Edward Chretien Jr. did not know about his own Atakapa-Ishak Nation heritage growing up. It wasn’t until later, as an adult, that he began to learn about it.

“It was a shame to speak of that history when I was young,” he said Saturday morning, manning a booth of tribal artifacts at the Attakapas Trade Day & Craft Fair, held at the Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site in St. Martinville. “I went to schools that were all African American. I knew I looked different, but my parents and my grandparents didn’t want to talk about it,” he said.

Now, Chretien Jr. and his daughter Shimeka Chretien-Bass are eager to share all that they’ve learned about their people. Chretien Jr. is himself the Principal Chief of the Atakapa-Ishak Nation of Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas.

“Some of these artifacts go back thousands of years,” he said, gesturing toward the wooden staffs and alligator heads spread out across his table. “There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about the Attakapas, and we come out here to dispel and educate,” he said. “I love doing it — especially with the youth. You tell them how people survived on the Bayou Teche back then — the intelligence, the ingenuity — and their eyes bulge. It’s great.”

“Especially the cannibal thing,” said Chretien-Bass, referring to a long-discredited myth that Attakapas were cannibals. “That’s still in school’s social studies textbooks.”

The annual event celebrates the history of the early interactions between the first arriving Acadians — who would become known as the Cajuns — and the region’s indigenous Native Americans. It also included several traditional craft vendors and artisans, and a buffet of traditional foods cooked in Dutch Ovens over a wood-fire flame on site. There was beef stew and pork stew, red beans and sausage, smothered cabbage, jambalaya, blueberry and peach cobbler and more. There were several presentations and demonstrations about the period as well.