Well, Dad, you made it to the La Tasse de Café a ce matin. They read your information but nobody called in to talk about it. Mom said Maw Maw and Paw Paw heard your name mentioned and then they heard Revon Reed’s poem read - the poem where he refers to the French people in Mamou as Créoles. But they (Maw Maw and Paw Paw) were talking so they missed what they had said at the start. Maybe someone will respond Friday. Southern Evangeline, Avoyelles and St. Landry are Créole areas but it’s hard to change what has happened – unless the definition of Cajun changes.
It’s a shame. I’ll never be fluent in the way ya’ll talk French. If there is a big French language revival it’ll be something different from the past. All us young French Créole descendants might end up speaking a French that was never spoken in our area. And many will run around saying how our people got kicked out of Canada. I’ve heard that a lot. “Me, my people didn’t like France and they left. Then the English people kicked us out of Canada and then we came to Louisiana to start a new life,” blah, blah, blah. Merci beaucoup Fontenot! Tell your Mom, maiden name Soileau, and your relatives, Lafleur, Ardoin, Vidrine, Brignac, Bordelon, Lemoine and Guillory that I said hello.
Here’s an abstract to a great article that will not be read much:
The Cajunization of French Louisiana: Forging a Regional Identity by Cecyle Trepanier
I also like this quote from this site:
The Opelousas Militia in the 1770's - 1780's
"Many families that think of themselves as "Cajun" are either a mixture of Creole and Acadian stock, or pure Creole. The rural Louisiana culture that came to be known as "Cajun" is actually a mixture of these two main groups. These early rural Creoles developed a culture that was completely distinct from the urban Creoles of New Orleans, with the latter having a stronger Spanish influence."