First timer? In this formerly once-a-day blog (and now pretty much a once-a-week blog) I use an app that provides a random latitude and longitude that puts me somewhere in the continental United States (the lower 48). I call this “landing.”
I keep track of the watersheds I land in, as well as the town or towns I land near. I do some internet research to hopefully find something of interest about my landing location.
To find out more about A Landing A Day (like who “Dan” is) please see “About Landing” above. To check out some relatively recent changes in how I do things, check out “About Landing (Revisited).”
Landing number 2664; A Landing A Day blog post number 1110
Dan: Today’s lat/long (N29o 53.953’, W90o 49.004) puts me in south Louisiana:
Here’s my local landing map:
My streams-only map shows that I landed in the watershed of the Grand Bayou, on to the Bayou Boeuf, on to Lac des Allemands:
Zooming back:
Lac des Allemands is drained by the Bayou des Allemands, on to Lake Salvador, on to Bayou Perot. From there, the drainage kind of wanders its way south to the Gulf of Mexico. By the way, this is the second time I’ve been in the Bayou des Allemands / Bayou Perot watershed.
The Orange Dude was able to get a look at Grand Bayou where it cuts through the strip of high ground that contains Chackbay and Choupique:
Here’s what he sees:
Let’s take a broad look at Google Earth:
So I landed in the swamp that lies between levees associated with the Mississippi River to the north and a strip of higher ground to the south. By the way, the Mississippi is bounded by natural levees that were propped up with man-made levees in the 20th century. The natural levees are the whole reason there was dry land upon which to build the original city of New Orleans.
Here’s a closer look with some pertinent elevation data (“Elevation 1” means the elevation of the swamps is one foot above sea level; “Elevation 4” is 4′ above sea level):
Speaking of ancient levees, it is likely that the skinny strip of higher land that contains Chackbay and Choupique is just that.
OK. What exactly is a natural levee, and how is it formed? I’ll start with this figure from Rossett Geography Department (which is a comprehensive earth and social science homeschooling website – very cool):
For purposes of discussion, let’s start with a stream channel that has no natural levee. There’s a very heavy rainfall over the watershed, and the river starts rising. The velocity of the channel increases, as does the load of sediment being carried. By the way, the sediment consists of clay (finest), silt (medium) and sand (coarsest). The water has to be moving really fast to carry sand.
The river level keeps rising, and the water (with its sediment load) until it breaks out of the river bed, and begins to flow out on the flood plain. The velocity of the water immediately decreases, as the water is relatively shallow and “feels” the friction of the flood plain.
As the water slows, the sediment load settles out, with the sand dropping out first. Further from the river channel, the water slows even more, and the silt drops out. You get the picture.
After multiple floods, a natural levee is formed, with coarser materials closest to the river, and finer materials further away.
So, here’s the Chackbay / Choupique (C/C) story. I spent some time searching for the story presented by a knowledgeable geologist, but I could find nothing. So, I’m a geologist, and my fingers are on the keyboard, so here goes:
I figure that the C/C strip of high ground is related to Bayou Lafourche (not yet mentioned). Here’s a GE shot:
Back in the day, Bayou Lafourche was actually connected to the Mississippi River (at least during times of high river levels). So, when the Mississippi flooded, so did Bayou Lafourche. Eventually, a significant natural levee was built up around the bayou, which is easy to see in the above GE shot. (The man-made levee along the Mississippi River completely cut off any flows to Bayou Lafourche).
Here’s a closer shot of the Bayou Lafourche levee, along with the C/C levee:
So. I believe that the C/C levee reflects a former pathway of Bayou Lafourche, early in its formational history. One of the floods that came ripping down Bayou Lafourche changed the course of the bayou, and the C/C bayou channel was abandoned. But the levee remained (and the old bayou channel was filled in through time).
Phew. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it . . .
So. There’s not much to say about Chackbay. First, a quirky mistake I found on Wiki. Under “Notable People” is Billy Tauzin, a former Congressman and lobbyist for big pharma. What a great combination. But anyway, Wiki says that he “lived in Clarks Summit while he was in office.”
There is one and only one “Clarks Summit” in the U.S. (and probably the world). It is outside of Scranton Pennsylvania. The sky is blue, night follows day, and Billy Tauzin did not live in Clarks Summit while in office.
What a strange mistake. Maybe added to Wiki as a prank by one of Billy’s political enemies . . .
I googled “Chackbay Louisiana etymology,” and the A.I. feature sent me to a website that said “Chackbay is probably another Indian name.” Wow. Thanks for the meaningful information. On the same page, it says that a bayou is a “Choctaw word meaning slow-assed stream.” At least that tells me something.
Moving on to Choupique (also Choupic). First off – it is pronounced shoe pick. Second of all, nearly all of the internet hits for Choupique (or Choupic) are about a fish, unsurprisingly called a choupique.
A.I. says that the word ‘choupique’ comes from the Choctaw word “shupik,” their name for the fish. Geez. Usually, I make fun of the local pronunciation of Indian words, but this time it appears that the locals got it right!
From Louisiiana Sportsman, here’s a happy fisherman (one Lloyd Brandt) with a chouopique, caught in Bayou des Allemands (part of my drainage!)
I also stumbled on a bit of Mardi Gras. Those of you familiar with Mardi Gras (likely in New Orleans), you have heard of “krewes,” which are social organizations that put on Mardi Gras parades and balls. New Orleans has dozens of krewes.
Anyway, Choupic and Chackbay have their own! Krewe of Choupic. From Louisiana’s Cajun Bayou website, here’s a shot of the parade and the parade route:
I don’t know why the above map says “Chegby” along with “Chackbay.”
From Louisiana Folklife, I found an article about the C/C Mardi Gras celebration:
On Mardi Gras day in the rural community of Choupic, Louisiana, it is not unusual to see young children scrambling across the fields, swamps, and neighbors’ yards in an attempt to escape the bantering wrath of the switch-bearing masked men who are racing after them.
Richard Clement, a lifelong resident of the area, remarked on Lundi Gras, (the Monday before Mardi Gras): “If you’d be here at around nine o’clock tomorrow morning, you’d see Mardi Gras’ers all over . . . poor kids running in the swamp.”
Glen Clement, a middle-aged son of Richard Clement who now has children of his own, says that the chasers have no set routes nor specific rules of conduct. The intent is to scare the younger boys and girls of the community. The masked runners chase the youth down then have them recite their prayers before giving them their pre-Lenten flogging–a few whelps on the rear end and legs inflicted with tree switches and sometimes the flexible ends of broken fishing poles.
The chasers gather early on Mardi Gras morning at a place called Possum Square near the town barroom. Alcohol consumption begins here and continues throughout the day. The chasers then crowd into the back of a few pickup trucks and hide. The driver remains unmasked so that Choupic residents do not know which trucks bear the revelers. Eight-year-old Jordan and twelve-year old Amber report that when trucks start passing along the road (Highway 304) honking their horns, everyone knows the chasers are on their way.
When the trucks reach the residential section of Choupic, all the chaser-harboring vehicles stop and the costumed men raid the area, hollering and waving their formidable switches.
When caught, the frightened captives are then taken to the busiest street in Choupic, Mark Lane. Here, they are lined up and whipped with switches by the unidentifiable, chastising chasers. The adult onlookers, some of whom are the children’s own parents, watch in amusement as the children are commanded to say their prayers on their knees. Richard Clement laughs, “You get a kick out of seeing the poor kid who’s trembling and scared to death.” Yet the children themselves seem to delight in the fright and mild pain inflicted upon them during the mock public flogging.
Mardi Gras in Choupic has always been an organized chaos, and the festival grows bigger every year. The Choupic Mardi Gras chase winds down around noon, giving Choupic residents time to “catch the Thibodaux parade” (get to Thibodaux six miles away for the parade there).
In the mid 1970s, Choupic began a late afternoon parade much like truck parades in other small towns. Yet the early morning chase in Choupic is in no danger of ending; too many in the community enjoy the celebration.
When asked what the tradition in Choupic signifies or means, Richard Clement recollects that back in the day, Tuesday night at midnight, the barroom and the dance hall were shut: “They put a big bar across the door until Easter Sunday. No dances, no drinking, nothing.” Mr. Clement believes young men went crazy on Mardi Gras “because they knew they had seven weeks of doing nothing.”
The article is much longer and presents more details about the Mardi Gras chase. If you’re interested, click HERE.
I’ll close with this shot of Grand Bayou posted near my landing on GE by Shane Adams:
That’ll do it
Greg
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