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.

Milan Mardi Gras

We're going downtown Eunice Saturday see what's going on.  I think we'll see Jason Frey and others play music.  Plenty of food and beer and stuff to see. Sunday we'll go to Alexandria hang out with the beer guys at their spot by the mall and watch the city style Mardi Gras. It's a lot of fun too. I already see some evidence of Mardi Gras on Veterans in Metairie when I pass. They celebrate early in the New Orleans area. 

Madame Grand Doigts is still alive

Christmas is done and basically I'm finding related videos to post for time. Main focus now for me is driving and trucks. Mardi Gras is also coming soon but I think I'll be working. Not in New Orleans area but somewhere.

Chrismisse

panse bourrée or panse or pounce

Denise and I were talking about the products sold at the store the other day. Beef tongue is popular. I called Mom and Dad, they were on their way back from the casino, and asked them if there was a particular way of saying beef tongue in French. Mom said it was langue de boeuf. That is the standard French way of saying it and Mom and them around Evangeline call it that way also. But only the older people will call it that. Many simply say it in English as beef tongue. I told Denise gratons was the same thing. In the store and spoken by people they are cracklins now. Boudin survived. That's the French word. It's pronounced that way and spelled that way. Why did boudin survive when other words faded away. I have no pouncing idea. Pounce on the other hand is another story. It's pronounced and called by its French name but instead of spelling it panse it's spelled pounce. Who the pounce knows how this came to be? Anyway, it's November and for Thanksgiving we'll eat plenty of gog or chaudin or panse bourree. It's all the same pouncing thing no matter how you say it. I rather eat that than that dry pouncing turkey. 

Halloween and The Slaughterhouse

This is not a new video (recording) we made but it's October. Mom and Dad talking about Halloween in Evangeline Parish. Denise started her new job at the Eunice Superette, aka, "da slaughterhouse." It's a great place and she likes her new job and people there. She's training to be an office manager and will eventually work at the new place opening up soon off 190. They're bringing some competition for T-Boys near by. T-Boys might rule in Big Mamou but the slaughterhouse dominates in Eunice. The new "branch" will concentrate on the retail aspect and the original place will focus more on production and wholesale. That's how I see it anyway. Denise already bought and cooked a good panse there. I see good good times in the future. I think she's getting some T bones this weekend. I'll pick it up when all ready. I had my early run today to Denham Springs and Port Allen. I was running out of hours going to the New Orleans area all week. Good day to end the week. 

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.

Gratin

I thought I put all my Youtube vidoes on my blog. Came across some gratin and saw I hadn't shared it here. Eat gratin and be happy.

"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