skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I went with Mr. Dowell Saturday morning to Fred's and the Savoy Music Center. I met him at his house and Ms. Pinky cooked us a nice breakfast for our morning adventure. Mr. Dowell drove because he had to pick up some crawfish bait in Mamou. That was OK because I was able to drink a few beers.Fred's wasn't too packed when we first got there but it didn't take long before the place was crowded. Fred's is small but it's a popular Saturday morning spot. There were the usual bikers but there were also a bunch of bicyclists from Lafayette. They started in Lafayette and rode their bikes to Mamou. They wore those skin-tight bike outfits with bright colors. They came from all over the world, met in Lafayette and went to Fred's. I thought that was funny because there were a million of them. Local people went too, of course. Mr. Harrison Fontenot was being inducted into Fred's Wall of Fame and I recognized people from Ville Platte, Mamou, etc. Mr. Dowell did most of the visiting while I drank my beer and listened to Don Fontenot and Les Amis De La Louisiane.
We left but planned to go back later. But while we were driving to Eunice we heard the ceremony for Mr. Fontenot taking place. We still planned on going back. But we also wanted to check out Savoy's place. Mr. Dowell has been there before several times but I never had. We drove on 190 till we saw all the cars parked on the side of the road. People from all over the world visited that place also. A little dog barked its head off at us when we passed the camper he was in. The little fil d'putain, from looking at his license plate, came all the way from Florida.Several people played music at the center. Mr. Dowell told me anyone can go and start playing. He knew some people and he again did most of the visiting while I listened and ate gratons and boudin. It's a nice place. I wouldn't mind going back again. It's a place for musicians so I would like to at least learn more about the music and instruments in order to talk to anyone.We went back to Fred's but the crowd was larger. We looked in the door and said forget it. We heard on the radio that it was like Mardi Gras at Fred's and it kinda seemed so - a small version of Mardi Gras in Big Mamou. It was a good morning. I went home and Mr. Dowell went do some research. I slept for an hour and then went to work till 11 p.m. It's the bon matin that I'm writing this and I'm burnt out.
You'll end up like Euzebe Vidrine if you do. That was Vidrine's warning before he was hanged in Ville Platte in 1924. I read in the Evangeline Parish Library's blog how an original copy of his biography was recently archived and better copies made, including a CD. Vidrine tells his story of growing up in Evangeline Parish, getting married, working at several different jobs, robbing and killing people. He explains how he felt when he killed people and tries to understand why he did it. It seems that drinking too much whiskey caused a lot of his problems. Vidrine couldn't speak English well and he couldn't write. He told his story to a writer. You have to wonder how much of what you're reading was the writer's imagination and what was Vidrine's actual story. And then again, Vidrine could have made some of it up too. It ends with a poem by Tennyson. Regardless, The Life of Euzebe Vidrine is interesting to read - the events took place in south Louisiana during the 1920s among the French speaking people in the area.
Here's a short quote from Vidrine's story:
"So we started to Kaplan in a Ford car; he didn't have his chains on. When we got to the muddy road, he stopped to put on his chains; I was holding the flashlight and he was putting the the chains on; when he was putting the second chain, I was just itching to kill. I could feel the devil urging me on, so I shot him in the head with a 32-caliber pistol; he fell on his back."
The Evangeline Parish Library has the Ville Platte Gazette on microfilm and you can read the newspaper coverage of the story. I believe they also have the Opelousas Daily World on microfilm in the 1920s. I know Alexandria's Town Talk covered the story and the main library in Alexandria has microfilmed copies of the Town Talk.
Don't dig into the ground on Good Friday. If you do, you will see blood. I think you can cut grass. But farmers shouldn't plow and people shouldn't work in their gardens. You will see blood in the ground if you do. Too bad if you did already, but next year you will know better. Ca! I don't think anyone follows this tradition or superstition now. But I wouldn't want to dig into the ground on Good Friday after hearing that.
I asked several older people last night about St. Joseph's day. They all knew about it and said it used to be a great day. It was relief from Lent before Easter. You could eat chocolate if you had given that up, go to the casino, whatever you gave up you could do on St. Joseph's day. But then you got back on track and suffered until Easter. They also told me you couldn't drink coffee on Good Friday or go out -- you couldn't do pas rien on this day. You suffered a lack of your small comforts because Jesus was nailed to a cross and killed. He died for you. You shouldn't 'illon 'illon (whine) for your cup of coffee. Man, I could almost hear Mere Mere when I listened to the older people talk about Good Friday. They were strict back then.
Why is it called Good Friday? Jesus died today. I'll learn why when I come home from work tonight. It didn't start good today because I couldn't eat boudin. I had to punish myself so I ate a catfish basket. I'm sure many people will punish themselves tonight with shrimp po-boys, catfish, shrimp and beer. Those that gave beer up for Lent will buy whiskey instead.
I was told things were more serious back in the day. People ate an egg gumbo or an egg sandwich and that was all. There wasn't much money but I still think they did that because of the day, to remember. That's probably why St. Joseph's Day is not celebrated now. People party during Lent and one day doesn't matter. Lent was more solemn in the past. People settled down after Mardi Gras. But now we'll party all the time. I'm sure that's why the St. Joseph's Day tradition died around here.
St. Joseph’s Day is not celebrated by my family. Mom said it used to be a fun day because it was the day for dances. Any penance taken up for Lent was temporarily suspended and everyone would go out to a dance. I don’t know why this tradition died. There might have been more to do on this day but I was only told people would go out dancing and they would forget about any penance taken up for Lent. It's celebrated in New Orleans, Alexandria and other areas that have a lot of Italian descendants. The St. Joseph’s Day Altar is the highlight of the day. However, I don’t think they temporarily give up their penance and I don’t believe they party like my family used to. It surprises me that it died because the old tradition would fit right in with the party attitude of south Louisiana.
St. Joseph’s Day was “moved” this year to March 15 because March 19 fell during Holy Week. See this blog post: Just Off Magazine St. - Joseph’s Day
I needed to write something for an application. I was working at the store when a trapper came by to eat. I talked with him and he asked me if I had ever seen an otter. I told him I saw them in zoos. He told me he had one in his truck. I went out to see it and he said he came to Louisiana to trap beavers and anything else that was in season. I thought that was an interesting story so I called him a couple of days later, told him what I was doing, and asked if I could talk to him. He said that was OK. I went to the camp he was staying at and asked him several questions. We also planned to meet the next day at the store to take pictures.
I took several pictures, he went to work, and I gathered my notes and wrote. I went again to the camp that evening to clarify the information I had. We did that and then drank a couple of beers. I was even able to see him check one of his traps. Some boys called him saying he had a coyote trapped. He asked if I wanted to see and we went meet them. I watched him take the dead coyote out of the trap and then set the trap again. He showed one of the boys how it was done. This was last week. He left Monday. He came to the store to say he was going home because the snakes were starting to come out. He had by then caught 104 beavers at $35 a tail. That's good money and it doesn't include the other animals he caught which he can sell for more. It was a good experience. I met an interesting person, learned something about trapping and was able to submit an article for my application. The following is a variation of what I submitted.
Beavers build dams that plug up culverts, pipes and drainage canals, causing flooded roads and fields. Their dams also kill trees. Beavers gnaw on trees for material, which hurt the trees, and then trees often die from the flooding caused by the dam when it's completed. It's a costly problem and Evangeline Parish placed a $35 bounty on beavers in 2006 after the trapper employed by the parish broke his leg and was unable to continue trapping. An Ohio trapper was googling online and read articles about the situation. He got his truck, four-wheeler, traps and freezer ready for work in Louisiana.
James Cundiff Jr. is from Dayton, Ohio. He's a certified arborist and maintains trees when he's not trapping. But trapping is something he loves to do. "I've been trapping since '73 when I was 10," Cundiff said. He said he began trapping for fun and sport. He grew up in the country and hunting and trapping was a part of life. He began trapping for money in his teenage years when the fur market paid well. He continued trapping even when the money wasn't great. "I don't make a lot of money trapping but trappers love to do it," Cundiff said. He traps in the winter and stops when the heat, snakes and homesickness gets to him. He's been in Louisiana since Feb. 1 and has caught 99 beavers by March 11. "I didn't get one today and I wanted to tell you I had a 100," he said laughing. He keeps a calendar with the kind of animal and amount of each trapped. The $35 bounty on beavers is the main reason he's in Louisiana but he traps mink, otter and anything else that's in season. Beavers can be trapped year round because they are considered a nuisance animal.
Cundiff begins work every day of the week at dawn and stops when the sun goes down. He said state regulations say trappers must check their traps every day. But that's not the only reason he does it. "I don't get paid by the hour but how much I work," he said. It's not easy work and rather expensive. He's spent close to $700 in fuel since he began work this year and has put 600 miles on his four-wheeler. He works primarily in the southern area of Evangeline, staying during his Louisiana trip at a hunter's camp near Mamou. He had previously camped in nearby woods or at Crooked Creek in a tent but one of the many people he's helped offered him his camp to stay in. Meeting people and having them thank him is the greatest reward for his work. "I really like that part of it, having people slap me on the shoulder and telling me thank you for helping them," Cundiff said. Landowners, farmers and crawfisherman find out about Cundiff and they ask him for help. He has some trouble pronouncing names like Fuselier and Granger but he knows several of them. They ask for help, Cundiff traps the beavers causing trouble, tears down the dam and brings the tails to the police jury. Paperwork is filled out and a check is mailed to his home in Ohio 1 or 2 weeks later.
It won't be long before Cundiff returns home. He might "hop a state" before doing so. Last year he left the prairies and bayous of Louisiana for the deserts in New Mexico. He said he's been hopping states since 1992 and he's trapped in Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas and Wyoming. Learning the terrain and trapping animals from mountains and deserts to lakes and bayous is part of the adventure, he said. But meeting new people and helping them is the greatest reward for him - Louisiana being his favorite state. "I love it here," he said. "I get to eat this great food and the people here are nice."
