SW News: Hundreds of devout Catholics assembled along the Bayou Teche waterway in Louisiana, USA, on Sunday, August 15, to take part in the annual Fete Dieu du Teche. The Fete involves a solemn Eucharistic boat procession and it is the most important event in the heavily Catholic area.

The Fete marks the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady and also the anniversary of the arrival of French-Canadian immigrants who form a bulk of Southwest Louisiana’s Cajun population. Early on Sunday, the Eucharistic procession began with a Mass said in French by Bishop John Douglas Deshotel of Lafayette Diocese at St Leo’s Church in Leonville.

A fleet of boats sailed down the Bayou Teche with the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance in the center along with incense and sacred statues. As the boats passed by, those on the banks of the shores knelt in adoration. The procession had stops at Arnaudville, Cecilia, Breaux Bridge, Parks and finally St. Martinville where there was a solemn Benediction at St Martin du Tours Church.

Our Lady of the Assumption is the patroness of the Acadian people who first sailed the Bayou Teche in order to find a new home after they were exiled from their homeland.

“Having a boat procession with the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of the Assumption involving priests, religious and laity is basically what happened in 1765,” says the Community of Jesus Crucified, the religious order that has been entrusted with the Fete.