A clarification: Please note that when I state very early in the documentary "I don't remember any of us speaking French" that I was referring solely to the kids in my neighborhood on the southside of Lafayette in the 1970s. (Indeed, my own paternal grandparents, who were Cajuns, spoke French, so I was not making an observation about Cajuns in general -- just to the kids in my neighborhood as a child in the '70s.) ~ Shane K. Bernard
I’m just wondering when Cajuns are gonna stop separating themselves from the creole identity, culture, food and history since they are Creoles themselves. They are white creoles like other white creoles such as French Creoles, Spanish Creoles (Isleños, Malagueños and Adaeseños), German Creoles etc or mixed race creoles like Creoles of color or black Creoles like Afro Creoles. The cajunization of Louisiana has halfway destroyed Louisiana’s true identity, it’s culture and cuisine: Creole. Before the 1960’s when Cajuns were referred to as creoles (Acadian Creoles), Cajun was an insult meaning “poor and trashy Acadian Creole” and those were fighting words to an Acadian Creole. Many younger Cajuns have no idea of any of this and swear they are not creoles. 🤦♂️
Mais, y’all sure did a wonderful job presenting the background on the Creole/Cajun historical heritage and the facts around the similarities and differences.. Thanks for your great work!
Creole covers all of us in south Louisiana, no matter the race or ancestry. Cajun covers Acadian descendants. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles of Acadian heritage that before adopting the name Cajun, were known as Acadian Creoles. However, since the mid 20th century, many folks have been identifying as Cajun that are not of Acadian heritage or if they have it, very little of it. This is in addition to folks that have a substantial amount of Acadian heritage. So what is Cajun today is not what was Cajun a century ago. Cajun a century ago was a Louisiana Acadian, but not today. For food and culture, it’s all Creole. Because it’s a mixture of influences from all the people of south Louisiana, including Cajuns. And since Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles, any Cajun contribution is a Creole one.
My pawpaw spoke French only until age 12. The schools then began beating him until he spoke only English. He never taught my mom how to speak French. My mom learned some in high school but not much. I am trying to learn Cajun French so i can bring it back into my family
It’s best to refer to it as Louisiana French instead of Cajun French. It’s official name is Louisiana French. It’s not solely made up of French from Acadie, it’s a mixture of 4 French dialects (France, Québec, Acadie, St. Domingue). Plus it’s peppered with borrowed words from Spanish, English and Native American languages.
My great grandmother banned the French language in her home, even scolded the men for speaking French in front of the children…. Sometimes with a ruler. She grew tired of being discriminated against, for Cajun French was looked down upon as being stupid, illiterate, and poor….. I’m now trying to learn the Cajun vocabulary in hopes to carry on our heritage, legacy, and traditions.
Yes!!! My mom told me the same thing- she was born in 1936 in Evangeline and didn’t know English until she started school..I am also trying to educate myself!
I heard this from another close friend of mine - saying that also they didn't teach their kids the language - and that tehy used it when they didn't want the kids to know what they were saying. Wither that be true or not - the fact that it is an important language and is dying is sad!
@@mistysavario352Evangeline Parish was mostly settled by French Creoles (white Louisianians of French and Québec heritage from the earliest settlers of Louisiana) as most French sounding last names in the parish are from this group. There were a small number of Acadians (Cajuns), but there was also settlement from Spaniard settlers (isleños and malagueños) and 19th century immigrants from France, French Switzerland and Belgium (French speaking) as well as white St. Domingans (French colonial Haiti when it still had a white community). I have a copy of the cover of a popular cookbook from Evangeline parish in the mid 20th century and it’s titled “Evangeline’s Creole Cooking Recipes” from “Evangeline Hot Sauce” and it features white people on the cover and is labeled Creole. Creole has always been a term that applies to anyone of any race or ancestry non-indigenous and native-born local to Louisiana for the past 300 years, including white people. There’s a second Evangeline Hot Sauce cookbook I’ve seen that also has a white woman on the cover entitled “Evangeline’s Creole recipes”. It’s from the mid 20th century also (1960). Whites in Evangeline identified as Creole.
I was told by my Canadian cousin in Nova Scotia, who was a genealogist of the family, his name being Lloyd Boucher that the word "Cajun" is a slang word for "Acadian", just as "Injun" is a slang word for "Indian". My grandparents were from Nova Scotia, Canada, they did not teach their children French when they moved to the U.S in the 1920's to Massachusetts. She was French and Mi'kmaq Indian, he was French. All the children all 12 of them were either born in Nova Scotia or Massachusetts and low and behold I ended up being born in Kansas. 😂When I did the 23 and Me DNA test I could not believe how many cousins I have on my relative list of names from Louisiana. I was always told Creole are the people who are mixed with French/Black or Spanish.
Creole means “non-indigenous native-born local person”. It was the term colonial Louisiana used for the local people of Louisiana that were born here in Louisiana and were not American Indians or foreigners. That included whites, blacks and mixed race peoples. Creole is not a race or particular ancestry or mix of particular ancestries. For example, someone white of solely French or Spanish ancestry born in Louisiana would be a Creole. Cajuns were called Creole before adopting the term Cajun. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles. Creoles in Louisiana can be a white person or a black person or a mixed race person. It’s also used to mean local things. Local produce, local products, local people, local food, local culture etc. Creole is the umbrella category we all fall under as non-indigenous native-born locals, Cajun is specific to a group with a certain heritage from eastern French Canada. Cajuns are also Creoles.
i wasn’t raised in the bayou, not even louisiana, but my great grandmother was cajun and spoke the language. I consider myself cajun although i know none of the language, i plan to learn it, to do justice towards my Acadian ancestors and embrace my heritage. I will reconnect.
I think it’s important to note that Cajuns (Acadians) stopped existing as a distinct ethnic group after the mid 1800’s as we can see in every family tree of any “Cajun” today that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles (whites of French and Québécois descent in Louisiana) and produced a mixed origin group of Acadian, French and Québécois descent that also absorbed minor ancestries from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants and some from French speaking Belgium and French-Swiss as well as some ancestry from colonial descended Louisianians of German and Spanish descent. And thus, by the mid 1800’s in Louisiana the Acadians (Cajun) ceased to exist as a distinct ethnic group. I base this from historical evidence and family tree data from tens of dozens of “Cajuns” today. There are more non-Acadian surnames among today’s “Cajuns” than there are Acadian surnames and this bleeds into the 20th century time frames you’ve outlined.
Cajuns are creoles. Cajun is a term that Acadian creoles adopted in the 1960’s as an identity. Before that, the term Cajun was an insult to Acadian creoles and before the 1960’s, Louisianians of Acadian ancestry identified as Creole and to be even more specific as to what kind of creole, an Acadian creole. The Cajun identity is a recent phenomenon. As for using tomatoes or not, it’s a regional thing, that’s a New Orleans vs Acadiana thing and doesn’t have anything to do with ancestry. People these days are so confused about their own identities and culture it’s a big mess.
You wrong . . . but my relatives that have crossed over would be agrement. Hahahahaha! However I did have one uncle who use tomatoes in hius gumbo. My mother (his sister) wasn't happy . . . Hahahahahaha
@@ImeraldgyrlI’m 100% right. Creole has nothing to do with tomatoes or no tomatoes. That’s solely region based (Greater New Orleans area vs Acadiana area). Creole is the term we inherited from our colonial Louisiana ancestors that means “non-indigenous native-born local person of any race or ancestry”. Basically anyone that is born here that is not an American Indian. In colonial Louisiana, there were only 3 kinds of people: American Indians, foreigners and everybody else (Creoles). Creole was applied to all local peoples (except American Indians), all local products, local food, local culture, local livestock, local produce etc. The creole tomato is only called that because it’s grown in Louisiana. It was named that by white Louisianians from St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes that identified as Creoles. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles and adopted that name in the 20th century. Before that, Cajuns were called Acadian Creoles. Cajuns cook creole and live Creole because Cajuns are Creoles.
Though i agree and understand, maybe in some parts the segregation of creole and cajun exists. But not in all parts. Participations in all parts of the culture in general by intermingling of different races is still a thing. Traditional mardi gras is very much one of those instances. Boucheries, the few that exists with ones neighbors, is another instance. Festivals are also another. There exists a blurred line of racial ethnic identity between "white" cajuns and "black" creoles to where i have never experienced a moment where one group said "this is what we do/this is us and thats what yall do/that is yall." This "divide" is definitely exaggerated on any real level of my own experience. Its not prominent. St Landy Parish and Evangeline Parish
Creole isn’t a race though. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles and were called Acadian Creoles before the adoption of the Cajun identity in the 20th century. Evangeline Parish was settled mostly by French Creoles (white Louisianians of French and Québec heritage from the earliest settlers of Louisiana, before the arrival of Acadians). You can see that in most of the last names as they are not Acadian (Fontenot, Brignac, Ardoin, Bordelon, Vidrine, Courville, Gaspard, LaFleur, Chataignier, Dupre, Berza, Manuel, Ratelle, Fuselier, Landreneau, Andrepont, Guillory, Soileau, LeBas, Gobert etc). I have copies of two Evangeline Hot Sauce brand cookbooks from the 1960 and both feature white folks on the cover and the food is labeled as Creole and the cookbook is labeled as a Creole cookbook. It’s obvious the white authors identified as Creoles. Northern Acadiana was mostly settled by French Creoles rather than Acadians. If you go to the Greater New Orleans area, there are whites that still claim a Creole identity all over the place. This idea that Creole is mixed race or black is recent because so many white Creoles in Acadiana had switched from the Creole identity to the Cajun one by the 1970’s and when all folks see claiming Creole is mixed race and blacks that’s what folks will think Creole is. But there are still whites that claim a Creole identity and that puts a hole in that whole idea.
The term Cajun is a term that means a Louisiana person of Acadian descent (Acadie in French Canada, now Nova Scotia). Louisiana Creoles are anyone of any race that are born in Louisiana and native to the traditional culture of Louisiana that has its roots in colonial Louisiana (French and Spanish periods). With that said, the famous “Cajun” Chef Paul Prudhomme was a French Creole (a white creole of French descent). The surname Prudhomme was in Louisiana before the Acadians (ancestors of the Cajuns) arrived to Louisiana. The Cajunization of Louisiana’s traditional identity, culture and cuisine which is called Creole, has caused these ignorances. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles of Acadian descent (well at least the real ones are, there are many folks that are French Creoles (whites of French descent) and other people of several other ancestries identifying as Cajuns that include Spanish, German, English, Italian and Irish ancestries). We need to end the Cajunization of all things Louisiana and bring Louisiana back to its traditional local identity, culture and cuisine called Creole. This will bring all Louisiana Creoles together, regardless of race under one shared identity, culture and cuisine. We can start by stopping the Cajun vs. Creole in everything pertaining to Louisiana such as identity, culture and cuisine. It’s all just Creole, because Cajuns are Creoles just like other Creoles in Louisiana.
@@Sunny-kt1niIn Louisiana French, it’s written as Cadien or the corrupted Cadjin and is pronounced like cah-jain with the aspirated nasal n at the end of the word (your word Cayen is red pepper in Louisiana lol…Cayenne pepper). There were real Acadians in Louisiana during the colonial period and into the 1800’s, but they intermarried with the Louisiana French Creoles who themselves were a white race group of a mixture of ancestry from France and Québec. The reason today the Cajun group is called Cajun (a corruption of Acadian) is because the original Acadians that settled Louisiana were working class farmers and their name Cajun became associated with working class people and then the name cadien/cadjin (and later Cajun in English) became used as a term for working class people of any background and this term was then applied to the group because of that. Modern “Cajuns” don’t realize this and they think they are called Cajun because they are of complete Acadian ancestry. But that’s not the truth. They are a mixture of French type ancestries (Acadie, France, Québec). But by now the term Cajun has stuck by now. So now you know the truth.
American Culture is the Culture that was here before the Colonizers! The Americas North and South was practicing culture allll along. I honestly don't know what they call the current observation.
Gumbo is an old dish and originates from New Orleans and the first gumbos in New Orleans had tomatoes in them just like today. So it’s wrong to say making gumbo without tomatoes is the correct way. People in Acadiana don’t make gumbo with tomatoes because that’s the style of gumbo in that came to be in Acadiana. And by the way, Cajuns are creoles too. Cajun is a recent identity from the 1960’s onward. Before that, Cajuns were called creoles. Louisiana Creoles are any race or ethnicity in Louisiana that were born in Louisiana into the local Louisiana culture that has roots in the French-Spanish colonial periods of Louisiana. Cajuns fit that bill.
@@eazymoney2789 Absolutely. I got to spread knowledge of our south Louisiana culture and history. There is too much ignorance out there surrounding south Louisiana culture, cuisine, people and history. It’s so bad, we’d need an official council to straighten it out.
As of recently according to evidence (the past year or so), I’ve began to realize that Cajun is not a valid identity in Louisiana. And the reason I say that is because after reviewing tens of dozens of “Cajun” family trees from across south Louisiana, I saw the same pattern over and over. I saw Acadian surnames mixed with French surnames from France and from Québec. In every single one of them. I know from studying the Louisiana French Creoles (white Louisianians of French descent) that the ancestors of the French Creole group came to Louisiana from France and Québec. As we heard from Mr. Christophe Landry in this video, that the Acadians were already mixing with the locals by the second generation after their arrival from l’Acadie, we can see clearly that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles and created a new French speaking group made up of Acadian, French and Québécois ancestries that combined features from each represented in culture, cuisine, language and so forth. This mixed Acadian-French Creole group had also absorbed minor amounts of ancestry from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly those from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants as well as a minority of Belgian and French-Swiss immigrants as well as German and Spanish ancestries from Louisiana colonial descendants in Louisiana of those backgrounds. There are even the surnames to prove it. With this knowledge we can see that the group today who identifies as Cajun is not Acadian but rather a mixed origin group of Creole white Louisianians. And thus, my stance that Cajun is not a valid ethnic identity today in Louisiana has been afforded validity based on evidence. I’m open for debate.
My African American father was a 7th generation Southern Louisianan. All four of his grandparents were born and raised in the Acadiana parishes in Southern Louisiana. There is some Acadian ancestry. My paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather was the son of an African American slave woman and a man who was the son of an English American plantation owner and a 3/4 Acadian woman. The vast majority of my paternal European American DNA relative matches are through the Acadian ancestry. They're mainly on my European segments on paternal Chromosomes 5, 15, and 20. Some of my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather's descendants did identify as Cajun even though they were African Americans.
@@fomalhauto Real Cajuns (Acadians) were the Acadian migrants to Louisiana. When the Acadians arrived in Louisiana, they intermarried with various peoples in Louisiana and their descendants became mixed with various backgrounds. It’s likely your “Acadian” ancestor was a mixture of ancestries from Acadia, France and Quebec.
@@IslenoGutierrezain’t nobody gives a damn about your skin color nonsense you’ve plastered over this entire video “Gutierrez”. Not a single Cajun will lose a wink of sleep over your opinions of our ethnic/racial validity.
That’s not at all true. There are more native French speakers in Louisiana today than in New Hampshire. And that’s with the destruction of the French language by the American government that would punish children in school for speaking French from the 1920’s-1960’s. 100 years ago, most of south Louisiana was French speaking (most of north Louisiana was repopulated by British/Irish descendants from elsewhere in the south, so the French language was dominant in south Louisiana after statehood by all over before statehood).
A clarification: Please note that when I state very early in the documentary "I don't remember any of us speaking French" that I was referring solely to the kids in my neighborhood on the southside of Lafayette in the 1970s. (Indeed, my own paternal grandparents, who were Cajuns, spoke French, so I was not making an observation about Cajuns in general -- just to the kids in my neighborhood as a child in the '70s.) ~ Shane K. Bernard
I’m just wondering when Cajuns are gonna stop separating themselves from the creole identity, culture, food and history since they are Creoles themselves. They are white creoles like other white creoles such as French Creoles, Spanish Creoles (Isleños, Malagueños and Adaeseños), German Creoles etc or mixed race creoles like Creoles of color or black Creoles like Afro Creoles. The cajunization of Louisiana has halfway destroyed Louisiana’s true identity, it’s culture and cuisine: Creole. Before the 1960’s when Cajuns were referred to as creoles (Acadian Creoles), Cajun was an insult meaning “poor and trashy Acadian Creole” and those were fighting words to an Acadian Creole. Many younger Cajuns have no idea of any of this and swear they are not creoles. 🤦♂️
Mais, y’all sure did a wonderful job presenting the background on the Creole/Cajun historical heritage and the facts around the similarities and differences.. Thanks for your great work!
Creole covers all of us in south Louisiana, no matter the race or ancestry. Cajun covers Acadian descendants. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles of Acadian heritage that before adopting the name Cajun, were known as Acadian Creoles. However, since the mid 20th century, many folks have been identifying as Cajun that are not of Acadian heritage or if they have it, very little of it. This is in addition to folks that have a substantial amount of Acadian heritage. So what is Cajun today is not what was Cajun a century ago. Cajun a century ago was a Louisiana Acadian, but not today.
For food and culture, it’s all Creole. Because it’s a mixture of influences from all the people of south Louisiana, including Cajuns. And since Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles, any Cajun contribution is a Creole one.
My pawpaw spoke French only until age 12. The schools then began beating him until he spoke only English. He never taught my mom how to speak French. My mom learned some in high school but not much. I am trying to learn Cajun French so i can bring it back into my family
LIKE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, THE SCHOOLS BEATOUT THE FRENCH OUT OF THEM.
It’s best to refer to it as Louisiana French instead of Cajun French. It’s official name is Louisiana French. It’s not solely made up of French from Acadie, it’s a mixture of 4 French dialects (France, Québec, Acadie, St. Domingue). Plus it’s peppered with borrowed words from Spanish, English and Native American languages.
Great video that covers the complicated nature of the issue. Very informative as usual, thanks THNOC.
My great grandmother banned the French language in her home, even scolded the men for speaking French in front of the children…. Sometimes with a ruler. She grew tired of being discriminated against, for Cajun French was looked down upon as being stupid, illiterate, and poor….. I’m now trying to learn the Cajun vocabulary in hopes to carry on our heritage, legacy, and traditions.
Yes!!! My mom told me the same thing- she was born in 1936 in Evangeline and didn’t know English until she started school..I am also trying to educate myself!
I heard this from another close friend of mine - saying that also they didn't teach their kids the language - and that tehy used it when they didn't want the kids to know what they were saying. Wither that be true or not - the fact that it is an important language and is dying is sad!
@@vanessahenry7238 absolutely right!!!!
@@mistysavario352Evangeline Parish was mostly settled by French Creoles (white Louisianians of French and Québec heritage from the earliest settlers of Louisiana) as most French sounding last names in the parish are from this group. There were a small number of Acadians (Cajuns), but there was also settlement from Spaniard settlers (isleños and malagueños) and 19th century immigrants from France, French Switzerland and Belgium (French speaking) as well as white St. Domingans (French colonial Haiti when it still had a white community).
I have a copy of the cover of a popular cookbook from Evangeline parish in the mid 20th century and it’s titled “Evangeline’s Creole Cooking Recipes” from “Evangeline Hot Sauce” and it features white people on the cover and is labeled Creole. Creole has always been a term that applies to anyone of any race or ancestry non-indigenous and native-born local to Louisiana for the past 300 years, including white people. There’s a second Evangeline Hot Sauce cookbook I’ve seen that also has a white woman on the cover entitled “Evangeline’s Creole recipes”. It’s from the mid 20th century also (1960). Whites in Evangeline identified as Creole.
I was told by my Canadian cousin in Nova Scotia, who was a genealogist of the family, his name being Lloyd Boucher that the word "Cajun" is a slang word for "Acadian", just as "Injun" is a slang word for "Indian". My grandparents were from Nova Scotia, Canada, they did not teach their children French when they moved to the U.S in the 1920's to Massachusetts. She was French and Mi'kmaq Indian, he was French. All the children all 12 of them were either born in Nova Scotia or Massachusetts and low and behold I ended up being born in Kansas. 😂When I did the 23 and Me DNA test I could not believe how many cousins I have on my relative list of names from Louisiana. I was always told Creole are the people who are mixed with French/Black or Spanish.
Creole means “non-indigenous native-born local person”. It was the term colonial Louisiana used for the local people of Louisiana that were born here in Louisiana and were not American Indians or foreigners. That included whites, blacks and mixed race peoples. Creole is not a race or particular ancestry or mix of particular ancestries. For example, someone white of solely French or Spanish ancestry born in Louisiana would be a Creole. Cajuns were called Creole before adopting the term Cajun. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles. Creoles in Louisiana can be a white person or a black person or a mixed race person. It’s also used to mean local things. Local produce, local products, local people, local food, local culture etc. Creole is the umbrella category we all fall under as non-indigenous native-born locals, Cajun is specific to a group with a certain heritage from eastern French Canada. Cajuns are also Creoles.
i wasn’t raised in the bayou, not even louisiana, but my great grandmother was cajun and spoke the language. I consider myself cajun although i know none of the language, i plan to learn it, to do justice towards my Acadian ancestors and embrace my heritage. I will reconnect.
I am currently writing an epic novel about my family and Cajuns in 1920s-1960s Louisiana. There is a lot to tell. Richard Family History.
I think it’s important to note that Cajuns (Acadians) stopped existing as a distinct ethnic group after the mid 1800’s as we can see in every family tree of any “Cajun” today that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles (whites of French and Québécois descent in Louisiana) and produced a mixed origin group of Acadian, French and Québécois descent that also absorbed minor ancestries from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants and some from French speaking Belgium and French-Swiss as well as some ancestry from colonial descended Louisianians of German and Spanish descent.
And thus, by the mid 1800’s in Louisiana the Acadians (Cajun) ceased to exist as a distinct ethnic group. I base this from historical evidence and family tree data from tens of dozens of “Cajuns” today. There are more non-Acadian surnames among today’s “Cajuns” than there are Acadian surnames and this bleeds into the 20th century time frames you’ve outlined.
As a Cajun I can explain the difference between creole and Cajun. Creoles use tomatoes in their gumbo. Cajuns make their gumbo the correct way 🤷🏻♂️🤣
Cajuns are creoles. Cajun is a term that Acadian creoles adopted in the 1960’s as an identity. Before that, the term Cajun was an insult to Acadian creoles and before the 1960’s, Louisianians of Acadian ancestry identified as Creole and to be even more specific as to what kind of creole, an Acadian creole. The Cajun identity is a recent phenomenon. As for using tomatoes or not, it’s a regional thing, that’s a New Orleans vs Acadiana thing and doesn’t have anything to do with ancestry. People these days are so confused about their own identities and culture it’s a big mess.
You wrong . . . but my relatives that have crossed over would be agrement. Hahahahaha! However I did have one uncle who use tomatoes in hius gumbo. My mother (his sister) wasn't happy . . . Hahahahahaha
@@ImeraldgyrlI’m 100% right. Creole has nothing to do with tomatoes or no tomatoes. That’s solely region based (Greater New Orleans area vs Acadiana area). Creole is the term we inherited from our colonial Louisiana ancestors that means “non-indigenous native-born local person of any race or ancestry”. Basically anyone that is born here that is not an American Indian. In colonial Louisiana, there were only 3 kinds of people: American Indians, foreigners and everybody else (Creoles). Creole was applied to all local peoples (except American Indians), all local products, local food, local culture, local livestock, local produce etc. The creole tomato is only called that because it’s grown in Louisiana. It was named that by white Louisianians from St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes that identified as Creoles. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles and adopted that name in the 20th century. Before that, Cajuns were called Acadian Creoles. Cajuns cook creole and live Creole because Cajuns are Creoles.
I really enjoyed this. Thank you.
Though i agree and understand, maybe in some parts the segregation of creole and cajun exists. But not in all parts. Participations in all parts of the culture in general by intermingling of different races is still a thing. Traditional mardi gras is very much one of those instances. Boucheries, the few that exists with ones neighbors, is another instance. Festivals are also another. There exists a blurred line of racial ethnic identity between "white" cajuns and "black" creoles to where i have never experienced a moment where one group said "this is what we do/this is us and thats what yall do/that is yall."
This "divide" is definitely exaggerated on any real level of my own experience. Its not prominent. St Landy Parish and Evangeline Parish
Creole isn’t a race though. Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles and were called Acadian Creoles before the adoption of the Cajun identity in the 20th century. Evangeline Parish was settled mostly by French Creoles (white Louisianians of French and Québec heritage from the earliest settlers of Louisiana, before the arrival of Acadians). You can see that in most of the last names as they are not Acadian (Fontenot, Brignac, Ardoin, Bordelon, Vidrine, Courville, Gaspard, LaFleur, Chataignier, Dupre, Berza, Manuel, Ratelle, Fuselier, Landreneau, Andrepont, Guillory, Soileau, LeBas, Gobert etc). I have copies of two Evangeline Hot Sauce brand cookbooks from the 1960 and both feature white folks on the cover and the food is labeled as Creole and the cookbook is labeled as a Creole cookbook. It’s obvious the white authors identified as Creoles. Northern Acadiana was mostly settled by French Creoles rather than Acadians. If you go to the Greater New Orleans area, there are whites that still claim a Creole identity all over the place. This idea that Creole is mixed race or black is recent because so many white Creoles in Acadiana had switched from the Creole identity to the Cajun one by the 1970’s and when all folks see claiming Creole is mixed race and blacks that’s what folks will think Creole is. But there are still whites that claim a Creole identity and that puts a hole in that whole idea.
The term Cajun is a term that means a Louisiana person of Acadian descent (Acadie in French Canada, now Nova Scotia). Louisiana Creoles are anyone of any race that are born in Louisiana and native to the traditional culture of Louisiana that has its roots in colonial Louisiana (French and Spanish periods). With that said, the famous “Cajun” Chef Paul Prudhomme was a French Creole (a white creole of French descent). The surname Prudhomme was in Louisiana before the Acadians (ancestors of the Cajuns) arrived to Louisiana. The Cajunization of Louisiana’s traditional identity, culture and cuisine which is called Creole, has caused these ignorances.
Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles of Acadian descent (well at least the real ones are, there are many folks that are French Creoles (whites of French descent) and other people of several other ancestries identifying as Cajuns that include Spanish, German, English, Italian and Irish ancestries). We need to end the Cajunization of all things Louisiana and bring Louisiana back to its traditional local identity, culture and cuisine called Creole. This will bring all Louisiana Creoles together, regardless of race under one shared identity, culture and cuisine. We can start by stopping the Cajun vs. Creole in everything pertaining to Louisiana such as identity, culture and cuisine. It’s all just Creole, because Cajuns are Creoles just like other Creoles in Louisiana.
@@Sunny-kt1niIn Louisiana French, it’s written as Cadien or the corrupted Cadjin and is pronounced like cah-jain with the aspirated nasal n at the end of the word (your word Cayen is red pepper in Louisiana lol…Cayenne pepper). There were real Acadians in Louisiana during the colonial period and into the 1800’s, but they intermarried with the Louisiana French Creoles who themselves were a white race group of a mixture of ancestry from France and Québec. The reason today the Cajun group is called Cajun (a corruption of Acadian) is because the original Acadians that settled Louisiana were working class farmers and their name Cajun became associated with working class people and then the name cadien/cadjin (and later Cajun in English) became used as a term for working class people of any background and this term was then applied to the group because of that. Modern “Cajuns” don’t realize this and they think they are called Cajun because they are of complete Acadian ancestry. But that’s not the truth. They are a mixture of French type ancestries (Acadie, France, Québec). But by now the term Cajun has stuck by now. So now you know the truth.
The original mascot for ULL (USL) was the bull dog. The switch to the Ragin Cajuns might have something to do with the Cajun culture revival?
American Culture is the Culture that was here before the Colonizers! The Americas North and South was practicing culture allll along.
I honestly don't know what they call the current observation.
30% de l'anglais vient du français. Les anglophones interdisent une langue dont est issue la leur
Creoles use tomatoes in their gumbo. Cajuns make gumbo the correct way. 🤷🏻♂️🤣
Gumbo is an old dish and originates from New Orleans and the first gumbos in New Orleans had tomatoes in them just like today. So it’s wrong to say making gumbo without tomatoes is the correct way. People in Acadiana don’t make gumbo with tomatoes because that’s the style of gumbo in that came to be in Acadiana. And by the way, Cajuns are creoles too. Cajun is a recent identity from the 1960’s onward. Before that, Cajuns were called creoles. Louisiana Creoles are any race or ethnicity in Louisiana that were born in Louisiana into the local Louisiana culture that has roots in the French-Spanish colonial periods of Louisiana. Cajuns fit that bill.
@@IslenoGutierrez n Tito I remember u. U dat white Creole of Spanish descent huh. Boy u still at it 😂
@@eazymoney2789 Absolutely. I got to spread knowledge of our south Louisiana culture and history. There is too much ignorance out there surrounding south Louisiana culture, cuisine, people and history. It’s so bad, we’d need an official council to straighten it out.
As of recently according to evidence (the past year or so), I’ve began to realize that Cajun is not a valid identity in Louisiana. And the reason I say that is because after reviewing tens of dozens of “Cajun” family trees from across south Louisiana, I saw the same pattern over and over. I saw Acadian surnames mixed with French surnames from France and from Québec. In every single one of them.
I know from studying the Louisiana French Creoles (white Louisianians of French descent) that the ancestors of the French Creole group came to Louisiana from France and Québec. As we heard from Mr. Christophe Landry in this video, that the Acadians were already mixing with the locals by the second generation after their arrival from l’Acadie, we can see clearly that the Acadians mixed with the French Creoles and created a new French speaking group made up of Acadian, French and Québécois ancestries that combined features from each represented in culture, cuisine, language and so forth.
This mixed Acadian-French Creole group had also absorbed minor amounts of ancestry from 19th century white French Caribbeans mainly those from St. Domingue (French colonial Haiti), 19th century French immigrants as well as a minority of Belgian and French-Swiss immigrants as well as German and Spanish ancestries from Louisiana colonial descendants in Louisiana of those backgrounds. There are even the surnames to prove it.
With this knowledge we can see that the group today who identifies as Cajun is not Acadian but rather a mixed origin group of Creole white Louisianians. And thus, my stance that Cajun is not a valid ethnic identity today in Louisiana has been afforded validity based on evidence. I’m open for debate.
My African American father was a 7th generation Southern Louisianan. All four of his grandparents were born and raised in the Acadiana parishes in Southern Louisiana.
There is some Acadian ancestry.
My paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather was the son of an African American slave woman and a man who was the son of an English American plantation owner and a 3/4 Acadian woman.
The vast majority of my paternal European American DNA relative matches are through the Acadian ancestry. They're mainly on my European segments on paternal Chromosomes 5, 15, and 20.
Some of my paternal grandmother's maternal grandfather's descendants did identify as Cajun even though they were African Americans.
@@fomalhauto Real Cajuns (Acadians) were the Acadian migrants to Louisiana. When the Acadians arrived in Louisiana, they intermarried with various peoples in Louisiana and their descendants became mixed with various backgrounds. It’s likely your “Acadian” ancestor was a mixture of ancestries from Acadia, France and Quebec.
@@IslenoGutierrezain’t nobody gives a damn about your skin color nonsense you’ve plastered over this entire video “Gutierrez”. Not a single Cajun will lose a wink of sleep over your opinions of our ethnic/racial validity.
HA!! MORE FRENCH IS SPOKEN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE ,THAN IN CAJN COUNTRY!
That is perhaps true today but that wasn't so 100 years ago.
Ur point
I was born in South Louisiana and lived in New Hampshire and never heard French spoken there
That’s not at all true. There are more native French speakers in Louisiana today than in New Hampshire. And that’s with the destruction of the French language by the American government that would punish children in school for speaking French from the 1920’s-1960’s. 100 years ago, most of south Louisiana was French speaking (most of north Louisiana was repopulated by British/Irish descendants from elsewhere in the south, so the French language was dominant in south Louisiana after statehood by all over before statehood).
Ces bon che ces bon