The Cajuns and the Creoles
Most colonials
in the 18th century
were French. They dominated
New Orleans cultural
and social life for more
than 100 years, long before
the 'Americans' arrived in
any number. Most Creoles
called themselves
'French', spoke French,
and considered themselves
the only true natives.
Their mixed-race offspring,
the gens de couleur
libres (free people of
color), were also called
Creoles.
The late-coming Anglo-
Saxons, arriving after the
Louisiana Purchase (1803),
were considered"foreigners"
and called"Les
Americaines." In Lafcadio
Hearn's 'Creole Sketches',
he mentions that some
French Creoles residing in
the old French Quarter
wondered why 'anyone
would care to cross Canal
Street.'
Uptown was contemptuously
known as
'The American Side,'
alien territory.
Until the Civil War, the
proud Creoles educated
their children in France,
spoke the French language,
and centered their lives on
their closely-knit families
and their cultural nexus,
the grand French Opera
House. They called themselves
'la creme de la
creme.'
They were out
numbered and isolated,
trapped in part by their
stubborn insistence on the
French language, culture
and traditions. Creole men
shunned manual labor as
uncivilized. Many refused
to speak English or socialize
with those who did. As
a result, the ingrown, aristocratic
French Creole was
submerged economically
by Anglo-Saxon industry
and drive.
But one should not despair.
The Creole temperament
lives on. Creole,
as a meaningful term, survives
in many ways, an
unmistakable part of New
Orleans in its food, its
music, its architecture, its
French Quarter. Creole no
longer is a specific race or
breed. Essentially, it defines
that rather special
New Orleans attitude toward
life-'joie de vivre,
laissez-faire, bon appetit!'
In this sense, spiritually, all
New Orleanians are Creoles,
mes amis. One thing
must be understood. Creoles
are not Cajuns, and
Cajuns are not Creoles.
Cajuns always are French
in descent, and Creoles
usually are. But there the
similarity ends.
From the beginning, when
New Orleans was founded
in 1718, Creoles were
strictly cosmopolitan city
dwellers; Cajuns, on the
other hand, were rustic,
self-sufficient country folk.
They lived along the
bayous and amid the
swamps of South Louisiana
for two centuries, isolated,
clannish, devoutly Catholic,
French speaking and happily
removed from city society.
They were hunters and
trappers and fishermen,
farmers, boat builders,
breeders of quarter horses
who worked hard weekdays
and weekends celebrating
life with their fais
do-do's.'Laissez les bons
temps rouler' (Let the
good times roll) has always
been a part of their basic
philosophy.
One thing must be understood.
Creoles are not Cajuns,
and Cajuns
are not Creoles; Cajuns
always are French in descent,
and Creoles usually
are, but there the similarity
ends.
Today, nearly one million
people of Cajun or mixed
Cajun blood live in Louisiana.
Cajun and Creole food
both rely heavily on a variety
of herbs and spices.
The Cajuns, in particular,
like their food hot and
spicy. Cajun restaurants
and Cajun music have acquired
a national prestige
the Cajuns never aspired
to. Americans seem quite
fascinated with their
homespun culture
Cajun musicians,
chefs, painters, quiltmakers
and folklorists are
emerging, it seems, from
the country's cultural
closet.
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