Daddy was always proud of our Spanish heritage, traced from where h
e was raised in Delacroix Island down in St. Bernard Parish all the way back to Old World Espana, from where his mom’s Belmonte ancestors hailed, and among that clan, a famous bullfighter (Juan Tomas Belmonte, Hemingway’s contemporary and sidekick, who is related to us, or we to him, whatever).
This photo was shot several years ago at one of the annual Isleno Festival gatherings at Delacroix Island, a celebration that takes place every year around this season. I now have the “Louisiana Isleno” cap Daddy was wearing in this photo, in fact, and one small regret I have after his passing is that I didn’t make one of these festivals with him. He went regularly in the years before his health failed him so, and he was always proud to re-connect to that part of our blood line.
Yo gusto mucho los Islenos, mi familias!
(Forgive me if my Spanish grammar and spelling wants a little.)
David, you have an interesting background. You’ve probably seen this website but in case you haven’t it’s http://www.louisianavoices.org/Unit5/edu_unit5ss_islenos_armiss.html
The entire site has info on all Louisiana and of course the Islenos. My brother-in-law, a Soprano, from Charenton has another Louisiana background that often gets overlooked with the more widely known Cajuns and Creoles getting all the public attention. One day I want to visit St. Bernard and see. I have a lot of Spanish in me too but of course where I’m from the French dominated and so the older people speak French and not Spanish or German.
Yep! Too bad you never made an Isleno Festival. It was just held the middle of March. Bob and I have been several times in past 10 years as we became “drivers” for the old folks. A couple of times we stopped and picked up Aunt Pearl too! THOSE were TRIPS!!!!! I had a called from the president of the organization a month ago because she had my e-mail address incorrect. I’ve paid dues to be a member for years now. Matter of fact, I paid dues for Daddy for the past 10 years along with mine. It was sad to send in my dues this year with a note “St. Bernard Dad deceased, but I want to maintain my membership”!!!