The Cajuns - really interesting history there

[Taverner]

I had no idea that they came to Louisiana by way of French Canada, and when the British took over, they deported thousands of Acadians. Many died, many committed suicide, and everyone lost everything they had.

A good number moved to Louisiana, which at the time was Spanish. As Anglo-Americans moved in, they retreated to the swamps, where they are now.

[applegrove]

1. I've been to the spot in Nova Scotia where the Acadians originally had their farms. It is beautiful

dyked farmland. Longfellow wrote a poem about the expulsion of the Acadians called "Evangeline".


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangeline

[nolabear]

2. Yep, true dat.

And when they got to Louisiana they met and married with the local Indains, the Creoles, the English, Spanish and French, the escaped and free slaves (The Faubourg Treme was the first place former slaves could buy houses and it became a free black neighborhood when many were still slaves) and gave us the Gumbo that is Louisiana today, not to mention the massive numbers of Vietnamese, Indain and Indonesian immigrants who love the tropical climate and have become a big part of the place, and the Mexican workers who came to build after Katrina and stayed.

It's seriously cool, and the people are stunningly resilient.

[Taverner]

5. And as a result we get to enjoy Gumbo, Jambalaya and Etouffe

[nolabear]

12. And your basic Southern Irish/Choctaw types like me get to eat off the fat of the land and sea.

My mouth is watering just looking at that picture.

[Taverner]

20. Me loves Cajun and Creole Cusine!

The funny thing about New Orleans wasn't that all the food was good, but that there were so many SPECTACULAR restaurants among the good ones.

[KamaAina]

3. You have heard how the crawfish came to be, no?

When the Acadians were forced out of Canada, the one thing they simply had to take with them was their beloved lobsters. So they tied some on strings and marched them all the way down to la Louisiane.

By the time they got all the way down to bayou country, the poor little fellows were so worn out, they looked just like bugs!

[Old Troop]

27. OK. You owe me a keyboard!!!

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Remember that the next time you encounter someone who knows nothing of the CA mission history.

There is much regional variations in the teaching of U.S. history based on local relevance. In Maine we all knew about L'Acadie and the expulsion because Longfellow was a Maine poet and the state has a heavily Franco-Canadian history. Many mill towns became primary French-speaking in the mid-19th century and there are still parts of the state where one is as likely to hear French spoken as English.

Now Mainers learning about the CA missions, not so much.

[Taverner]

6. One of the cooler things about the missions...

Besides each being a days walk from the next, is that the trail was lined with bells, and as the brothers traveled, they rung each bell to let the locals know they were coming.

During those days, a Misson Monk was more than just an evangelist: they usually carried medicine and had a better idea of health medicine than the average apothecary

[Taverner]

7. Let me add that the Spanish also thought California was an island

Since they discovered Baja California, and just assumed it had to be an island. They held this belief for a few hundred years

[Gormy Cuss]

9. See" I knew not of the meaning of the bells nor that they thought CA was an island

and I've lived here for years.

[Brother Buzz]

13. Bells were at a premium; they used runners for communication.

The bells found along El Camino Real were initially installed in the early twentieth century.

The bells are still being produced today, using the original molds, but a bit pricey.

As a boy in the 1950s, mortgage and real estate broker John Kolstad was mystified by an iron bell hanging from an oversize shepherd’s crook near his home in Whittier, Calif. He later discovered it was one of the few survivors out of 425 bells hung between 1906 and 1913 on El Camino Real near California’s coast. In 1998, Kolstad went looking for a similar bell to decorate his yard in Saratoga; he wound up buying the company that made them. Since then, 555 bells cast from the original molds have been installed along the historic route.

http://www.viamagazine.com/destinations/bell-man-el-camineo-real

Huell Howser did an amazing program on the bells, but we can't view it without buying the DVD. Here's some bootleg footage of the casting of one of the bells:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QikYvoG9oU

[trof]

8. I'm a 'back door Cajun'...Cajun-by-marriage.

Miz t. is 100% Cajun, daddy from New Orleans area, mom from a little town near Lake Charles.

BTW, her maternal grandparents were first cousins.
In small, mostly Cajun communities, it's not unusual for everyone to be kin to everyone else in one way or another.

Being part of a huge Cajun family has added a lot of richness and humor to my life.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. One of accents I am still struggling to understand, is Cajun.

Pure back country Cajun, I should add.
I don't hear it enough to get a good grip on the rhythm of it.

[Taverner]

18. There is a very specific cadence to it, isn't there?

And they drop consonants all the time, but I never know when they're going to drop them...

[nolabear]

26. Try this. A gorgeous little video and accent!

http://youtu.be/kTr-UlyLI_I

And then try Horace Trahan (maybe my new Cajun hero)

http://youtu.be/dsXFOdj1pIc
:loveya:

[trof]

21. OK, read this about Miz t.'s granny.

First, her name was Alida Derouen.
ah-lee-DAH DUR-wen.

We think the family was originally from Rouen in France.
So they that would have been 'from Rouen', de (of) Rouen.
(Roo-wan)
Although that doesn't quite get the nasal 'Roo-wan' pronunciation.

I found that we could communicate better if I used my French rather than her English.

Me: High school and one year of French in college.
She: Speaking a Cajun patois French for all of her life.
The grandkids called her 'Gum' and she made a helluva gumbo.
:-)

[Taverner]

25. Cool!

Is Patois French very different than Modern French?

[trof]

28. Cajun French is quite different from 'Parisian' French.

'Parisian' is what we're taught over here.
The grammar is just cruel.
Every noun is 'gendered'.
Male nouns are preceded by 'le' (the) and female's 'la'.
Verb declensions (conjugations?) are pure hell.
Past-present-subjunctive?
whew

In Cajun French you have to listen very closely, but eventually you pick up the cadence and pronunciation and you factor in 'French with a deep southern dialect' overlay.

[JitterbugPerfume]

10. this thread is SO cool!

I love this

[Taverner]

22. I love spots of America that have very distinct cultures

New Orleans, Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles (yes, there IS a culture there) etc...

History gives us tales to hear, learn and tell

[abq e streeter]

11. "Acadian driftwood...gypsy tailwind...they call my home, the land of snow"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZwkxHYM7lI

[Taverner]

16. Loved that song - for years I thought it was "Arcadian Driftwood"

And referred to some kind of wood they used at arcades...

[abq e streeter]

23. Beautiful song, isn't it? Lyrics below:

The war was over and the spirit was broken
The hills were smokin' as the men withdrew
We stood on the cliffs and watched the ships
Slowly sinking to their rendezvous

They signed a treaty and our homes were taken
Loved ones forsaken, they didn't give a damn
Try to raise a family, end up the enemy
Over what went down on the plains of Abraham

Acadian driftwood, gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin' in
What a way to ride, oh, what a way to go

Then some returned to the motherland
The high command had them cast away
And some stayed on to finish what they started
They never parted, they're just built that way

We had kin livin' south of the border
They're a little older and they've been around
They wrote in a letter, life is a whole lot better
So pull up your stakes, children and come on down

Acadian driftwood, gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin' in
What a way to ride, oh, what a way to go

Fifteen under zero when the day became a threat
My clothes were wet and I was drenched to the bone
Been out ice fishing, too much repetition

Make a man wanna leave the only home he's known

Sailed out of the Gulf headin' for Saint Pierre
Nothin' to declare, all we had was gone
Broke down along the coast but what hurt the most
When the people there said, "You better keep movin' on"

Acadian driftwood, gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin' in
What a way to ride, oh, what a way to go

Everlasting summer filled with ill-content
This government had us walkin' in chains
This isn't my turf, this ain't my season
Can't think of one good reason to remain

We've worked in the sugar fields up from New Orleans
It was ever green up until the floods
You could call it an omen, points you where you're goin'
Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood

Acadian driftwood, gypsy tail wind
They call my home the land of snow
Canadian cold front movin' in
What a way to ride, oh, what a way to go

Sais tu, Acadie j'ai le mal du pays
Ta neige, Acadie, fait des larmes au soleil
J'arrive Acadie, teedle um, teedle um, teedle ooh
J'arrive Acadie, teedle um, teedle um, teedle ooh
J'arrive Acadie, teedle um, teedle um, teedle ooh
...

[Taverner]

24. Love that song. Probably one of the most underrated songs.

Apparently Robertson read Evangeline, worked out some chords, and there it was.

I love the use of fiddle on this track - it really adds a human dimension to the whole song.

Chances are, the Acadians had fiddles among their instruments.

[femmocrat]

14. Have you never read "Evangeline"?

Don't they teach it anymore? :shrug:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

17. "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.
Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring ocean
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest."

Cool stuff.

[Taverner]

19. If I have one regret from college, its that I never studied enough poetry

Not enough Rimbaud, not enough Walt Whitman...

[nolabear]

29. Baby, you ain't dead yet.

Hie thee to a poetry!

[trof]

30. OK, an Uncle Bert story (Cajun):

Uncle Bert was Hebert (AYE-bare, NOT 'Herbert') Derouen.
He was Mis t.'s great uncle, her mom's brother.

Bert fought in the Pacific in WW II.
He had tales that would curl your hair.

Bert returned to the family farm in southern Louisiana and grew rice for most of the rest of his life.
He was a bachelor farmer, and the last to die (85) of his siblings (6) and generation.

After his parents died, Bert lived alone and we'd look in on him occasionally, although we live 5 hours away. We did pass through the area 2 or 3 times a year.
We'd always bring lunch, usually fried chicken, his favorite.

One summer we were headed his way and called to let him know.
We arrived around 11:00 with the chicken.
Sat down in the living room to chat for a bit.
We knew that Bert ALWAYS ate lunch at 12:00, on the dot.
At noon I said "Well, anybody getting hungry?"
I was starving.
Bert said "I don't eat lunch until noon."
"Uh, Bert? It IS noon."
"Naw it ain't. I don't do that daylight savings crap."
So we ate at 1:00.
:-)

Bert didn't believe anything should interfere with the natural flow of nature. Daylight Savings Time was some kinda gummint commonist plot.

He no longer farmed rice, but he planted his kitchen garden (amazing) by the moon phases.
Moon phases also dictated his trips to the barber shop.
"Git yer hair cut during the full moon and it don't grow back as fast."
Bert was thrifty.
Yes he was.
;-)

[Taverner]

31. Too cool...I imagine he survived the Great Depression?

If so - I'd love to hear all of his 'tips'

Since we seem to be creeping in that direction ourselves, now

[trof]

32. The depression didn't afffect these folk that much.

Cajuns are very self sufficient, generally.
They hunt, fish, trap, and farm.

Bert's family had the land they lived on and it provided a 'living'.
They were cash poor, but there weren't many things that they needed to buy.
They trapped and hunted and fished for meat, and had a huge kitchen garden for vegetables. Many of those, like tomatoes and peppers were canned. A root cellar or spring/well house kept onions, potatoes, milk, cream, and butter.
They needed staples...flour, sugar, salt, etc.
But in many cases they could 'trade' for these things back then.

The local store would accept eggs, poultry, game birds (ducks, geese), venison, crawfish, blue crabs, shrimp, etc. in exchange for the few things the people couldn't easily produce.

Also, there were several small lumber mills that supplied building materials and a few jobs. Mostly cypress from the swamps.

Bert's house was made entirely of cypress. Framing and siding.
It's one of the most durable woods existent. Virtually bug and rot proof.

[Taverner]

33. We need to learn from these folk...

These guys put the 'salt' in the "Salt of the Earth"

[Kali]

34. great stories, trof!

there are still people around here that do things by moon phases - castrating livestock is one that comes up a lot - supposedly they don't bleed as bad on the waning moon (I think I got that right)

planting gardens too