Sacred Land
A Practice of Reverence, Relationship, and Responsibility
At Sangha House NOLA, we begin with deep bows. We bow in gratitude to the sacred grounds of Bulbancha—the land of many tongues, long before it was named New Orleans. This land holds the footsteps, prayers, and resistance of generations. It is home to the Choctaw, Houma, Chitimacha, and many other Indigenous peoples whose relationship with this earth spans time beyond memory. We honor their presence, past and present, and acknowledge that this land was never ceded.
We honor the lives.
We also honor the lives and labor of African and Afro-Indigenous ancestors, brought here by force and bound in unjust systems whose legacies continue to shape our communities. We walk in the footprints of those who resisted, created, and endured—whose stories are woven into the very soil beneath us. Their wisdom, music, and resilience remain a living current that moves through every offering made here.
This land remembers.
We practice not in ownership, but in relationship—with the land, with our neighbors, and with the more-than-human kin who call this place home. This acknowledgment is not a formality, but a vow: to listen, to learn, and to engage in actions that reconcile, restore balance and belonging. We recognize that true healing includes land repair, ancestral repair, and collective liberation.
We bow again, in reverent commitment to walk gently and courageously. May all that we offer here honor the spirits of this place and the sacred threads that connect us to the earth, to each other, and to the truth of interbeing.
Reflection Invitations
- Who tended this land before you arrived?
- What stories live in the earth beneath your feet?
- How can your practice become an offering of healing and respect?
Indigenous History & Land
Books & Academic Sources:
- “An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873″ by Benjamin Madley (contextualizes Indigenous displacement)
- Tulane Indigenous Symposium resources – Bulbancha (Choctaw for “place of foreign languages”) as the original name for New Orleans land
- United Houma Nation (unitedhoumanation.org) – Living Indigenous community still present
- LSU Special Collections Indigenous Materials – Primary source documents on Louisiana tribes
Key Organizations:
- United Houma Nation
- Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana (first Louisiana tribe to adopt constitution, 1971)
- Jean Lafitte National Historical Park (has Indigenous history programming)
New Orleans Public Library Indigenous Resources (nolalibrary.org) - Chitimacha Tribe official site (chitimacha.gov)
- United Houma Nation (unitedhoumanation.org)
New Orleans was known to Indigenous people as Bulbancha, “the place of other tongues,” and was the traditional hunting, trading, and residential grounds of these Indigenous people
Black Excellence & History
Essential Books:
- “Congo Square: African Roots in New Orleans” by Freddi Williams Evans
- “Afro-Creole: Power, Opposition, and Play in the Caribbean” by Richard D.E. Burton
- “The Free People of Color of New Orleans” by Mary Gehman
- “Slavery’s Exiles: The Story of the American Maroons” by Sylviane A. Diouf
- “Africans in Colonial Louisiana” by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall
Key Sites & Organizations:
- New Orleans African American Museum (NOAAM) in Tremé
- Congo Square (Armstrong Park) – vital place for African cultural continuity
- Backstreet Cultural Museum – preserving Black Mardi Gras traditions
- Tremé neighborhood – oldest Black neighborhood in America
Historical Context:
- Elements of New Orleans culture stem from African resistance to Code Noir, the 1724 “Black Codes” of Louisiana, which attempted to regulate the lives of enslaved people The Houma tribe of southeast Louisiana – by Savanna King
- 1811 German Coast Uprising – one of largest slave revolts in American history
- Free People of Color community created unique Creole culture
Contemporary Scholars & Resources:
- Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson (Johns Hopkins) – slavery, Black women’s history
- Dr. Ibrahima Seck (Whitney Plantation) – African diaspora history
- The Historic New Orleans Collection – extensive archives
Amistad Research Center (Tulane) – African American history archives
