(birds chirping) - This song goes like this, it goes, ready?

(upbeat music) These two cultures in this area, Cajun culture, Creole culture, it's one culture.

It's the way we sing, it's the way we dance.

It's the food we cook.

It's your Nanny, it's your Parraines.

It's our religion, the stories you tell kids, like the Rougarou in the woods that's gonna scare you.

(slow music) - [Brandi] Voodoo is a spiritual path, a way that I lead my life.

- People think we're sticking pins in dolls, and we are, I'll tell you, that it's not what you think.

- People, they want to feel included, and I think in New Orleans, you have a feeling of welcome in, you belong.

(slow music) - [Monty] I remember the first time I ever flew on an airplane.

As we flew across the country, I remember looking out the window the whole time, my nose just pressed against the glass, sort of surveying the land below me.

I remember having this strange sense of duty, to dedicate myself in some way to helping.

- [Reporter] Opioid addiction reaching epidemic levels.

- [Reporter] Fast moving fives over parts of California.

- [Reporter] Breaking news, at least nine people killed overnight in the mass droves.

- As I grew older, I ended up raising a family and becoming a lawyer and ultimately becoming CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Well, and it's a vision to change food culture.

One of the things I liked best was interacting with thousands and thousands of people over the years and really getting to know them, loads of different people from very different walks of life.

The more I got to know, the more convinced I was that, man, we're all very much the same in so many ways.

And you wouldn't know that from what we see on TV or hear on the radio.

All that stuff suggests that we're very divided, that we're not united at all, that we're all about disagreement, that we're all about arguing, that we're all about fighting.

But I think the truth is just the opposite.

There's a great deal more that unites us.

What I want to do with this docuseries is to tell the stories of people who might never be seen or heard and to help bring the wisdom from people from many different walks of life so that everyone has access to it.

In some ways, I'm still just that small boy with my nose pressed against the glass, looking down at this beautiful place we all live and wanting to do some good, wanting to demonstrate that there's a lot more that unites us than divides us.

(airplane rumbles) (slow banjo music) Landing in Louisiana, I'm excited to explore its unique culture and landscape.

Much of the land here was formed when silts from the Mississippi River formed large swamps and bayous, making the place a paradise for fish, birds, and other wildlife.

Long ago, Louisiana was heavily settled by French speaking Acadians, otherwise known as Cajuns, but also by Spanish, German, English, African, and Native American people, forming what's now known as the Creole culture.

While most people here are Christian, the state still has incredible religious diversity.

For example, refugees fleeing the violence of the Haitian Revolution in the early 1800s added African culture, bringing new kinds of dance, music, and religious practices, such as voodoo, said to be one of the world's most misunderstood religions.

All of this makes Louisiana unique, a melting pot of geographies, cultures, food, music, and religion.

In fact, diversity is celebrated even in the state's Constitution, which calls out the right of the people to preserve, foster, and promote their respective historic, linguistic, and cultural origins.

What does Creole mean, where does that term come from?

- Well, Creole was like the things of the new world, so in Latin cultures or French cultures, Spanish culture, whatever.

- When you say Latin, most people, when you say Latin, think of Latin America, south of the border.

- So the Caribbean, I mean, that's all Latin based cultures.

But, I mean, similarly, you've got areas of Western Africa, you know what I mean?

You've got (indistinct) all the way by Madagascar, all these, this is all Creole peoples.

- Are most of the people in Louisiana Creole?

- Historically, all of us were.

(laughs) But no, I mean, there's tons of English and Scottish and everything else that's moved here, like everywhere else in America.

- So what percentage of the people who live in Louisiana now are Creole?

- It's tough because everyone assumes all of Louisiana is the same thing.

But if you think of Louisiana, the map as a boot, all of this is an entirely different culture.

This is all different religion, different accent, different everything, the Bible Belt- - [Monty] So Christian?

- Oh, yeah, it's all Baptist and Pentecostal, and you know what I mean?

Just typical, Mississippi, Alabama- - How about the bottom of the boot?

- No, that's where all our people would be, so bottom of the boot.

- [Monty] And so who are they, who are your people?

- Cajun people, Creole people.

(slow music) My family's been here for a long time.

We were definitely here before America.

We're French, Native, Spanish, African, all of it.

Historically, Cajuns would be people that are descended from L'Acadie, they were Acadiens, which Acadiens, anglicized version of that would be Cajun.

When Acadians arrived in Louisiana, you already had people in Louisiana that were direct from France, and they would have just been Creole, right?

Because they were the, normally the children of wealthy people, like the second sons, 'cause if you were an aristocrat or a big land owner or whatever, I mean, your first son's gonna get everything, so very good to go to the new world and go get your own estate as a second son.

You had slaves, you had free people of color, you had Native Americans, right, you had the Atakapa and the Houma and all these different people, this is what South Louisiana was.

And this culture had already kind of started to develop into a mix of those things.

So when the Acadian people got here, they ended up becoming separate from the Acadians that are still left in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and these areas in Canada, and a lot of that is because of that greater Creole influence.

So the Acadians came and they brought their own things.

They might have had their own types of songs and dances and things that were added.

They brought certain dishes that were added, but then you had these other things that existed that these French people might have added, these African people might have added, these Natives added, Spanish, Germans, all of this, and created one distinct culture that was unified, you understand?

Everybody kind of put something in the pot.

So that greater thing is what I would say is the encompassing Creole, and then independently, Cajun being within that, as you descend from this line of people.

The history is what I just explained to you, right, but the living today is just, I mean, it's a culture, it's a living, breathing culture.

- Is that culture important to you?

- Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt.

- [Monty] So tell me, and you grew up with that culture.

- Yeah.

- So what was it like?

Tell me what it was like to be a young man growing up here with that culture.

- I don't know, you get up, you go to school like anybody else.

But we got home, Mama would always have something good cooking 'cause food's obviously a big thing for our people, you know what I mean?

Everybody hears about Cajun food and whatever, but they don't realize how much effort goes into that kitchen.

Mama would have a pot started before she'd go to work in the morning, and not just like a crock pot.

No, it's not that kind of meal.

This was work, you better come home and you gotta work on this, and that was if she was cooking something slow.

If not, she'd get off of work and immediately start cooking, and, I mean, just browning down a gravy.

You got your onions and celery and bell pepper and everything browning down.

She'd have some meat over here, and then that's going, and always something cooking, there was always something good cooking- - Is there a restaurant around here where you can get great Cajun food, like what you're talking about?

- [Jourdan] Oh, yeah, there's a million.

- A million?

- But honestly, I don't go to a lot of big restaurants as much as the little mom and pop spots.

So there's a lot of little bitty spots that if I drove by right now and I said, "Hey, we ought to go stop at a Quick Stop," and you'd be like, "I came all the way here and that's where you're gonna go take me?"

And I'd be like, "Yep."

(overlapping chattering) - We started actually cooking at my sister's place.

We'd sell seafood on Wednesday night, that was- - And people were liking it.

- Oh, yeah, we would sell out- - And he'd tell me, "Maybe we could get a space."

- Liking it?

- Right.

- It was past liking, the lines we was facing, it was past liking.

- Yeah, as soon as we thought we would be caught up, man, come with some more tickets.

- So doing that consistently, and the response we would get from just doing that on one day, he said, "Man, we ought to open our own restaurant."

And I thought he was joking.

Two weeks later, he was like, "Man, I found a prime location."

(laughs) We're known for good crawfish.

Now, there's a lot of other places that have crawfish- - [Monty] Well, how can it be good or bad?

Don't you just boil them?

- No.

- No.

- Ooh, I know I stepped in that.

- We're not buying no seasoning out the store, we have our own blend that we created and people love it.

- [Monty] You guys kind of found a magic formula, didn't you?

- [Darrell] Oh, that's what we call it.

- [Monty] Is that what you call it?

- Yeah, that's the magic room back there.

- Is that right?

- Yeah.

(laughs) - Top secret, no one's allowed in.

- Yeah, (laughs) we never wrote the recipe down nowhere.

Me and him is the only ones that knows it.

When we first started, we only had three things on the menu, we had crawfish, shrimp, and snow crab.

And now we have burgers, we have chicken.

And our chicken was voted third best in Louisiana.

First was Popeye's, second was Chick-fil-A, and we were third.

- Oh, that's awesome.

- For us to win third, me and him coming from what we came from and trying to make this work, for us to be compared with them, it's big.

Most everybody that works here is our family.

- [Monty] So it's mostly a family business, then?

- Oh, yeah, our slogan is, "Family first, food forever."

(slow guitar music) - I grew up on this side of town.

This is the north end of Lake Charles, and I was more city oriented.

- Oh, okay.

- I would do country, like my family comes from the country, but I was one of those kids- - You were a city boy.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, a city boy, (laughs), he didn't- - I didn't start hunting and fishing until I was a teenager.

My upbringing was single parent home, can't always get what I want, got a younger brother, younger sister.

I was just one of those ones that always wanted more.

And when I was able to step out on my own and show somebody my potentials and what I can do, what can I bring to the table, I would always just do my best at it.

- My mom lived kind of here in town, but my grandmother and my dad, we lived out in the country.

So I got to see some city life a little bit, but most of the time, I was out in the country.

I started welding at 15, so when I graduated high school, I went straight to work.

I had a lot of knowledge real young and I could understand the new welding machines that were being made, so they made me a supervisor at 21.

- [Monty] Oh, wow, good for you.

- 'Cause I was teaching these older men who didn't know nothing- - How to use the welding machine.

- Yeah, so, and then from there, I was an inspector.

Sometimes I'd be on the road, like I went to Texas for a six week job and stayed nine months, and then we got laid off on Thursday, they'd text me Friday, I had to be in California Monday.

- Oh my gosh, so it wasn't a perfect job for a family, a working family- - I didn't have my little girl yet.

So when I was done with that working on the road when she was born, I didn't want to go back.

- [Monty] Different direction, yeah.

- Yeah, 'cause you can't raise a family working from the road.

(slow guitar music continues) - I have friends and people I know that have families from either Texas or Indiana or wherever, and it's very common to be like, "Oh, yeah, that's my brother, he lives in this state.

I hadn't seen him in two, three years and it's gonna be nice to get together."

Or, "Here's my other sister, she lives such and such, and I haven't seen her, it's been six months."

That's preposterous in my mind.

I've got three sisters.

I see them all the time.

(laughs) - [Monty] And they live right nearby.

- Yeah, I see them all the time, we fuss- - And so you want your kids to live nearby.

- Oh, yeah, oh, I know they will.

They just will, they say it all the time.

They're like, "Daddy, we want to build on the property," and I'm like, "You're a kid.

Maybe it will be different when you get older."

- What is it about Louisiana that families stay close?

- I don't know, you see them all the time.

You spend your time with them.

(slow music) We've moved more than our parents or anyone before them would have moved.

I moved probably about 30 minutes, 35 minutes from where I grew up.

That's pretty far.

I know that sounds ridiculous, you know what I mean?

- [Monty] It does.

- Because people move across the country, but when I was a kid, if somebody would say, depending on what last name they said they were, right, what family name, it denoted where you were from, 'cause people ask me, they're like, "Thibodeaux, you from Church Point?"

I get that all the time, and I'm not 'cause I'm one of the very few Thibodeauxs who weren't in that area.

All these little towns, you go to Grandbois or something like that, that's all Theriots.

All these families live right there.

Over here's the Angelles.

If you say you're an Angelle, chances are you're from up around Breaux Bridge, Cecilia.

You're from one of those two towns, that's just, it is what it is, and it's because these families would come and settle, and then your kids move right there, their kids move right there, their kids move right there.

(slow music) - [Monty] You've been in New Orleans your whole life, then?

- Yeah, born and raised.

- [Monty] Born and raised.

- Mom's from here, Papa is from here.

We go back a ways in New Orleans.

- Is that kind of a Louisiana thing?

It seems like everyone stays pretty close.

People don't move away, why?

- I think that the South, we have such a connection with family, and if your family's here, it's where you want to be.

Also, a lot of people end up taking care of other siblings, they end up taking care of their parents, and so there's a part where you really do love where you are.

There's another part where you kind of feel like you have to stick close, that your family counts on you to be here.

And I will tell you, Katrina changed that around.

(slow music) There were people who had literally never left New Orleans or the area, and then losing homes, losing family homes.

People ended up being scattered to the wind.

- [Monty] You remember it pretty well?

- Oh, damn skippy, I do.

It was kind of like one of those last man standing things.

There was my house with a lot of damage, but it was able to be repaired.

I was surrounded, though, by just flat, there's ground where a house used to be.

There's ground where little houses, giant houses used to be.

Anyone who had yard space had people, family, and friends in their yards in FEMA trailers, and that went on longer than you might think, two years, three years, four years down the road.

It's almost like people were in a limbo.

We just had Ida, and I had 16, 17 people, all their pets at my house in every nook and cranny.

Bottom line is, down here, people help each other out.

I'm not saying that doesn't happen other places, but I know down here, during Katrina, Zeta, Ida, we are out there and we're helping each other tarp roofs.

One person's cooking barbecue, everyone's eating barbecue.

So the whole idea that people really come together down here, it really is true.

- [Monty] You are, and you said Osofo?

- I'm Osofo, Osofo meaning priest.

- Okay, priest.

- Osofo Fier Ra was the full name, and for my priesthood name, Osofo Fier Ra.

- What's that, Fier Ra?

- Yeah, Fier Ra.

In Afrikaans, we believe in the Ra, the Ra gods, the time Napoleon wanted to crown himself Ra.

- [Monty] Oh, okay.

- Yeah, this came from African perspective from the days of the Pharaoh.

- [Monty] Yeah, I remember that, Ra like the sun- - [Andrew] Ra, the good sun god, yeah.

- [Monty] And so, but are you a voodoo priest?

- Yes and no, yes in the sense that that's our strength, race one way or the other.

No because I'm not an ardent practitioner.

I don't say relics, I don't do a lot of things as people might require priesthood to do me.

- [Monty] What is it you do?

- [Andrew] I draw, I sing, I write songs.

I write even gospel songs.

- [Monty] Oh, really?

- [Andrew] Yeah.

- [Monty] Okay, and Christian gospel songs?

- [Andrew] The Christian gospel songs.

- Do you find that Christianity is largely consistent with voodoo?

- Well, it's all perpendicular.

In one way or the other, I want to look at it this way, look at it that way, I don't know- - [Monty] But they don't collide, they don't- - They do, there's nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes, the Christians who got infiltrated by the voodoo practitioners' way of doing things, but if you look at it deep down, we are looking at the same thing.

All people trying to reach God.

- [Monty] When were you first introduced to voodoo?

- I felt called from a really young age to have connections with, I guess I'd just say, the natural world.

(slow drumming music) Let's say I'd have a question, what was gonna go on, what was gonna happen, there might be a rose in the garden, and I knew that rose was telling me something.

It could have been a stoplight, it could have been a bee that's just sitting in front of my face, not moving anywhere, and I would know that was a relation that had passed, coming to say hello to me.

I felt that spirit was always walking with me.

I don't remember a time when spirit wasn't.

All due respect to all religions of the world, there's some people who take their idea and their concept of what they may view as evil, and then when they see it expressed by another completely different tradition, religion, path, they're using their explanation for that symbol, and it's a totally different reason that that other culture is using that symbol.

A lot of this came from people from the outside looking in, seeing symbols that they didn't understand, and getting thrown into an evil pot- - Right, but it might be more than just a naive or gentle misunderstanding, it also might be 'cause it sells a lot more T-shirts to have a skull with blood coming out the mouth, saying "voodoo."

- Oh, no doubt.

- [Monty] You know what I mean?

- Movies don't thrive on peace, love, and understanding.

They thrive on drama, drama, drama, and woo.

- [Monty] Right.

(slow music) - Growing up in South Louisiana, you always know about voodoo.

We have a thing in voodoo called a gris-gris.

It's a bag we tie up with certain herbs and roots.

We give it to people to help them with, if they go into a casino to win some money, or if they're having health problems, to help with their health, maybe attract a lover, things like this.

But in the Cajun language, gris-gris, people would always threaten this, "He's gonna put the gris-gris on you."

Gris-gris, it meant they were gonna put something else, gonna put some magic on you.

But it's just simply misunderstood.

People didn't take the time to ask the questions, what is that, why are you putting pins into that figure?

It's an old African tradition 'cause they would carve a statue out of wood.

Let's say someone had a heart problem, they would drive a nail into the heart of that statue as a way of tapping into an energy for healing.

- Is voodoo heavily aimed towards improving one's health?

- Not just health, it's about becoming a better human being.

That's the ultimate goal.

Voodoo originates from West Africa.

- [Monty] How long ago?

- [Jesse] Oh, as far as we can tell, about 10,000 years.

- Oh, wow, so it's older than Christianity, older than Buddhism, maybe.

- It's extremely old, but it's extremely preserved.

- [Monty] And is there a god in the religion?

- [Jesse] There is, a god we call Bondye, which just basically means in French "good god."

When God created the earth, he also created spirits, special spirits that we serve in voodoo called the lwa, and these spirits were created by God for us to serve them so that they could serve us.

So we serve the spirits and they guide us through life.

(slow music) I was born like most people in South Louisiana a good Catholic.

(laughs) - Okay, so you went to the Catholic Church growing up?

- Yep, went to Catholic Church, went to Catholic School- - [Monty] You learned about God and Jesus, and- - Yeah, correct, everyone was Catholic.

So it was just normal every day life, but I was always trying to find something more.

(slow piano music) It was always a search.

And I think that's what ultimately led me to voodoo.

When I was 10 years old, I was with my step-grandmother.

She lives in New Orleans, she makes candles for a living, and we were delivering candles to a voodoo shop in the French Quarter, and she was bringing the candles in the door and she turned around and she saw someone and she put the candles down, she said, "Wait, you gotta meet this old lady."

So we ran across the street and met Mama Margaret, this old lady, she was just getting into her car, and she got out, and when she saw me, she gave me a big hug, and we were best friends from that point on.

- [Monty] Immediately?

- And I could feel something about her as soon as I met her.

It was a glow, it was a happiness, it was- - [Monty] Love?

- Love, absolutely.

We spent so much time together, and she's the one who really got me started and got me going to ceremonies, and I just knew, always had an interest in theology since I was a small child, and I just found a home here.

I knew that I wanted to be a priest.

I knew this was the thing in my life that I needed.

I had to do this, but I never could do it.

It's a lot of work to become a priest.

There's a lot of things you have to do, and I never was at a point, and finally, I just, I left it alone.

If you sit back, if you stop searching, stop worrying, the spirit will put you where you're supposed to be.

And that was a hard lesson for me to learn, that I just gotta let the spirit do what they're gonna do.

I can't force anything.

And the spirit brought Mama Lola, which is my spiritual mother, and through Mama Lola, I was brought to my spiritual father, John Francois, and he's the one who finally put me through the djevo, we call it.

That's the initiation chamber.

Some people even call it the tomb because initiation is a symbol of death and rebirth.

- [Monty] Like many others, I had always thought of voodoo as being about curses, black magic, frightening spirits, and other symbols of darkness.

But in the presence of Andrew, Jesse, and Brandi, I felt so much warmth, and they've shown me that voodoo is based on respect and reverence, with an emphasis on caring for others, healing people, and improving lives.

I was surprised to learn how African people, as they were made to practice Catholicism as slaves, incorporated many of the Catholic saints as voodoo spirits, and that it's common to practice both religions simultaneously, going to mass, but then paying respect to and seeking guidance from the many spirits of the voodoo religion.

I'm eager to learn more because what truly heals people is certainly something that has never been completely understood.

(slow piano music) - [Jourdan] I had cancer at one point in my throat years back.

- [Monty] Oh, did you?

- Yeah, couldn't talk at all for a long time.

That's kind of a wild story.

I had, went to the doctor, I had already had a couple of surgeries and we couldn't get a negative resection.

They kept having some tumor in there, and you could see it, 'cause I went and they had a camera and there was a TV so you could see what they were doing, and your throat should look like this.

There's a tube and it's got your vocal cords- - Yeah, yeah, I've seen that before 'cause mine get messed up, too, so.

- But then there was a big thing like this- - A polyp on there?

- Yeah, so, but it was below the vocal cords, just a big mass, and after the last surgery, I went and there was still something there.

So he said, "Well, let's just play it safe.

We're gonna do a partial laryngectomy, so taking out half of my larynx.

I said, "Well, doc, if we do that, I'm gonna have one vocal cord, man.

I'm gonna sound like a woman."

He said, "No, more like Kermit the Frog."

I went for pre-op and blood work and he did everything and it was like, "All right, you're good, see you tomorrow at 6:00 am," this and that, I said, "Okay, sounds good."

And he left, and then he came right back in about five minutes later and he goes, "You know what, let me get a fresh pair of eyes on it so I can remember, I want to mark exactly where I'm cutting, that way I don't do more than I have to."

So he ran the camera, and everything wasn't there.

He was like, "You trying to throw a wrench in things?"

And I was like, "I don't know."

And I'm looking at the screen, and my ex-wife, she was sitting there, and she's looking at the screen, just sobbing, and I'm looking at her and I'm like, "I don't know."

And he's like, "Well, what the hell you did?"

I said, "I don't know, I prayed a lot."

(laughs) And he was like, "All right, well, let's put the surgery off."

I said, "Okay," and he said, "Come back next week."

I said, "Okay," so I went back the next week, and then we did one week at a time, and then after that, it was every two weeks, and then after that, every month.

Then, after that, every two months, then six months, then, I don't know, it didn't come back.

- [Monty] That's awesome, but during that time, you decided you got the gift of your voice back, so you started recording music?

- I wanted to record some songs 'cause I figured, in the event that it would come back and that I would have to get my throat cut out, I was like, well, I should at least record some music, just so they could have, they could at least have a recording of me, whatever.

- Was that the impetus for your band, really?

This is where it all started?

- Yeah, so I went, and I got my buddies together and I was like, "Hey, I'd really appreciate it if y'all would come play these songs.

I wrote all these songs and I'd like to record them."

And they were like, "Yeah, that'd be great.

We'd love to help you out."

And we went and we started recording.

Well, as soon as we started recording, Cedric and I had been really good buddies, him and I would play music together all the time, and we started playing, and Jo-El was like, "Well, man, I love these songs."

He was like, "This is good music."

I was like, "All right," and he was like, "I want to play in it."

I was like, "All right, sounds good."

So then my buddy Alan played bass.

Him and I had been friends for years, and next thing you know, it was a band.

It was just supposed to be an album for my kids, and then we put it out and it got great reviews, and it ended up being a really good thing.

(slow violin music) (Jourdan singing in foreign language) - [Monty] No matter what religion we choose, there are certain things that seem to comfort and heal us all, love, family, friendship, the feeling of connection that arises in our hearts when we share a meal, sing together, or dance together.

Life isn't easy for any of us, but if we're willing to open our hearts to each other and find friendship with the many people we come to know in our lives, we may find a lot more comfort than we even thought possible.

Did you grow up right around here?

- Yeah.

- [Monty] And where are we?

- Plaisance, Louisiana.

- [Monty] Plaisance, Louisiana?

- [Shane] Yeah.

- And so did you grow up in this house here?

- [Shane] Yes.

- Since you were born?

- No, I actually come from Palmetto, Louisiana, which is maybe 20 minutes away from here.

It's another little small country town.

- [Monty] And you moved here at what age?

- [Shane] I was probably about seven.

- [Monty] So what's it like growing up around here?

What kind of childhood was it?

- Well, you worked a lot.

- [Monty] Doing what?

- [Shane] Taking care of animals, you know, taking care of everything, really.

Of course, we got to ride horses like we wanted every day.

You just felt more free in the country.

You could just do more, versus being in the city.

You're limited on things that you could do.

- Did you have some friends live nearby?

- Yeah, yeah.

- That you grew up with, kids grew up around here?

- Yeah, this was like the party spot for everybody.

Everybody would come over here- - [Monty] Your house was the party spot?

- [Shane] Yeah, my brothers were older, so they would have their friends over and stuff, and we just liked to party and have a good time.

- Big parties?

- [Shane] Big parties, yeah.

- How big?

- Probably about 50, 60 people parties.

- And did you cook, what was it- - Oh, yeah, once everybody got together, we was gonna put a pot on.

- [Monty] A pot of what?

- [Shane] Something, whatever looked good, or we could kill, and whatever.

- [Monty] Did you cook most of your own food?

- Yeah, yeah, we grew most of our own animals and stuff, and we got the garden for our vegetables and stuff, as well.

Sometimes we'd just go to the store and just buy some stuff and come back and cook.

Everybody would put in a certain amount of money, and we'd just go to the store and just buy us something to cook for that day or whatever and just make a good time out of it.

- Got to get it done, baby.

Ranch life.

A lot of our grandparents and great grandparents grew up on farms, so basically, they were the ones that instilled in their kids and showed them how to live off the land with growing their own crops, butchering hogs, raising hogs, right there in their backyard, and it just trickled down as we come about.

- [Monty] So it comes from the fact that I guess the society down here is a lot of people raising animals- - Of course, yeah, yeah.

- Vegetables, and making they own food, and just having that- - We got a lot of farmland down here, so a lot of our people are, they know how to do stuff dealing with farms and growing they own stuff, so that's how that goes.

- There's something with the partying thing.

We've been in other states- - Oh, we'll turn a party, we'll make a party out of anything.

We could turn this into a party.

(group laughs) (overlapping chattering) - But I wonder where that comes from, some other states that have a lot of agriculture, they have agriculture and then that's it, they go home and go to bed.

But here, you guys have agriculture and then you have huge parties.

- I think it's the music that has a lot to do with it.

And then a lot of times, too, my grandmother would butcher hogs at the first frost, in November, and that's what you ate all winter.

- That's part of it, too, though, is that you're butchering usually a large animal, but if you butcher a pig- - Yeah, and you're giving something to everybody.

- Yeah, you might as well have a party 'cause you got so much.

- Yeah, normally, it'd be a couple different families coming in on a butchering, so Antonio and them might take X amount of meat.

This family is gonna get X amount of meat.

This family is gonna get X amount of meat, so with that one butchering, you're feeding five or six families, so there's gonna be a mass of people.

(overlapping chattering) - So you might as well have a party.

- Right, correct, you're enjoying yourself, so that's when the partying stuff just starts.

- It seems like people from Louisiana are really focused on food and big parties.

- And music.

- And music- - Yeah, music.

- Food, music, and parties.

- It's part of the culture.

It don't matter how bad of a day you had.

If you listen to some good music and eat some good food.

That's why there's speakers in here everywhere.

(slow music) I want people to come here and enjoy themselves, feel welcome.

I take pride in butchering animals and raising animals healthy to feed other people and all that, so that's why the restaurant is so strong, because there's people that don't have money, they come here, they go ask for me and him, "I'm hungry."

They know we're gonna feed them because I saw my grandparents do it as a child.

They fed everybody, nobody went hungry.

(slow piano music) That hurricane here, I don't know if y'all know, last year, we cooked every day for six weeks and fed thousands of people for free.

- [Monty] Did you really?

- Yes, sir, right here on this patio.

- So six weeks, every day, you fed people free food out there?

- For free food- - Thousands of people.

We was a part of the north side giveaway.

This was a prime area, if you needed something, they know, come to Circle 7, them guys got it.

- [Antonio] You couldn't even turn in, it was so many people here, giving away stuff.

- [Monty] Oh, wow.

- You started on this end, you got food, you got shampoo, and there was stations all the way down, all the way to the end, and we even had dog food.

And we gave away everything, and then when it was time to clean my house, I was like, "Dang."

- You got nothing left.

(laughs) - I gotta go buy some stuff to do my house.

The hurricane took off the whole back wall to my house.

I plugged up a generator, and shoot, we stayed together in my house, and we still was over here cooking.

- [Darrell] Right.

(laughs) - How could you afford to give away food for six weeks?

- If you do it from the heart, it just- - It just keeps coming?

- It just keeps coming, yeah.

- [Antonio] It's not about money and business.

People are human, they gotta eat.

- What is this trail riding, how'd you get into this?

- It was a next door neighbor, he used to go to trail rides every week and he had a group called Plaisance Riders, and we would always go with him, and we just took a liking to it.

- And when you said you'd always go with him, you'd go out and just ride horses?

- Yeah, we would ride horses, and- - Long trails, or what?

- It was probably about four miles one way.

So it was probably eight miles total.

But it was just a good time, you'd just stop and you'd party, you'd have a DJ playing some music- - In the middle of the?

- [Shane] In the middle of the woods.

- Oh, cool.

- And you'd just meet people and just hang out and get to talk with people and stuff like that.

- Do you have your own?

- [Shane] Yes, Barnyard Posse.

- What is it called?

- Barnyard Posse.

- [Monty] Barnyard Posse.

- Yeah.

- Is it one night, or?

- [Shane] Three nights.

- Three nights, three nights?

- [Shane] Three nights.

- And it's going?

- [Shane] Yeah.

- The whole time?

- So there's no sleep.

- [Monty] Oh, really?

(laughs) - Yeah, for three nights.

- How many people are at this thing?

- [Shane] It depends on who trail rides.

Some do more than others- - But, I mean, is it 10 people or is it 50 people?

- Oh, no, it's probably about three to 4,000 people.

- Oh.

(upbeat music) - It's like a family reunion, everybody comes together and you're gonna eat some good food.

A band's gonna start playing, and you'll have a DJ playing while you're sitting up.

People go ride in the mud and they call it mudding, have little competitions on who can pass through that mud, and people just get a kick out of it.

That's what it's about, making sure everybody has a good time.

Once you come to a trail ride, you'll always come to a trail ride.

- [Monty] How often is there one that you go to?

- [Shane] There's one every weekend.

- [Monty] Really?

- [Shane] Yeah.

- [Monty] Three nights every weekend?

- Some of them be three nights, some of them be two nights.

- Okay, so Shane, I'm starting to think you're partying all the time.

- Yeah.

(Monty laughs) - [Monty] And is there a lot of drinking?

- [Shane] For some people, yeah, yeah.

Me, myself, I don't drink.

- [Monty] Oh, you don't drink?

- No, I just never took into it.

It's there, I just don't drink it.

- I guess that's why you can keep going, doing so many trail rides and still have a job.

(laughs) - Yeah, yeah.

I'm addicted to the fun and the atmosphere, the vibes, and you get to meet some real cool people.

- I'd only been trail riding for five years.

My very first trail ride was from a coworker and he said, "I'm having a trail ride this weekend.

You want to come out," so- - Did you say, "What's that," or did you already know?

- Yeah, I kind of heard that they ride horses, but I didn't know what the trail ride was.

So I said, "Okay," so he gave me the address.

We got lost a few times, me and my husband and my kids got lost, finally found it, it was in Greensburg, Louisiana.

And so we pulled up, it was just horses everywhere.

They had camper trailers, riding the four wheelers, and it was like, "Oh, wow."

You heard music, there was cooking.

- From the very first time, did you decide, "This is for me, I've gotta do this more often"?

- Yeah, so we went out there, me and my husband and my kids, and my husband was like, "You know what, I'm gonna get you a camper."

So the next week, he went and found us a traveling trailer.

So the next weekend, they had another trail ride, so we had bought a trailer and we had bought a little Honda four wheeler, so we- - Oh, okay, so right away, you were investing in this.

- He was like, "I love it," 'cause it's just the feeling, from being in a city, the busy life, to go where it's peace and quiet.

You don't hear no cars, no police sirens, just peace and quiet.

- Is that the biggest part of your life here, in terms of what you do for fun?

- Yeah, 'cause I work, I'm a nurse, so I'm always on call, so I look forward to going to a trail ride, listening to the music, the zydeco, I love to dance.

(upbeat music) I call myself the Zydeco Dancing Diva.

(laughs) (upbeat music) - [Monty] What makes zydeco so special?

- To me, the different instruments and the beats that you hear, and just the sound.

(upbeat music) The average zydeco band have the accordion, they have a keyboard player, have a guitar, they have a bass player, they have the scrub board player.

I even got onstage and played the scrub board.

- Was it fun?

- Yes, I love it, and you just, the music, the beat, it's like it awakened my soul, it's soulful.

(upbeat music) - Thank you.

- [Monty] So has this made life a lot more fun, this trail riding?

- Yes, I needed it- - Way more fun?

- I needed it.

- [Monty] Good, so you needed- - It's therapy, it's therapy to me.

(slow music) I've been a nurse for seven years.

Before that, I was an at-home mom, and that's what I did, I took care of my children, took care of my grandmother, and I was going to nursing school.

My grandmother raised me and she was a nurse, so she taught me different things, and so I just knew, I enjoyed it.

It really is a true calling for me, I love it.

I have my master's degree in nursing and I'm working on my doctorate degree.

- [Monty] Oh, good for you.

- So I'm always constantly serious, so I have to, my mind has to be focused.

But when I'm out at a trail ride, all the stress is over.

When the band plays, all I'm worrying about, if I'm moving my left or right foot.

- So it kind of brings you into the moment.

You forget about your work, you forget about your doctorate- - Thinking about everything.

- You forget about all the struggles.

- [Spancina] And all I feel is just the motion of the horse, just riding her, just smiling and it's just awesome.

(slow music) - [Monty] In Louisiana, I've seen what I've experienced almost everywhere I've traveled, that people find comfort in connection with others.

Trail rides, for example, provide a rich venue for people to get together and ride, dance, play, and celebrate.

It gives meaning to life and also brings people closer.

But other times, strong bonds are formed not from celebration, but from enduring something difficult together.

Mutual struggle and enduring hardship can also bring us closer.

- Right now you're in a place called the peristyle, in voodoo tradition, this is the gathering place.

This is where the ceremonies take place.

This is where everyone comes together.

When it's not ceremony time, this is where everyone hangs out.

They get out of the sun, they eat their food.

This is where everyone spends their time.

The djevo is an initiation chamber, and when you initiate, you're in there.

You don't come out, you're in there for seven days, and it's a hard process.

A lot of people have trouble with it.

- [Monty] When you were in the djevo for that seven days, were you alone or were you with others?

- [Jesse] I was with others.

- [Monty] And have you remained close to those people, is it- - Oh, yeah.

You never forget the people you were in the djevo with.

- There's a bond that takes place between you and the other people there that is unlike anything that I can explain, and it's a bond that doesn't go away.

There's a connection to spirit and your spiritual self because there's really, there's no other distractions than, you could say, "It's so hot," it's not meant to be a joyride.

It is meant to be very hard on you physically, spiritually, emotionally, that is on purpose.

You're stripped pretty bare, I'm not talking of being naked or anything lewd- - But emotionally, physically- - Emotionally, physically, spiritually, whatever you think you are, you're like some big guns or whatever coming in, you are stripped bare to your core and you are on an equal footing with everyone else laying in there.

Initiation is the great equalizer.

- Did you see visions?

Did you go through something profound?

- It was the hardest experience of my life and the most rewarding.

I guess it's almost like someone going through basic training.

It's very hard doing it, but you have a sense of accomplishment after.

- And once you're a priest, is there an ongoing commitment as a priest?

Once you're a priest, is there a dedication for life?

- Absolutely, you can never stop being a priest.

Year after year, we have ceremonies.

That's important not only for our own spiritual health, but the health of the whole society, so that we all can come together as a group and serve the spirit together.

- What kind of ceremony might one attend?

- If we were prepared for a ceremony here, someone would be making something called the veve.

The veve is a symbol on the ground that we make out of cornmeal.

Every spirit has a veve, and then we would dance around this during the ceremony and dance on the veve.

(slow drumming music) In voodoo, the drums are, that's a very important people because there's a different rhythm for every nation.

(Andrew singing in foreign language) They have to know all these rhythms, what time to do this, what time to do that.

They have so much that they have to learn, and drummers are very connected to their drum.

That this their livelihood, that's everything to them, and even here in the United States, voodoo drummers are in high demand, and they typically don't have to do anything else but drum for voodoo ceremonies- - [Monty] And they can make a living that way?

- They'll make a living.

- [Monty] So what does voodoo mean to you?

What is it about?

- Voodoo is a Ewe language, Ewe, (indistinct), ethnic language, saying, voodoo, to free a town, to free a community, to free the people, voodoo.

- Oh.

- Or.

(speaking in foreign language) - So voodoo, as a name, actually means to free people.

- To free people.

- Oh, wow.

- Yeah.

- So it's not about taking dolls and putting little things to hurt people, and- - Are those, that the symbols, and so negative people measure on the fragments of those, and the dolls- - So you're saying negative people take that aspect of voodoo- - And amplify it- - And amplify it.

- In their own negative way.

- I see, but it's not true.

- It's not true, the dolls were like effigies, like a symbol of a- - [Monty] Like an effigy?

- Yeah, effigy, that if my arm is in pain, you can use that doll and make prayers, incantations, and stick that pin there, 'cause I'm giving you inoculation or injection, you.

- Yeah.

- You see, so that is- - To fix it?

- To fix it.

(slow music) - I work with a lot of people that have been cursed, walking around with something on them that someone's put on them.

And that's the number one thing I do in the priesthood, is take things off of people.

Every priest is really good at one or another thing, that's what I'm really good at, is cleansing, removing things and protecting it from coming back again.

- A lot of your work, then, is dealing with removing something from someone.

- Yeah.

- Pain, suffering, heartache, what they deem as a curse.

- Health problems.

- Health problems?

- But it's amazing to see people that cannot walk through those doors without help, and then they leave like they're 16 years old.

And that's really... people don't believe that someone else can affect their lives, a lot of times.

There's no such thing as curses.

But then when you see it, and you see them change, then you know, okay, and that's a very important moment for me because that's when I realized, okay, I was able to help this person.

(slow music) I have people that come to me for help from every walk of life.

I have lawyers, homeless people.

It's such a mix that you start to see so many different people, you try to understand them, and you begin to see everyone differently.

So you don't see, this guy's a judge, this guy's homeless on a street.

You start to see everyone as people.

The judgment that I think all human beings have, to some level, begins to fade away because you see that everyone has all the same problems.

Everyone is looking for the same thing.

They want to be healthy, they want to have love.

They just want to be happy, and that doesn't matter if you've got a million dollars or $2.00, everyone's looking for happiness.

So it's my job to make them happy.

That's what I do.

(slow music continues) - All of the people that I work with, the priestesses, the priests, they are loving, good people who are about community and love and respecting one another and serving spirit.

- [Monty] To me, Louisiana has more than stood up to its reputation.

I've been welcomed everywhere.

I've made new friends and haven't spent any time hungry.

I've seen how the culture here is a lot like the food, a mixture of many ingredients added to a pot and resulting in a beautiful shared experience.

People from all races, religions, and backgrounds gather here and live together in a diverse and interesting melting pot.

Through their common struggles, obstacles, and celebrations, they are united as one people who take care of each other while enjoying freedom, liberty, and a deep love for their country.

- Family's just close.

- Everybody's your brother, your neighbor, your cousin 'cause everyone know everyone.

- You got all these different friends, right, coming from different parts of Louisiana, but once we all get in that area, it's just like one big ol' family, like friends that's family.

- Everybody loves each other, everybody, and it's important to show everybody else love that never have experienced it before, so that they can have the same love as you have.

- We're blood, we're voodoo, we're family, and we are there for each other, come hell or high water.

- [Monty] We all have a lot to learn from the way people in this southern state have built their culture.

People from all backgrounds have come together, and instead of tolerating diversity, they've chosen instead to celebrate it.

They've chosen to love each other, to learn from each other, to dance, cook, and tell stories, to celebrate and enjoy life to the fullest as they each pursue their own version of the American dream.

(slow orchestral music) (slow music)