle, and the accordion. The Cajuns, who are descended from the Acadians, learned to play the accordion from the Germans who moved into southwest Louisiana in the 1880s.
The early Cajuns often held dance parties at their rural homes. Entire families came, and the young children were put on blanket pallets in the bedroom. They were told to go to sleep, which in French is fais-do-do. This became the name of these dance parties, and today the term fais-do-do
Fais do-do
Fais do-do is a name for a Cajun dance party, originating before World War II. According to Mark Humphrey the parties were named for "the gentle command young mothers offered bawling infants." He quotes early Cajun musician Edwin Duhon of the Hackberry Ramblers, "She'd go to the cry room, give...
refers to a Cajun dance.
Zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
is the special type of music of French-speaking African Americans of South Louisiana. It is much like Cajun music; the song is sung in French and played on an accordion. An added instrument, the rub-board is used for rhythm.
Country music is part of the heritage of North Louisiana. In the days before television, when people gathered for entertainment, musicians brought their instruments. Their string bands usually usually included a guitar, a fiddle, and a mandolin. This traditional southern country music developed into bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
and then into modern country music. This heritage continues with a state fiddling championship held each year at Marthaville in Natchitoches Parish.
Country music and blues were adapted to become rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. Rock and roll started in New Orleans as early as the 1940s. Antoine "Fats" Domino and Little Richard recorded 1950s rock-and-roll hits. A young musician named Elvis Presley performed his new music in the Municipal Auditorium in Shreveport before he gained national fame. Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
left Ferriday in Concordia Parish to become a piano-pounding rock-and-roll star. The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and the Rolling Stones listened to Louisiana musicians as they developed their own style. The Neville Brothers and many other musicians continue Louisiana's contribution to rock and roll.
Many early rock-and-roll musicians started out singing gospel music
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
. Gospel is church music that blends elements of folk music, spirituals
Spiritual (music)
Spirituals are religious songs which were created by enslaved African people in America.-Terminology and origin:...
, hymns, and popular music. You can hear gospel music in churches throughout Louisiana every Sunday morning. Songs sung in African-American churches preserve the old spirituals and add contemporary music. Rural churches in North Louisiana feature gospel quartets.
More formal classical music also contributes to the musical sound of Louisiana. Orchestras have created musical culture since colonial days. Young musicians today continue this tradition as they audition for the Louisiana Youth Orchestra in Baton Rouge.
Community brass bands were popular at the turn of the century. Today high school bands perform concerts and provide the marching bands for local parades. Music continues to add a tempo to life everywhere in Louisiana.
Food
Newcomers and visitors to Louisiana usually comment on the music and the food. Louisiana food is considered one of the best elements of the culture, although some visitors find the spices a little too hot. Louisiana is famous for its seasonings such as Cayenne pepperCayenne pepper
The cayenne pepper—also known as the Guinea spice,cow-horn pepper, aleva, bird pepper,or, especially in its powdered form, red pepper—is a red, hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes and for medicinal purposes. Named for the city of Cayenne in French Guiana, it is a cultivar of Capsicum annuum...
, Tony Chachere's
Tony Chachere's
Tony Chachere's refers to the Creole seasoning created by southern Louisiana chef Tony Chachere. Many people refer to the seasoning simply as "Tony's" while others call it "Tony Catchers." The correct pronunciation is "sass-sure-ee's". Today, the official name of the seasoning is Tony Chachere's...
, Zatarain's
Zatarain's
Zatarain's is a food and spice company. It was started in the New Orleans suburb of Gretna by Emile A. Zatarain, Sr., who took out a trademark and began to market root beer in 1889. He expanded his product range to include mustard, pickled vegetables, and extracts.Then he moved into the spice...
and its Louisiana hot sauce, While Louisiana is world famous for Cajun cuisine
Cajun cuisine
Cajun cuisine is the style of cooking named for the French-speaking Acadian or "Cajun" immigrants deported by the British from Acadia in Canada to the Acadiana region of Louisiana, USA. It is what could be called a rustic cuisine — locally available ingredients predominate, and preparation...
, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
and Creole combinations preceded their contributions. Early Louisiana residents enjoyed native cuisine (Chitimacha
Chitimacha
The Chitimacha are a Native American federally recognized tribe that lives in the U.S. state of Louisiana, mainly in St. Mary Parish. They currently number about 720 people. The Chitimacha language is a language isolate.- History :The Chitimacha's historic home was the southern Louisiana coast...
, Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
, Chicksaw, Natchez
Natchez people
The Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
tribes), Spanish, English, and French foods. The cuisines of these cultures blended into what we know as Creole cuisine. Creole cuisine became a blend of traditional French cooking with Spanish, African, and Indian influences.
Although the food most identified with the state is the Cajun
Cajun
Cajuns are an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles...
and Creole
Creole peoples
The term Creole and its cognates in other languages — such as crioulo, criollo, créole, kriolu, criol, kreyol, kreol, kriulo, kriol, krio, etc. — have been applied to people in different countries and epochs, with rather different meanings...
food of South Louisiana, North Louisiana
North Louisiana
North Louisiana is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier City and Monroe-West Monroe....
also has its own unique cuisine. Traditionally, southern style soul food
Soul food
Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...
such as smothered pork chops, chicken and dumplings, candied yams, hot water cornbread, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collard greens, and black eyed peas are commonly eaten in North Louisiana. For many years, crawfish were not eaten outside of Cajun country. People north of Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
were more likely to eat fried chicken or barbecue. Fish fries featuring catfish took the place of crawfish boils. Today, boiled crawfish is served throughout the state.
Other foods popular in Louisiana include Gumbo
Gumbo
Gumbo is a stew or soup that originated in southern Louisiana during the 18th century. It consists primarily of a strongly-flavored stock, meat or shellfish, a thickener, and the vegetable holy trinity of celery, bell peppers, and onions...
, Etouffee
Étouffée
Étouffée or etouffee is a dish found in both Cajun and creole cusine typically served with shellfish over rice. It is most popular in New Orleans and in the bayou country of the southernmost half of Louisiana.-Etymology:...
, Jambalaya
Jambalaya
Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence. -Jambalaya varieties:Jambalaya is traditionally made in three parts, with meats and vegetables, and is completed by adding stock and rice. It is also a close cousin to the saffron colored paella found in Spanish culture...
, Mufellettas, Po boys, and Red Beans and Rice
Red beans and rice
Red beans and rice is an emblematic dish of Louisiana Creole cuisine traditionally made on Mondays with red beans, vegetables , spices and pork bones as left over from Sunday dinner, cooked together slowly in a pot and served over rice...
(traditionally eaten on Monday). Seafood is especially popular in Louisiana either as an ingredient or as a main dish such as Shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
, Crawfish, Crabs, Oysters and Catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
. Swamp
Swamp
A swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
denizens such as Gator or Alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
, Frog Legs, and Turtle Soup
Turtle Soup
Turtle Soup is the last original studio album by The Turtles. It was released in 1969 on the White Whale Records label. The album was produced by Ray Davies of The Kinks – the first time he produced another artist's record. A 1993 Repertoire Records CD-issue included 8 bonus tracks.Turtle Soup...
is popular around the bayous of south Louisiana.
Famous desserts and snacks include King Cake
King cake
A king cake is a type of cake associated with the festival of Epiphany in the Christmas season in a number of countries, and in other places with the pre-Lenten celebrations of Mardi Gras / Carnival...
, beignets, Pralines, Sweet Potato pie and Pecan pie
Pecan pie
Pecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the...
.
Festivals and Carnivals
Louisiana is known for many festivals such as Jazz FestJazz fest
Jazz fest may mean:*a music festival for Jazz*Cork Jazz Festival*Montreal International Jazz Festival*New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival...
, Essence Fest, and its most famous, Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras
The terms "Mardi Gras" , "Mardi Gras season", and "Carnival season", in English, refer to events of the Carnival celebrations, beginning on or after Epiphany and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday...
. Other popular festivals throughout the state include the Louisiana Crawfish festival, Breaux Bridge Crawfish festival, the Independence Sicilian Festival, the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival, Louisiana Seafood festival, Franklin Parish Catfish festival, Natchitoches Meat Pie Festival, Annual Louisiana Watermelon Festival in Farmerville, Mudbug Madness in Shreveport, Bridge City
Bridge City, Louisiana
Bridge City is an unincorporated community in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It was established in the 1930s during the construction of the Huey P. Long Bridge over the Mississippi River. The town is located on the West Bank of the river. It is part of the New...
Gumbo Festival, International Rice Festival
International Rice Festival
The International Rice Festival is an annual festival held during the third weekend in October in Crowley, Louisiana, celebrating rice. The event is Louisiana's oldest agricultural festival, and one of the state's largest...
, Louisiana Cajun Food Festival, Louisiana Yambilee Festival, Jambalaya festival, shrimp festival, annual crawfish boils, and crawfish cook offs.
Sports
Sports are very popular in Louisiana. The northern part of the state is often called "Sportsman's Paradise" locally. American footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
is probably the most popular sport throughout the state. Other popular athletic sports include basketball and hockey. Also, recreational sports such as hunting and fishing are also popular, especially in North Louisiana. Louisiana has possibly the biggest in state college rivalry, the Bayou Classic
Bayou Classic
The State Farm Bayou Classic is the annual college football game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars, first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana, although the series itself actually began in 1936...
between Southern University and its North Louisiana counterpart, Grambling State University, which is played annually in New Orleans. Louisiana also has a sports Hall of Fame. Since 1958, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame
-Inductees:Official Hall of Fame Portraits created by Chris Brown 2009–present-External links:* website...
has honored the
elite figures in state sports history. Only 248 men and women
have been chosen for induction into the Hall of Fame.
The state has many sports teams for highschool, college and professional athletes.
College sports
- Louisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech UniversityLouisiana Tech University, often referred to as Louisiana Tech, LA Tech, or Tech, is a coeducational public research university located in Ruston, Louisiana. Louisiana Tech is designated as a Tier 1 school in the national universities category by the 2012 U.S. News & World Report college rankings...
* Bulldogs - RustonRuston, LouisianaRuston is a city in and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 20,546 at the 2000 census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy caters to its college population... - University of Louisiana at MonroeUniversity of Louisiana at MonroeThe University of Louisiana at Monroe is a coeducational public university in Monroe, Louisiana and part of the University of Louisiana System.-History:...
Warhawks - MonroeMonroe, LouisianaMonroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636... - Louisiana State Tigers - Baton Rouge
- Northwestern State Demons - Natchitoches
- Tulane Green Wave - New Orleans
- Southern UniversitySouthern UniversitySouthern University and A&M College is a historically black college located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Baton Rouge campus is located on Scott’s Bluff overlooking the Mississippi River in the northern section...
Jaguars - Baton Rouge - Grambling State UniversityGrambling State UniversityGrambling State University is a historically black , public, coeducational university, located in Grambling, Louisiana. The university is the home of legendary football coach Eddie Robinson and is on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.-Academics:Grambling State University provides over...
Tigers - GramblingGrambling, LouisianaGrambling is a city in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,693 at the 2000 census. The city is home to Grambling State University and is part of the Ruston Micropolitan Statistical Area.... - Nicholls State UniversityNicholls State UniversityNicholls State University, founded in 1948, is a public university located in Thibodaux, Louisiana, USA. Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System of universities. Originally called Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the institution split from the Louisiana State University System in...
Colonels - Thibodaux, LouisianaThibodaux, LouisianaThibodaux is a small city in and the parish seat of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 14,431 at the 2000 census. Thibodaux is a principal city of the Houma–Bayou Cane–Thibodaux...
League
- Baton Rouge Kingfish (ECHL) - Baton Rouge
- Lake CharlesLake CharlesLake Charles may refer to:in Canada*Lake Charles, Nova Scotia, a lake in the Halifax Regional Municipalityin the United States*Lake Charles, Louisiana, a city in the United States*Lake Charles , the lake after which it is named...
Ice Pirates (WPHL) - Lake CharlesLake Charles, LouisianaLake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in... - Louisiana Ice Gators (ECHL) - LafayetteLafayette, LouisianaLafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
- Monroe Moccasins (WPHL) - Monroe
- New Orleans Zephyrs (PCBL) - New Orleans
- Shreveport Mudbugs (WPHL) - Shreveport
Professional sports
- New Orleans SaintsNew Orleans SaintsThe New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
(NFL) - New Orleans - New Orleans Hornets (NBA) - New Orleans