About thirty miles southeast of Independence, the residents of Hungarian Settlement maintain the traditions of another European ethnic group. Foodways and performance dominate the Hungarian customs that have resisted assimilation. For example, cabbage rolls are ubiquitous at celebrations. Old Hungarian songs are sung and danced, and the traditional costumes are still made and passed on by men and women. In the Florida Parishes today, as in the rest of Louisiana, many of the traditions practiced for centuries risk falling victim to the spread of the Sunbelt lifestyle.
Revivalists learn their crafts from magazines and call themselves folk artists.
Young people play rock 'n' roll instead of blues or bluegrass. Lake Pontchartrain, flooded with river water to protect low-lying New Orleans, each year loses more of its bounty of seafood. Still, an increasing awareness of cultural continuity, especially its link to environmental protection, should assure, in the Florida Parishes as elsewhere, the survival of the traditional ways of life. This essay originally appeared in the book, Folklife in the Florida Parishes , co-published in 1988 by the Louisiana Folklife Program within the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Center for Regional Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University, and reflects fieldwork done in 1984. This second online edition includes minor editorial changes.