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. Evangeline Parish has a strong French Creole heritage and a lot is not said about it. Some things have changed and Ville Platte has a Creole group and all that. Good stuff. But many people have no interest in that at all. Cajun and Acadiana are words used so much that it's part of the area now. The Acadiana flag is flown over Mamou even though Revon Reed said Evangeline Parish was French Creole and not Acadian. "Acadian" and "Cajun" go together. Every time you see a news story explaining, say for example, Cajun Mardi Gras or Cajun food, an explanation is given about the Acadian people. What the Hell ever. I know my history and family history and don't care much for a lot of pop culture crap. And that's it. I wanted a site to talk about that and a blog will stand alone as a site for reference use. All I got to do is check on it every now and then. I'll focus on my Mustang, my wife's Charger and my truck that drives to New Orleans and other Louisiana places. Thank you Google for your space.

How Evangeline Parish became Cajun

I had an epiphany today at work inspecting a truck in Lafayette.  I finally understood why and how Evangeline Parish became Cajun. From reading historic writings by Winston De Ville and other hard reality stuff like genealogy, it all clicked. Yes. The French people that dominated the area were all super rich from France. They left France for an even better place - The great Imperial St. Landry Parish. It was better than France. Read De Ville's writings on this. It's very real. Paradise on earth. People like the Fontenots all had mansions. They were all rich, intellectual and educated. Every single one of them. They all kept alligators as pets. They were so well to do that they played with their gators and ate caviar every night. They even, sadly, lost the French language and developed a strange unworldly language. It was truly weird. 

Now, a few Acadians settled in some, still unknown area, and created "Cajun" culture. Stuff such as CrawTators and Popeyes Fried Chicken. They even invented gumbo and Mardi Gras and all the good stuff we know today. They, and only them, kept the French language we know today as Cajun French. 

Now, read some history. Not the stupid crap you see on the Net, but real reality history. It's important. After the Civil War, the "Creoles" lost all their awesome wealth and didn't know what to do. They turned to the Acadians or Cajuns for help. The Cajuns showed them how to speak French, cook gumbo, smoke meat, celebrate Mardi Gras and be happy. 

It's amazing crap. It really is. Now, to this day, it's unknown where this pocket of Acadians lived in isolation within Evangeline Parish. Mamou? 

Louisiana, where we live, is real. But there is another layer. A reality. The downtown Eunice library has plenty of real stuff. Mixed with all the fantasy. Go out the door and you see fantasy. The reality inside the library is dusty. Because the fantasy is more fun. And people turn away from reality.

"Creole Pride" in the Gazette - essay from John LaFleur

"CREOLE PRIDE!" -Speaks the Thursday AM edition of the Ville Platte GAZETTE newspaper headlining the multi-ethnic Louisiana Creole Families cultural Renaissance! 

It's not been since 1910 that any headline spoke to and referred to our community as 'Creoles' when St Landry Parish referred to the "Creole Rebels" of the upper northwestern part of St. Landry Parish which was to become "Evangeline Parish" in 1910. 

The namesake of "Evangeline" was chosen by French Creole Paulin Fontenot, a descendant of wealthy French Alabama Creole planter Louis Fontenot whose three daughters were all married to former Napoleonic soldiers. Fontenot foresaw a new blossoming tourism based upon the story of the Acadians and the fairytale of the maiden 'Evangeline' which poem was written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The French colonial soldier and later Napoleonic soldiers and 19th c. 

French Creole families were long present in this region before the Acadians had even arrived. The very few Acadians (6.2% according to Dr. Glenn Conrad's famous, but embarrassing "phone book study), such as the Pitre, Broussard, Cormier and Naquin familie arrived after 1765, and a few other Acadian creoles much later into the 19th and early 20th centuries. These few Acadian families quickly and proudly assimilated into the indigenous Louisiana Creole culture of gumbo and jambalaya, and never looked back. 

In fact, Francois Pitre's wealthy family is credited with introducing horse racing into St. Landry Parish! Governor Mouton and his family are referred to as 'Creole' during his campaign and throughout their lives in early Louisiana newspapers. (See Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux's "Acadian To Cajun, The Transformation of a People..." Attorney and founding editor of the Ville Platte Gazette, the very honorable Jules Ashlock and retired educator Roland Hebert and the famous Tony Chachere were among the few educated men to remind the public that 'Creole' was the historical and cultural heritage of this area's first families, and that most had no Acadian roots at all! They refused to sell their cultural 'shirts' to greed or need. 

But, racial fears and insecurities, the new opportunities to make money on the myth of 'Cajunization' introduced by CODOFIL, Gov. Edwards and his mentor old Senator Dudley LeBlanc-who made millions on his "snake oil "Hadacol" introduced a mythical "history" of the poor Acadians crediting them for a culture which never existed in Nova Scotia! Lafayette's "Cajun" marketeers jumped on this fairytale and made it their "official history" through public schools welcoming CODOFIL! Whites French-speakers would then be labeled 'Cajun' and only "mulattos" would become "Creole" -in spite of hundreds of years of documented history that spoke to the contrary, and which still proves that 'Creole' was never any 'race' but a generic word for anyone born in the colony from foreign-born parents from anywhere who shared the French-based Louisiana cultural heritage! 

But, the tons of genealogical records, the internet and the free access to records, civil, ecclesiastical (church), and historical would eventually 'catch up' with the deceivers and today, a new "CREOLE PRIDE" now headlines the historic Gazette founded by a proud and highly intelligent man once again! Jules Ashlock was so afraid that our families and our children would lose their proud heritage that he paid homage to Ville Platte's founder Marcellin Garand by literally mounting a lasting granite tombstone on his grave in "Le Vieux Cimetier de la Ville Platte" on Chataignier St. His own tomb rests protectively across the pathway as if to keep watch over Marcellin Garand's final resting place so far away from his native France. As a child artist, I met Jules at his office as I was peddling my paintings to have needed money, as my father was a poor, but honorable man who worked as a laborer/janitor to provide for his stay-at-home wife and four good kids. 

He told me in one of several fascinating conversations that his own grandmother was a 'LaFleur' of the Grand Prairie French-Choctaw Creoles of Alabama and he knew that our people were not 'Cajun' -a word then views as degrading to 'French' people as was/is the "N" word to African Americans, but a contraction of 'Acadien.' I, however, actually am of partial Acadian descent on my maternal grandma's line of Francois Pitre; a fact of which I am quite proud. 

Today, since the past 5 years, I have picked up his legacy-proudly. Along with the venerable Gene Buller, and many well-educated, and intelligently honest men and women, we have remarried historical fact to present-day reality, for ALL of our Creole people, black, white, red and of color. It's ALL about truth, faith and love, Cher. Now, come and celebrate our history, our heritage and our Louisiana-based creole culture, people and heritage on Sunday, July 12, 10:00 am-3:00 pm at 704 N. Soileau St, at the Ville Platte Civic Center Grand Pavilion!

--John La Fleur

Letter To The Editor of The Ville Platte Gazette From John LaFleur

I think I missed all this in the Gazette. It's a response filled with a lot of information. I have permission to share it from John LaFleur. You can contact him on FaceBook. Denise and I are going to Ville Platte tomorrow see. Hope it doesn't rain but that might be better than the humidity.

Dear Editor, On behalf of all educated Creoles and 'Cajuns' I would like to address Mr. Barney Ortego's recent comments and concerns appearing a week ago in the Ville Platte Gazette's "Letter To the Editor".

First, of all, it is a big, but common mistake for people to assume that the term 'Cajun' exists as a general term for all French people of Louisiana; a very deliberate and rude presumption first started in the Anglo-American 19th century press in Louisiana. In other words, after we became Americans in 1803, American writers indiscriminately, and ignorantly lumped together all French-speaking people of Louisiana as "cadjins." See Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux's "Acadian To Cajun: Transformation of A People: 1803-1887," University Press of Mississippi 1992. This original spelling of the contraction of 'Cadiens' was equal to the 'n' word for African Americans. According to Dr. Carl A. Brasseaux, a true Acadian/Cajun scholar, this word was derogatory and equal to 'white trash'. Clearly, no self-respecting 'Frenchman' -Acadian, Canadien, French, Creole or Euro-franco found this word to be flattering, and needless to say, none of them-including the children of the first Acadians-embraced it as their cultural identity or label.

In fact, when black Creoles were insulted by the 'n' word, their Creole children 'returned the compliment' to white Creole children by calling them 'cadjins'! The older members of both our diverse French Creole and Acadian/Cajun communities continue to REJECT this term once coined by people who hated our religion, interracial and intercultural people and languages, even in its 'revised' form of "Cajun."

An example of a living Acadian/Cajun is Mr. "Pem" Broussard of St. Martinville, Louisiana who is a direct descendant of Joseph "Beausoleil" Broussard, our Acadian folk hero. "N'oncle Pem" and I had the happy coincidence of meeting on "Indian Day" at historic Vermilionville in Lafayette, La., a year ago. I was amazed to hear him speaking in Louisiana Creole, and not in Louisiana French which is incorrectly, but traditionally referred to as "Cajun French," so you can understand my, uhh, wonderment. N'oncle Pem, also flatly rejected any suggestion that he was a "Cajun" insisting that he is "Creole!" And, of course, knowing that he, like my Acadian ancestor, Francois Pitre (Joseph's 'bel-ami' or best friend), was born and acculturated in la louisiane of Spanish-French Louisiana, I certainly could not disagree! Clearly, N'oncle Pem did not imagine "Creole" to have anything to do with 'race' or one's color! And, lest there be any doubt among ye racially-sensitive; yes, "N'oncle Pem" is white; oh, so white! And, of course, he's so RIGHT, too!

The earliest descendants of the original Acadians did, in fact, refer to themselves as Creole, along with all other 'native-born' colonial French, metis, African Spanish, some Italian and even Irish families. See Dr. James H. Dormon's, "The People Called Cajuns: Introduction To An Ethno-history." In Louisiana's colonial history-far beyond her American status since 1803, and long before the Acadian arrival in 1765 with Francois Pitre and Joseph Broussard's first Acadian families from Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), where they spent nearly a decade awaiting their future destination to Spanish Louisiana in 1765-ten years after the Grand Derangement began, in 1755-they were introduced to the very rich and prosperous French Creole culture of France's once wealthiest sugar and coffee plantation colonies.

Many of these French Creoles are described by Napoleon I's wife Empress Josephine's cousin/lawyer/historian, Elie Moreau de St. Mery in his three-volume French work "Les Creoles de Saint-Domingue...." What's interesting about his work is his use of "Creole" for all of the three categories of people he describes in Saint-Domingue' historic society: whites, their mixed-race children, and native-born black slaves. All of these groups are referred to specifically; as first, "white creoles" (creoles blancs), second, "creoles de couleur" (creoles of color/mulatto or some version, thereof), and third, "creoles negres" (blacks). According to scholar Bernt Ostendorf (whose research has superseded Virginia Dominguez's research), who studied the documents in French, Spanish and Portuguese across France and Spain's colonial empires, from the 1600s to modern times, which includes Louisiana, the word 'creole' was never limited to any single 'race' but, simply referred to anyone who was native-born in these colonies, being the children of foreign-born parents, regardless of whether they were black or white; European or African. But, in Louisiana, these 'native-born' people and their high quality products and lifestyle were to change that view of themselves, as they gained wealth and France had to look to "les Creoles" for financial support. Dogs, tomatoes, yams and yes, people were all 'creole,' if native-born. (See images below) See by Bernt Ostendorf, found in Dr. John Lowe's excellent compendia of scholarly essays entitled "Louisiana Culture From The Colonial Era To Katrina," LSU Press 2008.

This is the pre-American historical, correct and original meaning or "definition" if you will, for what "creole" has always been. And, it's also the consistent use and meaning found in the Galvez Expedition muster rolls where meticulous cultural identities such as 'Creole' or 'Acadian' or "American" were used to distinguish Louisiana's participating soldier/defenders. And, consistently, throughout French and Spanish Louisiana's courthouse records, 'Creole' is used as a generic term for anyone who is born in the colony, regardless of their ethnicity, in contrast to their foreign-born parents, whether European or African, or even American! And, yes, Mr. Ortego 'creoles' were viewed as 'lesser quality citizens' of not only France and Spain, but also in Africa; and in Europe this meant that they were not likely to ever attain prestigious seats in governmental posts! Of course, New Orleans born heiress, Michaela Pontalba, daughter of famed Spaniard, Juan Almonester y Rozas of St. Louis cathedral and Jackson Square fame, was to definitely give the Parisians something to talk about, and still their prejudice toward Louisiana and other colonial-bred Creoles wouldn't ever really change. See Christina Vella's, "Intimate Enemies: The Two Worlds of The Baronessa de Pontalba," 2004 for more details. It remains a case of "them and us," much as white Creoles were to view their/our "Creoles de couleur" relatives at a later time. And, that later time came after we became American in 1803. In the 1880s "Creole" with the capital letter, came to represent a new, but 'racial-social' definition for high class WHITES ONLY; compliments of legislator, lawyer and founder of the Louisiana State Library, Charles Gayarre' who feared the Anglos would confuse 'creole' as mulatto! Louisiana license plates also sported, due to his influence, the special motto: "Louisiana The Creole State." After the Civil War (1860s), 'Creoles de couleur' (Creoles of color), rightfully reacted including themselves as 'Creoles' since they had come from the same WHITE ancestors and did not wish to be confused with former freed and black slaves. See Dr. Lawrence N. Powell's (retired Tulane University) "The New Orleans of George Washington Cable: The 1887 Census Office Report" for more details.

This only heightened white Creole fears of racial confusion, resulting in all kinds of Jim Crow and Reconstruction-era laws designed to deprive Creoles de couleur (Creoles of color), of long-held rights and social status nearly equal to that of their white Creole cousins. The infamous 'one drop rule' for example, came into existence in 1910, as did a variety of anti-miscegenation laws designed to keep whites and blacks apart; all worsening relationships which had been remarkably harmonious between these two groups in French and Spanish Louisiana. Eventually, on the heels of the Civil Rights era which kept old fears and racial hatreds hot, a new cultural identity opened up when Lafayette's tourist bureau and a handful of then, young Acadian activists who would later become UL professors, were to force a misspelled version of the old "Cadjin" (a corruption of Acadien, and a label long abhorred by all French people since it meant, "white trash"), as a safe, but guaranteed WHITE alternative to then, socially unsafe "Creole."

The 1970s saw a young, Governor Edwards under the tutelage of the infamous Senator Dudley "Hadacol" LeBlanc and proud French Creole Jimmy Domengeaux (CODOFIL's first president), who insisted upon modern French to be taught in Louisiana schools, together introduced a bill creating a fictional, but economically-promising region of imaginary Acadian settlement know as "Acadiana," and the rest is truly a big and forty-six year long myth-history which was to re-label our Louisiana French as "Cajun French" along with our food and music traditions, as well. But, it's been a prosperous "Acadian-based" cultural fairytale, complete with its' mythical princess, "Evangeline" from which fable, Paulin Fontenot derived the namesake for our parish in 1910, foreseeing a potentially prosperous American tourism emerging; as did many poor Creoles, who desperately needed an economic boost. Our beloved Jimmy C. Newman, of recent and fond memory, passed as a 'Cajun' as did Chef K-Paul Prudhomme of Opelousas, and most of the whites of our historic French colonial and Creole parishes and made fortunes from this cultural Mardi Gras! Of course, there were other men of greater scruple who provide us with historic exceptions to the rule of profit-at-the expense-of-historical reality. The late Tony Chachere of Tony Chachere's Famous Creole Seasonings was and remains one of the most successful entrepreneurs who chose not to sell his Creole cultural 'shirt' for the new 'Cajun' identity. He was proud of his family's ethnic and historic cultural heritage and chose to continue to identify as 'Creole,' in spite of the silly racial fears played upon by politicians of that sad time.

Old "N'oncle Dud" certainly made a fortune from selling his "Hadacol" juice, and his Acadian Miracle (fairytale-history books giving the Acadians credit for our 500 year old multi-ethnic and international culture which has never and still doesn't exist in Acadie, Canada) and others continue to do so, today.

Such is the power of the dollar, cher! With honest commerce, I have no quarrel, nor with a person's choice of how to identify culturally. So, if anyone chooses to identify as "Cajun' (whatever that means, since its meaning has changed several times according to the economic and sociological objectives out of Lafayette), he or she, is certainly free to do so. But, for those of us who, like Tony Chachere, remain proud of who we are and of our shared historic French Creole and/or metis cultural identities, we stand on the better side of history, and so deserve respect for our integrity to truth. And, I am glad to see from the front-page feature of the recent edition of the "Bonnes Nouvelles" magazine, those of us who stood up for our historic and shared culture-for our history-that respect has come for ALL of us; black Creoles, Creoles of color, white and metis Creoles, who were all in attendance. Among such outstanding representatives were Evangeline Parish's coroner, Dr. Charles Fontenot, Evangeline Bank's president, Mr. Jake Ardoin, Pharmacist Blake Vidrine, a wide variety of lawyers such as Tony Dupre' and Cathy Mayers, the Semien Law Firm of Lake Charles and many other professional people including our president, Gene Buller and Editor in Chief of "Bonnes Nouvelles" magazine, Bobby Dardeau. Our effervescent Mayor Jennifer Vidrine, who kept things lively, along with many other honorees, scholars and guests including KLFY TV 10, and home radio KVPI's Martel Ardoin and coverage in the "Ville Platte Gazette" as well as, in other regional newspapers.! We also had true Acadian/Cajun descendants such as the honorable Boisy Pitre, my cousin attend, in full recognition of his own Louisiana-grown 'Creole' cultural heritage on Creole Families Bastille Day Heritage Festival, on July 12. And, two very special ladies, my beloved and self-proclaimed cousin Mary LaFleur, daughter of the great hotel entrepreneur Hosea LaFleur of New Orleans by way of Ville Platte, and her daughter Youlanda Stevens also surprised us with a visit. Scholars Brian Costello of New Roads, Dr. Ina Fandrich of New Orleans, Alexandra Giancarlo of Canada, Editor of Cultural Vistas magazine, David Johnson of New Orleans were all in attendance, as was author, entrepreneur Mary Gehman of Donaldsonville. We also deliberately celebrated our historic faith as represented in the Roman Catholic Church's presence with two of our openly-Creole priests, Father Jason Vidrine, Pastor Sacred Heart of Jesus, and Father Brad David Guillory, Assoc. Pastor Our Lady Queen Of All Saints, who officiated, along with our Indian Creole, Chief John "Sitting Bear" Mayeux, all illustrating the triumph of good over the evils wrought by the French Revolution, while we celebrated our beloved democratic and Christian values of freedom, equality and yes, brotherhood of all our good people! It was historic, memorable and remarkable.

With only the best regards, Mr. Barney Ortego, I hope your concerns have been answered. I am always available to answer anyone's genuine concerns or inquiry.

John laFleur II, Louisiana Creole Author, Independent Scholar & Educator

LOUISIANA CREOLE Pride & LOUSIANA HISTORY, REUNTED, AT LAST! By John LAFleur II, All rights reserved, copyright 2015

Creole Food History

Interesting information about the food we eat all the time around here. It's information leading up to the Creole Festival in Ville Platte. Essay provided by John La Fleur and permission was given to post it. 

Food For Thought: The Culinary & Cultural Roots of Avoyelles, Evangeline, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee & St. Landry Parishes by John LaFleur II. Copyright June 2015 All rights reserved.

Le Festival de la Viande Boucanee, or "smoked meat" festival features Saucisses,Tasso, Jambalaya, Grillades, and more food once fairly unique to the parishes named above, but especially so in the northwestern corner of what was once the royal "Poste des Opelousas" or St. Landry-Evangeline Parishes of Louisiana. File' Gumbo, maque-chou & bay leaf are among some of the other common, but delicious culinary gifts of this region, too. The Africans would bring okra and traditions quite compatible to those of the Indians with whom they too, did intermarry as had the French. See Chef Marcelle Bienvenu's "Stir The Pot: A History of Cajun Cuisine" to uncover the true Creole roots of Cajun cooking and the origins of our smoked meat Tasso tradition. In fact, Louisiana French and it's Louisiana. And, not to be ignored is the fairly comprehensive "Picayune Creole Cookbook of 1901" which presents the most basic of our country Creole recipes and food traditions from "'gratons" to "daube" to "bouilli" all with their/our Louisiana French labels! In fact, Louisiana French and its daughter tongue of Louisiana Creole also reveal the same striking connection to not only Indian food ways, but also to a wide variety of things affecting life in Colonial French and later Spanish Louisiana. 

This unusual interrelationship of Louisiana's Colonial French to the Mobilian-Choctaw trade language was noticed by at least, three noteworthy men, all former LSU-Baton Rouge scholars; Dr. William Read, Dr. James Broussard and Dr. Fred Kniffen. Dr. Read was an accomplished linguistic expert of Louisiana Indian languages and appears to be the first to refer to Louisiana French as a creole language; meaning any of a variety of French-based dialects married to indigenous words & idiomatic expressions etc. He and his colleague, Dr. Broussard both made a distinction between "Louisiana Creole French" and it's daughter tongue then referred to as "Gumbo" or "Negre" (as did George Washington Cable in his stories about Creole New Orleans), since it was first introduced by poor African plantation slaves, who notwithstanding their illiteracy and deprivations, had developed this strictly imitative dialect, which, ironically, was also to become largely the common speech of the poor and illiterate Acadian-Cajuns of St. Martinville, Cecilia, parts of St. James and St. Charles parishes.

This "language" or dialect is also spoken by white French Creole descendants of Pointe Coupee parish and Creoles of color, too. The dialect of French at Natchitoches unsurpringly resembles the Louisiana French of Evangeline-St. Landry Parishes. Dr. Broussard believed that the dialect we know as "Louisiana French" was the "Louisiana Creole French" of our historic culture and which nowadays, people refer to as "Louisiana Creole" today, was a sub-dialect of Louisiana French. While I don't disagree that what is called Louisiana Creole, today, can be presumed to be "a unique language," I can understand both Broussard and Read's viewpoint for several good reasons, but only one of which is relevant, here. Louisiana French with its Mobilian-Choctaw patois is older and clearly influenced its daughter tongue of what is nowadays, "Louisiana Creole" which retains the old Mobilian-Choctaw jargon, which brings us back to both the focus of this article; our food ways and linguistic Creole/Metis heritage. 

In his wonderful book, "Louisiana Place Names of Indian Origin" Read documents, as does Dr. Fred Kniffen, the fact that the Alabama Choctaw followed their 'white' Creole/Metis brothers from Alabama to Louisiana during their forced, but voluntary evacuation in 1763-4 to New Orleans. In Louisiana the boot (Territory of Orleans), they were all to move up to Pointe Coupee where many Illinois Creoles such as the Ardoin and Vidrines met up with the Fontenot and LaFleur families and united en route to the " Poste des Opelouss" or to the area of what is today Washington-Grand Prairie-Opelousas. Some of our Choctaw cousins moved to the Point Blue-Chataignier and Mamou areas, and others toward St. Landry-Bayou Chicot and Pine Prairie. Dr. Read refers to our Louisiana French sometimes as "Creole French" and at other times as "Louisiana French," but he never refers to it as "Cajun French." See Foreword to "The New Dictionary of Louisiana French As Spoken In Cajun, Creole & American Indian Communities" which discusses this issue. This great book remains a unique and treasured gift too our people and the only true difference between this dictionary and The Dictionary of Louisiana Creole" -it's daughter language/dialect-is the complete phoneticizing of our common Louisiana French lexicon/vocabulary, which to the unsuspecting gives the misleading impression of being a completely different language, intentionally or not. And, as such, they are not. 

That was a unique and radical departure from Louisiana's long cultural and historical tradition executed by the leaders of the organization known as CODOFIL and which leaders sought to and did succeed through political maneuvering to re-label our shared and historical pre-Acadian culture as 'Cajun' in order to prosper a new Lafayette-based commerce upon the false pretext that he Acadians had created an "Acadian-based culture" in Louisiana, but every part of it was a reflection of the much older Creole culture of Louisiana and nothing resembling the culture of the Acadian homeland, then or now! 

The true Acadian-Cajuns are not at fault for this any of this deceptive comedy of the absurd. Indeed, that was CODOFIL's charter objective-commerce and a new Acadian-based tourism centered in Lafayette to compete with New Orleans, which many felt was "lost to the blacks." See Dr. Albert Valdman's compendium "French and Creole in Louisiana" for eyebrow-raising details of CODOFIL's earliest charter.

Their aim in renaming both our historically Creole cuisine and language tradition as "Cajun" also paved the way for the relabeling of all the French-speaking parishes as "Acadiana" in 1971 whereas previously, these parishes were referred to as the "French-speaking triangle" to simply "the Creole parishes." All white French speakers became, willingly or not, "Cajuns" and only "blacks" were represented as "Creole " as if "Creole" was a race! Truly, "truth is stranger than fiction" in Louisiana when snake oil salesmen and greedy politicians are allowed to rewrite history! See Dr. Carl Brasseaux' book, "Acadiana...." It may be surprising for some to learn that Jambalaya came from the Ishak-Atakapas Indians and was known by the "coureurs de bois" as early as 1690, and was originally spelled "Shambalaha" meaning, "Eat up, be made full!" The later Spanish reign provided us with the current spelling using their aspirated 'h'. See Hubert Singleton's "The Indians That Gave Us Zydeco." And, our "Tasso" is derived from the Spanish "tahaso" for smoked beef which may well have a double origin from both the Spanish-speaking 'Islenos' and certainly among the Choctaw who originally smoked beef as they were big into cattle raising. 

Today, Tasso is smoked pork, nowadays, because it's a cheaper, but certainly delicious meat. This cattle raising tradition is also one of their many forgotten legacies to the Creoles and true Acadian-Creoles of this region. And, our beloved tradition of muskadine & elderberry wine is also a gift of both French tradition and Choctaw food custom; "soco" being the Mobilian Choctaw word for muskadine. Still, in spite of the political, social and often-times racially-motivated suppression of our diverse historical-cultural roots the truth is now known that the poor minority Acadians did not import gumbo or smoked meat or jambalaya, or even the accordion to their very different Louisiana homeland. 

They completely adopted their new Louisiana Creole cultural identity until Lafayette's politicians & marketing agencies created the Cajun myth as scripted by myth writer Senator Dudley LeBlanc who was also known for his famous "snake oil" (Hadacol) ruse. As was the case with every ethnic group to arrive in colonial Louisiana, they, too, willingly and happily assimilated her very old Choctaw, French, Canadian, African and Spanish influenced Latin culture; many of them/us never accepting the degrading American-made euphemism of "Cadjin" cleaned up and presented as "Cajun" -the new Acadian ethnic label officially sponsored by CODOFIL since 1968. The Irish and Italians and still later, the Acadians also contributed to the preservation of our shared Louisiana-based linguistic, culinary & social traditions through their adoption of this unique Louisiana culture through cross-cultural marriages and a shared Catholic tradition. 

In Louisiana, it remains true that we are "the Creole State!" Now, get yourself and friends or family to the nearest "Viande Boucanee" store in or near Ville Platte as soon as possible!

Creole Families 2015 in Ville Platte

I don't use the Internet much anymore but will post stuff I find interesting. The Creole Festival will be July 12th in Ville Platte. I like the logo idea by John La Fleur. He sent me an image of it and I asked him about it. Graphics were done by his friend Diego River at www.diegorivera.tv  He said he was inspired by old French Colonial art depicting an "Indian Mother-Goddess" for Louisiana. The image is filled with references to Louisiana. The Creole flag and children represent Louisiana's diverse ethnic connections: French-Canadian, African and Spanish. He says "Louisiana is our cultural mother" and that should be the emphasis of celebrating the Creole culture around here. 

I think it's cool. Looks good. Makes sense and everybody is included. A single group is not singled out to represent everyone and to be used for marketing to the tourists and all that.  

That's it. I hope I put all the information right and if something is wrong it's my mistake. I did a little "tour" of Creole Louisiana today. I drove 190 to I-10 to New Orleans.  Delivered to two stops and then drove a big loop on 90 back to Eunice. Saw an alligator on side of road in deep bayou country. It's a cool run but there's no time to stop and look at everything. Now I'm tired and ready to relax.

Cochon de Lait Festival in Mansura - Cajun or Creole?

The Cochon de Lait festival is this weekend in Mansura, LA. That's in Avoyelles Parish. I was curious to see how it would be advertised and their site has "The festival mixes great Cajun food, good times and Louisiana music with the famous cochon de lait (French for roast suckling pig)." Visit the site by Googling Cochon de Lait festival. I don't put links anymore because a site might go dead or change. But the local newspaper coverage might call it different. I don't know anymore but they usually do. I've seen some online writings from the Avoyelles papers and they often mention French Creole heritage and culture. When they (the festival site writers) use the word Cajun to describe the food of the area are they really saying white Creole food, which is another way of saying Cajun food? Do they think they have a strong Acadian heritage? Do they believe the tradition of the cochon de lait came from the Acadians? Maybe Cajun to them simply means white Creole? I don't know. But if you're interested in that stuff, Google "Avoyelles French Creole" and also Google "Avoyelles Cajun" and "Avoyelles Acadian." And then watch how newspapers cover the event and also how the event is advertised. 

I've never been and we'll skip it this year for crawfish and Mother's Day. McGee's Landing in Henderson would be a great option but I don't know. Might stay close by. But check out the site and visit. It looks great, no matter how they label the food and fun. It won't take away from the taste and good times. But I want to mention something. I worked with several Avoyelles guys when working for the beer company. We were talking about something "Cajun" when he told me they were "very Coonass but we're not Cajun like those people in Mamou." And it's those weird beliefs and stuff that gets to me. What exactly did he mean by that? And why they call a panse (pounce) a gog?

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)

    

Pocking eggs, Planting Parsley and Eating Crawfish

Easter is here and it's one of my favorite holidays. It's a positive holiday and not too commercial like a lot of other ones. We'll celebrate this Sunday in Pine Prairie. My Texas wife and California daughter will pock with the Milans and Sopranos. I was reading some Internet and came across a good surprise. Prairie Femme has blogged some more stuff. Google that and her site has books she made and a lot of interesting stuff. But instead of leaving a comment on her blog, I'll blog a comment here. Drole, I guess, but, anyway, I read her post about the KVPI segment about not digging in the ground on Good Friday and parsley. She has the French recorded, written and translated. I asked Mom and Dad about the parsley and they knew about it. They said," mais, everybody knows that." Well, I guess all the older people, but not me. Yes, you prepare the parsley on Thursday because you can't on Good Friday. On the Friday, all you have to do is throw them in. You do that because they won't make flowers too soon and make it all useless. Great stuff. See her blog for another tradition mentioned. 

We'll probably get some crawfish tonight. Instead of boiling them we'll go down to Mud Bugs in Acadia parish and get our beer and crawfish there. We passed last night and asked about the prices. I can eat crawfish boiled and fried and that's it. I can't stand it smothered or gumbo, etc. We'll get some newspapers and spread them out on the porch. Put music on, drink beer and make a big tasty mess all over the place. 

French-Cajuns of Evangeline Parish?

I put French-Cajun because it might be easier to understand that.  Evangeline Parish is considered one of the most Cajun parishes.  I mean, how much more Cajun can one possibly be than Mamou?  But Evangeline Parish has no Acadian heritage or history.  Because they're Creole, I mean, French-Cajun. That applies to the "white" French people of course.  Black or multiracial French people are Creole. That's how it works around here. That's fine and dandy but for God's sake please don't play a sad tune on a violin and lament about our Acadian people being exiled and a new Acadie founded in Mamou or Ville Platte. That's absurd. Talk about French soldiers, fur trappers from Quebec, French prisoners being sent because not too many people wanted to go to colonial Louisiana, etc. I still get a kick when I see superficial tourist writings describing Creoles (white) as being all rich and going to the opera and all Cajuns walking around barefoot and catching alligators and laughing at the fancy pants Creoles (white). Take New Orleans for example. Was every single Creole (white) in New Orleans back in the day rich, educated and going to the opera? What about the Creole who worked in the ports, drank a lot of beer and would rather fight in a bar than go to the damn opera? He would then, I guess, be a Cajun. And that way of thinking is why Evangeline Parish is very Cajun. It has nothing to do with the Acadians. It has to do with white cowboy French Creoles being too rough and rugged to be considered Creole. Mamou is one of the most Cajun towns in Louisiana. But Mamou is French-Cajun, not Acadian-Cajun. Don't believe me? Read what Cajun activist and great Mamou man Revon Reed wrote in newspapers back in the 80's.

Anyway, I came across this book in the library and think it's great:
Working The Field: Accounts from French Louisiana. edited by Jacques Henry and Sara Le Menestrel.
People talk about their experiences in studying French Louisiana. It's sociologists, anthropologists and folklorists talking. Barry Ancelet himself has a chapter included. I liked all of it. I especially like Cecyle Trepanier and Dean Louder's chapter talking about their Quebec perspective on us here in Louisiana. It covers a lot of stuff but includes the idea of Cajun equals Acadian when that's not really true. Maybe in Abbeville. But in Ville Platte? No. Besides all the label nonsense, it talks about actual real stuff like Mardi Gras, treaters and music. Check it out.    

Creole Explorer, Soldier and Smuggler

I say Creole because Louis Juchereau de St. Denis is one of our ancestors and he contributed to the Creole culture of Evangeline Parish. But he was born in Quebec.  He sailed with his first cousin, Pierre Le Moyne on Le Moyne's second expedition and made it down to Louisiana. This is according to Wikipedia and you have to watch that site about its' information, however, I saw similar info on other places. Google his name and you'll find several sites covering his life. I'm not going to duplicate all that info on a blog post. St. Denis commanded French forts along the Gulf Coast but eventually made his way up north to Natchitoches. He learned a lot about hunting, trapping and basic survival skills from the Native Americans there. He traded and sold guns to them. The Caddo Nation was the group he dealt with the most. I'm sure he passed this knowledge down and it eventually made it down to influence the culture of the Evangeline Parish area. He was an adventurous guy and his children, his daughters, married ex-French Marines and French soldiers from Mobile such as the Fontenots and Guillorys.  They also married ex-Spanish soldiers like Ortego. The major names around Evangeline parish all have a shared history because all our ancestors knew about each other and married into the same families. And the soldiers from Mobile probably were familiar with mosquitoes and humidity because southern Alabama, southern Mississippi and Louisiana have similar climates. St. Denis learned all about that also, way back in the 1700s. 

I like this from Wikipedia:

"His contraband trade became a way of life on the frontier and borders of Spanish Texas and French Louisiana."  (Wikipedia)

I've posted this before but I'm putting things in context.

St. Denis on my Memere Hébert's side

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis married Emmanuela Sanchez de Navarro

Marie des Neiges Juchereau married Louis Antonio DeSoto

Marie DeSoto married Joachim Ortego

Marie Mathilde Ortego married Philippe Fontenot

Philippe Fontenot married Marie Doralise Guillory

Marie Azelie Fontenot married Henri Guillory

Aurelien Guillory married Onezia Deshotels

Elia Guillory married Adan Hébert dit Milan.

Roland Hébert married Calvalene Guillory

Me, Mike

St. Denis on Pepere Hébert's side

Louis Juchereau de St. Denis married Emmanuela Sanchez de Navarro

Marie des Neiges Juchereau married Louis Antonio DeSoto

Marie DeSoto married Joachim Ortego

Joseph Marie Ortego married Marie Josephe Guillory

Marie Aglaee Ortego married Victorin Deshotels

Marie Aglaee Deshotels married Hypolite Hébert dit Milan

Adan Hébert married Elia Guillory

Roland Hébert married Calvalene Guillory

Me, Mike

Creole story would make a great movie

The story about Margarita and her fight to free herself and her children in Louisiana would make a great movie.  I'm not going to say all what was written about it here.  Simply Google "The Margarita Case: Historical Perspectives on a Controversial Case in 18th Century Louisiana by Winston DeVille" or Google "Margarita Guillory Grégoire" and you'll read all about their story.  I have a personal interest in it because it involves my Guillory ancestors but also because it's Louisiana history, social issues and legal stuff. This all takes place in Opelousas, Grand Prairie, New Orleans and before that, Mobile. Talk about a lot of drama. Gregoire had an affair with Margarita, had children with her, freed her and their children and then his white children fought him to keep them as slaves after their Mom died.  Margarita had to fight for years off and on to get away from them.  Gregoire had already freed her twice and they still kept going to court. This was before Louisiana was American.  The case went from Opelousas to New Orleans and then Cuba because it was so complicated. Marguerite (Margarita in French) and her story has a good ending but it took years to do so.  Hollywood couldn't make up a true story like this to portray.  Real life is far more interesting.

Ville Platte speaks French but is not Acadian

Ville Platte and the Evangeline Parish area never was.  I keep saying that and whenever I see something interesting I'll share it.  I was browsing the Net for something unrelated to Louisiana French language and came across this book that has an interesting chapter:

Chapter 11. “Cajun” French in a non-Acadian community. A phonological study of the French of Ville Platte, Louisiana by Thomas A. Klinger and Chantal Lyche

It can be found in this book:

Phonological Variation in French: Illustrations from three continents edited by Randall Gess, Chantal Lyche, Trudel Meisenburg 

John Benjamins Publishing, Dec 6, 2012

Great stuff.  I read some of it on Google books and got lost when they started getting deep into linguistic stuff.  I have no idea what they're talking about.  I did, however, understand the history and sociology stuff written at the beginning of chapter 11.  Google those words and find it on Google books to read some of it.  I was looking into Avoyelles Parish being designated as a French Creole parish and Evangeline being designated as a French Creole/Cajun mix.  That's interesting stuff in itself.  OK.  The genealogists, sociologists/anthropologists, historians, linguistic type people and old school Evangeline Parish people all say that Acadian and Cajun is a new thing around here.  It's a make believe tourism trick because Acadian and Cajun is a good seller.  If only real history would make money, then you would see Creole meat stores and Creole hamburgers, Creole Fries, etc, etc.

Creole Western Story

What was life like way, way back here in the Opelousas Post area?  The best book I read was Winston DeVille's  Opelousas: The History of a French and Spanish Military Post in America, 1716-1803. There are several interesting things such as "Social conduct in early Opelousas was typically that of a rough frontier settlement." (DeVille, 119)  It makes me think of a western show or movie but with Louisiana Creoles as the cowboys and cowgirls speaking in French and eating gumbo on the prairie. 

I will get a machine to listen to Paw Paw Adan tell stories in French told to him from Pepere Hypolite.  Dad has the tapes.  Hypolite probably told stories also told from his Dad, Joachim.  Maybe, probably, from his Mouman also, Divine Fontenot. She died in Eunice and is buried in Pointe aux Tigre area, in the Ashford cemetery.  Joachim was born in 1803 in Opelousas.  His Poupa was Joachim also.  He was born in 1781 in Pointe Coupee.  His first wife, the line I'm from, was Emilie Gagnard.  Gagnard sounds like Gaa-nyay. That's my best way of trying to sound it out.  Her Mom and Pop were Jacques Gagnard and Ursula Juneau. Now maybe some stories were passed down from even Joachim's Dad, Francois.  Francois came from Martigny Le Comte in Burgundy France.  He came to Louisiana with his brother, Phillip.  Francois, line I'm from, married Marie Marcantel in Pointe Coupee.  She was born in 1756 and I think in Louisiana.  Her Mom and Pop were Francois Marcantel and Ann Rondo. They, I think, were in Louisiana for a long time compared to Francois coming to Louisiana from France.  Phillip signed Francois and Marie's wedding contract in 1771 Pointe Coupee.  Dad has a copy of the actual contract. 

It would be great to read or hear about life back then about the prairie Creoles.  The Opelousas Post was not all rich, rich plantation owning aristocrats.  Not at all.  Sure, they had some like that, just like in St. Martinville, but the majority of the people were small farmers, ranchers and things like that.  From what I know, my family were not big time plantation types.  A lot were military types that changed to farming and ranching. Simple country western Louisiana Creole cowboys.

Old Heberts from L'Anse Grise

We went visit Mom and Dad yesterday.  Dad told me if his Dad were alive today he would be 121 years old.  That's a long time ago.  Then he said if his pepere were alive today he would be 190 years old.  I thought about it and then asked him to explain that a little.  Hypolite was 69 years old when Adan was born.  Adan was 49 when Dad was born.  I thought that was outrageous but Dad said it common back then.  People had a bunch of kids and of course nobody cared about birth control.  More kids the better. Hypolite was born in 1825.  Louisiana became part of America in 1812. My Hebert family goes way back into the 1700s Louisiana.  I wish I could find a recorder to play my Pepere Adan and Memere Elia's talking in French that Dad had recorded. Because that French goes way back in the L'Anse Grise area with few of newer influences.

I decided to stay all text from now on.  No more images, links or embedded material in my blog.  I much prefer that style.  I also changed the template default to the classic style because I felt that what I have is a personal style blog, not a magazine or news site.  And no more blogging from a phone.  I felt like I was falling into the Facebook style of doing things.  I even "tweeted" several times here because one sentence or two is what tweeting (micro-blogging) does.  I told Denise that we can write things down on paper and then I'll type them up later.  And of course, blog sober.  I was getting into a bad habit of posting something while lit up and then deleting it the next day when I thought about it.  No more of that.  I got upset at a site that was re-blogging my posts on their site but I emailed them and they took it down.  I didn't like that at all.  It was full posts displayed on their site.  And some were posts I had edited, deleted or saved to draft.  But they're cool and took it down. Merci beaucoup.  I was about to notify Google about that.  

Tattoos and Blog Titles

I started blogging in 2006 to understand why Dad taught us to say we were Creoles and not Cajuns. I titled my blog CreoleCajun to emphasize the confusion. No hyphen was intentional. A made up word.

My tattoo was made several years earlier. I went to an artist in Pineville and he liked my design. He told me, I'm gonna hook you up. It was my second, my first being a solid fleur de lis. I got that one too there. Mystic Magic. Very cool place and good artists. They love symbolic stuff. Tribal and all that. 

I thought of this title but never used it. Always, I don't know, not sure. 

Used this title for some time. At first, it seemed perfect. But then I had doubts. 

I really thought of using this one. This was after no blogging for four years and talking to the Prairie Femme. Beaucoup influence. Understanding of Evangeline Parish. 

But I settled on dit Milan. It recognizes my reality and I can talk my talk about it. I was a sociology major at USL in Lafayette. But I changed and finished in Literature at NSU in Natchitoches. 

Now I'm a truck driver that enjoys blogging stuff because I've always enjoyed researching, thinking and writing. It's that simple. And having my title as my family name shows how I'm interested in the life I have. 

Saucisse et Sirop

Denise will make "New Orleans" po-boys with this sausage from Champagnes. I was surprised to see that because I associate syrup in sausage as a Delcambre thing. But we'll have it all. The  smoked meat tradition of the Northern prairie, good, good stuff from Abbeville (Steen's), Delcambre style sausage and the great New Orleans style food. Not bad for a cooking in Eunice. 

Cajun logic for Evangeline Parish

Dad did a lot of genealogy on our family. He did this much on his own but also learned more from other people.  Our family history is similar to others in Evangeline Parish. I'm sure Avoyelles Parish would look similar.  I have no African ancestry but that's an important group for.... "Cajun" culture in Evangeline Parish.  If I had but one, just one, African ancestor, I would be then Creole. Native American ancestry doesn't kick you out of the white club. Look at all the white people saying they have Cherokee in them, somewhere in the family line. No proof or anything but said. It's a weird social thing but you see that often. And it's always Cherokee. Nothing wrong with Cherokee, but why only them? I'm drifting off subject. Anyway, being "white" allows me into the Cajun club. 

Our Native American ancestors were simply documented, in French, as "baptized Savage" when they married the French guys. So we don't know. 

OK, back on point, here we go with Cajun logic based on our personal but reflective Evangeline Parish ancestry. 

German

Ignore these people. 

Spanish

Ignore these people. 

English

Ignore these people.

Irish 

Ignore these people.

Italian 

Ignore these people. 

Native American

Ignore these people. 

Acadian!

Hot damn no, now you talking!  These people are the only ones you need to talk and think about! Everybody loves my Acadian ancestors. God help me, every Louisiana book I read talks about them and only them. That's why we get down at the store, eat boudin, eat gumbo, talk like dat and dis when we talk fast fast and why the older people talk French. Yep. That's it. 

French

Fontenot, Guillory, Ardoin, Deshotels, Morein, Fusilier, Bordelon, Lemoine, Brignac, Vidrine, Soileau, Landreneau,LaFleur the list goes on ................  Forget all them French non Acadian people. Mais yeah, dat's Cajun logic. Those people couldn't even talk French before the three Acadians showed up. 

Creole Jambalaya tonight

Good supper tonight. I love to see products with Creole in it. It would fit perfect for all the areas in Louisiana with the background. The Creoles in Abbeville could celebrate their French or African or Acadian family history while simply calling the area and people as Creole. New Iberia could celebrate their Spanish and Acadian and African history, etc. But the area and people would be Creole. Not calling the area Cajun would not take away Acadian history and heritage. Some areas would have more Acadian history to talk about and that's fine. That way, there wouldn't be all this crazy confusion.  Go to the northern areas of "Acadiana" to celebrate Cajun culture, like Mansura or Ville Platte. I notice in popular writings how people describe this "Cajun" culture as different, from say, Abbeville. But they never go deeper into the reasons why.  And if they do look into the history of the area it goes in one ear and out the other. It's all Acadian and thus Cajun even if there is no Acadian heritage. Explain that.   Many people just drink another beer and say whatever. I just want to have a good time. 

truck

Badass Creole truck. Creole is the French word, Cajun is the American word. Cadien, would be better, however, this badass truck belongs to an Evangeline Parish hadeya and Creole would fit better. Go ahead, Neg, tie that squirrel tail on your truck in October! Get down at Teet's and get some boudin for that mal de tete! When I think of Revon Reed I think of IceCube: "don 't hate da playa, hate da game!" Call yo self Cajun till you blue in the face, but shit la merde, you a badass horse riding, hard drinking, fighting Creole from the prairie. Nothing wrong about Fontenot, Brignac, Guillory, Ortego, Manuel, Vidrine, Soileau, Ardoin, LaFleur, Morein, Vizinat, Fusilier, etc etc. Names you see all the time around here. And Arvie, Doucet, Lartigue, Reed, Marcantel, McDaniel......Shuff. Names around here.