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Painting by Ed Barnes
Baton Rouge, La. |
Back in the days before the black culture had their churches,
their christening moved into the church, they used to have
on Sunday evenings, they all gathered. Well, they would actually
gather Sunday morning and they would have their services and
everything and they would all go out to the bayou. And they
would have their bayou marked off, where, its sides, the ministers
or priests or whatever they called them, would go down in the
water, up to the waist, to baptize these people. On the other
side of the bayou there so many of the blacks on the church
side, that other people would go on the other side and sit down
on the banks and they'd enjoy watching these people christen
there members in the bayou. What they would do, they would
walk them so far as they could and then they'd make them face
toward the bank and then they'd bend them backwards and bring
them up and ask them something, we don't know what, because
we were on the other side of the bayou, but they would do this
until they finally, we would say until they saw the Lord when
they brought them back up.
The white people would all get over
there and participate in it cause they clap and sing along with
them and these people really went big celebrating and it was
such a loss when they stopped doing this because everybody looked
forward to it, and all the community would go down there for
this gathering.
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Newspaper Photo of Baptism
in Dorseyville, La.,
by Z. Valenziano |
It was their type of church service and things
they did and everybody respected it and thought a lot of it.
They were just outdone that they quit doing this that way. But
now, I understand, I'm not really positive, but I understand
they do it in the church. So that eliminates them having these
functions on the bayou. They were very impressive, and as I
said, the people would all take part clapping and singing and
enjoying the whole thing; and it would last the whole Sunday
afternoon. That was your Sunday evening entertainment. Of course
they were very entertained, because they were all so religious
like they are with their movements and their reverence that
they have. They are so outstanding, they just made a show for
you. So we really enjoyed that too, and that's something I'll
never forget.
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