All about the ancient tribes
The Houma (/ˈhoʊmə/) are a historic Native American people of Louisiana on the east side of the Red River of the South. Their descendants, the Houma people or organization “The United Houma Nation”, have been recognized by the state as a tribe since 1972, but are not recognized by the federal government.
The Houmas were known for their Native American woodcarvings and palmetto baskets. What other Native Americans did the Houma tribe interact with? The Houmas traded regularly with all the other Southeast Native Americans. These tribes communicated using a simplified trade language called Mobilian Jargon.
Centuries of intermarriage thoroughly integrated Catholicism and the French language into Houma identity. Religion Temples were fronted with carved wooden figures. There may also have been earthen images of deities inside. The people probably worshiped a number of gods, in particular the sun, thunder, and fire.
Houma was named after the Native American tribe who settled here, the Houmas Indians. The word houma or ouma means ” red” in the tribe’s language, which referred to the sun or possibly to their war emblem, the crawfish.
The Houma Indian community claims 17,000 members and continues to keep Native American traditions alive from their tribal center in Lafourche Parish.
The Houma tribe, thought to be Muskogean-speaking like other Choctaw tribes, was recorded by the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in 1682 as living along the Red River on the east side of Mississippi River. Because their war emblem is the saktce-ho’ma, or Red Crawfish, the anthropologist John R.
Most Houma people speak French as their first language. Many also speak English. In the past, Houma Indians spoke their own Houma language, which most linguists consider to be a dialect of Choctaw.
The word ” bayou,” almost a synonym for Louisiana in the public mind, is itself derived from the Choctaw (or Mobilian) word, bayuk. The rivers and bayous abound in Indian names, even some of the French toponomy is of Indian origin—Bayou Nez Pique is named after a chief, while Lacassine refers to a medicinal drink.
The Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians, and the Tunica-Biloxi Indian Tribe of Louisiana are the four federally-recognized tribes in Louisiana.
Choctaw, North American Indian tribe of Muskogean linguistic stock that traditionally lived in what is now southeastern Mississippi. The Choctaw dialect is very similar to that of the Chickasaw, and there is evidence that they are a branch of the latter tribe.
The Tunica or Luhchi Yoroni (or Tonica, or less common form Yuron) language is a language isolate that was spoken in the Central and Lower Mississippi Valley in the United States by Native American Tunica peoples.
Houma, Louisiana, in Terrebonne county, is 39 miles SW of Kenner, Louisiana (center to center) and 46 miles SW of New Orleans, Louisiana. Houma was established in 1810. It was incorporated once in 1848 and again in the year 1898.
Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana is in USDA Hardiness Zones 9a and 9b.
Around 1730, after several wars with the French, the Natchez were defeated and dispersed. Most survivors were sold by the French into slavery in the West Indies; others took refuge with other tribes, such as the Muskogean Chickasaw and Creek, and the Iroquoian-speaking Cherokee.
Houma, city, seat (1834) of Terrebonne parish, southeastern Louisiana, U.S., situated about 50 miles (80 km) southwest of New Orleans. It lies along Bayou Terrebonne and the Intracoastal Waterway and is connected to the Gulf of Mexico by the Houma Navigation Canal, 36 miles (58 km) long.
Tribes