11.4.15

Would Conan the Barbarian be considered Cajun?

Last night I convinced my wife and daughter to watch at least one scene from Conan the Barbarian. It's the scene when they rescue the princess from the snake cult people. Conan and his crew have the black tribal style camouflage, evil people doing evil stuff, Conan and crew kicking butt, saving Max von Sydow's princess daughter and James Earl Jones turns into a giant snake. It's one scene in a crazy great movie. I read Conan novels when I was a kid. Every Saturday Dad would take whole family to Ville Platte to the library, grocery shop and get boudin. I checked out some books at the library but at Winn-Dixie they had new novels out. I was a kid with no money and so had to ask Dad to buy me a book or two. I had already checked out books for free from the library and now was asking poor Dad to buy me some. He always did but he always was somewhat worried when he looked at the books. The covers of Conan novels usually had half-naked women, blood stained Conan fighting a demonic creature and other dark, drole stuff. Those novels were so much fun to read.

Anyway, trying to stay blog subject focused, the question is this: Would Conan be considered Cajun even if he had no Acadian heritage? Let's say he spoke perfect Louisiana French but not of the Abbeville or Erath style. He cooked a great gumbo, pocked eggs every Easter, bought panse (pounce as spelled) at Teet's and liked to go fishing a lot at Butte La Rose. However, he wasn't exactly the "brightest star in the night," liked to get drunk too much and fought too much in the bars. He could only count to 9 because one finger was cut off during his many bar fights. Now, his ancestry was French, Spanish and some Native American. Neither him nor his neighbors had any Acadian ancestry or even if some did, they had no Acadian culture because his area was heavily populated and cultured by the French, African and Spanish people. It all depends on what time he lived whether he would be considered Creole or Cajun. I posted this quote more than once but I like it and it puts things into context:

History of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana - by Corinne L. Saucier. New Orleans, LA : Pelican, c1943.

“The word “Acadian" is now never heard. A prosperous or educated Acadian is called a "Creole." An ignorant, or poor person, or tacky person, even though Creole in origin, may be called a Cajun. Words have a history just like persons, and their meanings change very often. In this age of rapid economic changes a Creole today may be a Cajun tomorrow or vice-versa. It is all a matter of affluence and no longer origin, as it was a century ago. This is a democratic age, as one can verify at every turn. “(102)
    

Evangeline Parish French Creole Heritage

That's it for me. It's been real. I used to talk about this subject on forums and with people and several found it annoying. Evangel...