Cajun "tribe"

[Lulletje Rozewater]

I did survey on European/American people.
None of them were really interesting.
Then,accidentally, I came across the Cajun/French people.
What a very interesting people they are.Just up my street.
Could anyone shed some light on these people.??????
I do not need the Cajun/Creole.

laissez les bons temps rouler!

[Peachy Carnahan]

Im sure you'll find them less interesting as bubbas pealing off his bib overalls and telling you what a purdy mouth ya got.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

Im sure you'll find them less interesting as bubbas pealing off his bib overalls and telling you what a purdy mouth ya got.

Got lost here:D
Are you referring to gay.

[Grey]

What exactly is it you need to know? There's a few of us around here.


I do not need the Cajun/Creole.

And can you explain what you mean here? A lot of Cajuns in Louisiana have French Creole ancestors as well.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

What exactly is it you need to know? There's a few of us around here.

Will, they are to me the real robust people with a great history(from what I have read).
Saw some good looking dolls and a culinary which appeals to me.
Would like to know more.
What are their customs-maternal or patriarchal- language-costumes- upbringing of children-conservative or liberal etc
I was fascinated by their culture.
What is the meaning of their flag.????

[Lulletje Rozewater]

What exactly is it you need to know? There's a few of us around here.



And can you explain what you mean here? A lot of Cajuns in Louisiana have French Creole ancestors as well.

I have read a lot on the Creole and apparently there is a difference between the French Cajun and the Creole Cajun

[Grey]

Will, they are to me the real robust people with a great history(from what I have read).
Saw some good looking dolls and a culinary which appeals to me.
Would like to know more.
What are their customs-maternal or patriarchal- language-costumes- upbringing of children-conservative or liberal etc
I was fascinated by their culture.
What is the meaning of their flag.????

Well, I'll answer for what I know, but I'll leave some of this to be answered by the others who can say more.

There are two flags that are important: the first, the Acadian Flag is a French Flag with a yellow star in the upper left corner, which apparently represents Mary. The second is the flag of Acadiana, which divides up the colors of the French flag in a different pattern. There's a gold star on the left which represents Mary again, three fleur-de-lis which represent France, and a golden castle representing Spain, since the Spanish helped them resettle.

In my experience, the father is definitely the head of the household, and children are brought up Catholic. Cajuns I know are overwhelmingly conservative, though many vote for liberal Democrats out of habit (from a time when it meant something else). Though despite being religious and conservative, we're a lot more easygoing than the Anglo-Protestants, and off the top of my head one of my favorite (simple) traditions is a boucherie, where communities get together to slaughter and cook a few hogs and drink beer. It sounds simple, but it's a lot of fun. Cajun French is really only spoken by old people because it was banned (by Anglo-Americans) in many places and shunned in others during the first half of the 20th century, and it's use never really caught on again. My grandmother meant to teach it to me before she died, but never really got down to it. We speak a sort of Cajun English now, with a lot of French phrases and some of us with a heavy accent, though even that's disappearing now.

[Psychonaut]

Could anyone shed some light on these people.??????

What would you like to know about us?


I do not need the Cajun/Creole.

Creole just means mixed. We even refer to those of mixed Acadian and Foreign French (meaning, any non-Acadian French) as Creole.


Im sure you'll find them less interesting as bubbas pealing off his bib overalls and telling you what a purdy mouth ya got.

Fuck off, douche.

[Grumpy Cat]

Cajuns are descendants of Acadians who were expelled from Nova Scotia to Louisiana and decided to stay there. Cousins to me, although there is a slight difference between Acadian and Cajun culture. Both have a very rich culture.

I'm assuming you have read Wikipedia articles and things like that, so I won't bother posting those, but what else would you want to know?


Im sure you'll find them less interesting as bubbas pealing off his bib overalls and telling you what a purdy mouth ya got.

No, that would be North Americans of Anglo-Saxon extraction. The closest thing they have to a culture is when they leave yogurt in the refrigerator too long.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

I find the Acadian/Cajun culture as you 3 described so much similar to the real old fashion Boers in South Africa(KZN-Freestate)Their culture is so much different than the Afrikaner.
I am still a bit at a loss as to the pre_Nova Scotia ancestors and what was the reason they were banned from Nova_Scotia.
How exactly does Spain fit in during a time of tribulation between France and Spain???

I have gone through Wiki,but Wiki is not the ideal site to find the soul of the Cajun.
How did the name Cajun came into being.?
Any famous Cajun writers and artists ?

[Grey]

I find the Acadian/Cajun culture as you 3 described so much similar to the real old fashion Boers in South Africa(KZN-Freestate)Their culture is so much different than the Afrikaner.
I am still a bit at a loss as to the pre_Nova Scotia ancestors and what was the reason they were banned from Nova_Scotia.
How exactly does Spain fit in during a time of tribulation between France and Spain???

I have gone through Wiki,but Wiki is not the ideal site to find the soul of the Cajun.
How did the name Cajun came into being.?
Any famous Cajun writers and artists ?

I'm ashamed to say I don't know anything about any of the colonists of South Afrika. I'll have to remedy that soon. If you can recommend any articles I'd appreciate it.

I'm not an expert on what went on in Canada, and I won't pretend to be. What I do know is that a great deal of us left and wandered down into the shittiest location we could find ;). This was a time when Louisiana was owned by the Spanish, and they helped the Cajuns relocate there, so that's where the Spanish tie in. We later overthrew the Spanish governor with the help of the Germans though, but I'm not sure what prompted that.

As for where the name Cajun comes from, it's just a phonetic spelling of how people tend to pronounce "Acadian". The "A" is dropped and and "dian" ends up jumbled together as "jun". It's sort of like the American use of Injun rather than Indian. I don't know truly how to define the soul of a Cajun and I'll leave your other questions to the more knowledgeable posters.

[Psychonaut]

I find the Acadian/Cajun culture as you 3 described so much similar to the real old fashion Boers in South Africa(KZN-Freestate)Their culture is so much different than the Afrikaner.

Tight knit minority ethnic groups that manage to distinguish themselves not only from Africans, but also from other European-derived ethnic groups do have a bit of the same spirit, I think.


I am still a bit at a loss as to the pre_Nova Scotia ancestors and what was the reason they were banned from Nova_Scotia.


How exactly does Spain fit in during a time of tribulation between France and Spain???

Both instances seem to've been both political and religious. The conflict with the Anglo-Protestants and alliance with the Catholics was definitely a continuation of the age old divide between the two that spilled over into the Americas.


How did the name Cajun came into being.?

It's a corruption of Acadian.


I have gone through Wiki,but Wiki is not the ideal site to find the [B]soul of the Cajun.

Any famous Cajun writers and artists ?

I don't know of any notable authors or visual artists, but there are many, many well known musicians. The Cajun spirit has always seemed to me to be intimately tied to our music; and it's through music that you'll really get a sense of what we're all about. One of the things that's always stood out in my mind about my family is the prominence of music. There are more musicians in my family in the last four generations than I can count; and, I don't think this is at all uncommon in Acadiana.

[Grey]

Good Cajun music ;):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fs12_-ihPY&feature=related

Lyrics as translated by some guy on youtube:



Let's talk of drinking, not of marriage,
Always regretting those beautiful days gone by.

If you marry a pretty girl,
They all want to steal her away from you.
If you marry an ugly girl,
You've got to live with her your whole life long.

Let's talk of drinking, not of marriage,
Always regretting those beautiful days gone by.

If you marry a poor girl,
You'll spend all your life working.
But if you marry a rich girl,
Nobody respects you.

Let's talk of drinking, not of marriage,
Always regretting those beautiful days gone by.

(wife nagging)
"Tell me about it, you big good - for nothing;
You've used up all my wealth!"

[Grumpy Cat]

I find the Acadian/Cajun culture as you 3 described so much similar to the real old fashion Boers in South Africa(KZN-Freestate)Their culture is so much different than the Afrikaner.

Interestingly, I have met several Afrikaners who say that. Also, the Afrikaans language seems to be to Dutch what Acadian is to French: an older form of the language... I actually think Acadian and French should be considered separate languages like Afrikaans and Dutch are because they're not exactly 100% mutually intelligable: French people would have trouble understanding me if I spoke like how I speak among Acadians, so when I dealt with clients from Quebec in my old job, I always made a concerted effort to speak français standard.


I am still a bit at a loss as to the pre_Nova Scotia ancestors and what was the reason they were banned from Nova_Scotia.

The Acadians were expelled from Nova Scotia for refusing to sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown. The British viewed them as a threat because of this, although the Acadians did not want to associate with the French either, they remained neutral.

The story of the Expulsion of the Acadians is told in the Longfellow poem Evangeline.


How exactly does Spain fit in during a time of tribulation between France and Spain???

You mean Great Britain? Or perhaps Portugal?


How did the name Cajun came into being.?

As people mentioned, it was a corruption of the term acadien.


Any famous Cajun writers and artists ?

For Cajun I would really recommend the musician from Louisiana Zachary Richard. Love his stuff. You can also check out the bands Suroît and Grand Dérangement. Also, for writers, Antonine Maillet who is the most popular.

[Grey]

No, that would be North Americans of Anglo-Saxon extraction. The closest thing they have to a culture is when they leave yogurt in the refrigerator too long.

Well unfortunately, that is the "culture" more and more Cajuns seem to be adopting. For all my life "Cajun" children have identified as "rednecks" as much as anything and they pretty much act the same, but with a French accent.


By the way, thanks to the OP for making this thread. I've been researching this more and more when I realized how little I knew of my own history.

[Grumpy Cat]

Well unfortunately, that is the "culture" more and more Cajuns seem to be adopting. For all my life "Cajun" children have identified as "rednecks" as much as anything and they pretty much act the same, but with a French accent.


By the way, thanks to the OP for making this thread. I've been researching this more and more when I realized how little I knew of my own history.

Well, they have programs to teach the culture to Cajuns in Louisiana now. They are actually asking Acadians from Nova Scotia to go down there and specifically teach that dialect of French to youth. I thought of going down, I have a green card and everything.

Here's some Cajun rap from Louisiana, in Cajun French. It sounds a lot like the dialect spoken in my neighbourhood, actually.


http://www.myspace.com/labrisedubayou (http://www.myspace.com/labrisedubayou)

... and there can't be a Cajun thread without posting some Zachary Richard :D

qpY-SKIjReI

[Lulletje Rozewater]

At least I know now more than of my Dutch history:D

[Grumpy Cat]

At least I know now more than of my Dutch history:D

OK. I got a question for you then. What is the difference between a Boer and an Afrikaner? You said the cultures were different, I always thought modern Afrikaners were descendants of Boers.

As for your question about Britain: Pretty much Britain fits in because they had ruled Acadia at the time. The British and French were fighting over that land. the French had an outpost in Louisbourg, the British had an outpost in Halifax, and the Acadians lived around what is now the Annapolis Valley. The order to expel the Acadians from Nova Scotia was drawn up by the British Governor Charles Lawrence because, as I said before, the Acadians did not want to sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown.

[Grey]

Just thought I'd post this link in case you're interested:

"Evangeline" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (http://etext.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=LonEvan.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all)

It's not too long and reads well.

[Peachy Carnahan]

OK. I got a question for you then. What is the difference between a Boer and an Afrikaner? You said the cultures were different, I always thought modern Afrikaners were descendants of Boers.


Where i was brought up in Rhodesia a south african farmer or descendant of one of the voortrekkers was a Boer.They came from mostly Dutch/German stock....kept very much to themselves.Very rural people.

An Afrikaaner though was still a south african but could have ancestors from any European country but still considered himself south african but not a Boer.( a good example of their mixed blood and also mixed allegiance's is of an Afrikaaner family i know of....during the second world war one son was a fighter pilot in the RAF and the other son was a fighter pilot in the Luftwaffe....they both survived the war)

Afrikaaners are by the large quite an easy going bunch....Boers on the other hand are very taciturn and surly.Its hard to explain unless you have experienced it but basically Boers are rednecks.

When i went to a new boarding school in the bush the first thing i had to do was find the biggest Boer kid in the school and go and punch him in the face and have a fight straight away.If you didnt the Boer kids would make your life a misery.They hated the British (with good reason i might add)
The Afrikaaners on the other hand were ok...most of them were anglos anyway.

I might also add that although there was much animosity between the Boers and Anglos the Boers had the upmoast regard for a white mans life........they didnt care too much for the kaffirs though.

[Lulletje Rozewater]

OK. I got a question for you then. What is the difference between a Boer and an Afrikaner? You said the cultures were different, I always thought modern Afrikaners were descendants of Boers.

As for your question about Britain: Pretty much Britain fits in because they had ruled Acadia at the time. The British and French were fighting over that land. the French had an outpost in Louisbourg, the British had an outpost in Halifax, and the Acadians lived around what is now the Annapolis Valley. The order to expel the Acadians from Nova Scotia was drawn up by the British Governor Charles Lawrence because, as I said before, the Acadians did not want to sign an oath of allegiance to the British Crown.

Read this slowly:D

During some of the various posts I have contributed here & elsewhere there have been those who sought to impugn or marginalize the discernment & insight I have gained from the many years I have spent looking into & reading up on the Boer people. Westerners often do not realize & even refuse to acknowledge the Boers as a people indigenous to the African landscape who were formed in an era preceding the arrival of the Colonial powers. Certain non-White racial Nationalists can not see beyond the general paleness of their skin as though their colour disqualifies them from being a homegrown people tied to the African continent. Then there are those who ignore the anthropologically distinct origin of Boers on the Cape frontiers & refuse to recognize the Boers as a distinct entity from the bulk of the macro Afrikaner population.


The advocating of self determination for an ethic / cultural group is not about "dividing" the said http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ScnIglIIX0/S2abC7S6f_I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/8byOX0S1Pg8/s200/Boer+Republics.JPG (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_0ScnIglIIX0/S2abC7S6f_I/AAAAAAAAAHQ/8byOX0S1Pg8/s1600-h/Boer+Republics.JPG)ethnic group from any other related ethnic group but rather about empowering that ethnic group in question. All throughout history whenever an ethnic or national group wanted freedom from oppression & to find self determination for itself: they have often had to do so on their own as many others [ even closely related groups ] refused to support them or even wanted freedom for themselves. Just as when the Boers were seeking self determination on the Cape frontier & later beyond: the Cape Dutch did not support such moves & refused even to struggle for their own freedom from Colonialism. The long standing anti Colonial outlook of the Boers' & their centuries long struggle for self determination has always been one of their most striking & contrasting features when juxtaposed next to the pro Colonial & anti-independence Cape Dutch / Afrikaner population.


The pro status quo sentiment of the latter & their modern descendents is the consensus outlook within the bulk of the macro Afrikaner population while a significant portion of the Boer descendents have never abandoned their republican & independent outlook nor their long standing desire for self determination. While there are of course exceptions to this generalization [ ie: Cape Dutch descendents looking for independence & some pro status quo Boer descendents ] due to basic numbers: the Boers [ & others ] looking for independence will always be outnumbered within the macro Afrikaner designation by those who are not in favour of independence or of secessionist proposals. The notion of intermarriage is a moot point because individuals often assimilated into the culture they live among just as no one would dispute that former President Vicente Fox of Mexico is a Mexican despite having an American grand father. When the Czechs & Slovaks opted for independence in 1993 no one asserted that they were "diving" the West Slavs because the point of the secession was not division but self determination. Czechoslovakia was a macro State which lumped two related but distinct groups together. I set out over 15 years ago now to learn about the Boer people in particular [ which by its very nature entails sifting them out from the bulk of the macro Afrikaner population ] & to research their history & the context in which they exist in the modern era. The Afrikaner domination of the Boers is a discernible reality which one inevitably will encounter while investigating the topic & can not be ignored for whatever reason as it plays a significant part in the suppression of the Boer people in their continuous efforts at finding self determination.




The main reason I ever started pointing out the valid distinction of the Boers from the Afrikaners was due to being constantly exposed to Westerners' total ignorance on the topic & their irritating / unjust & continuous erroneous assertions that the Boers were "responsible" for the behaviour & laws which were enacted in the 20th cent by a people who in fact marginalized the actual Boers This ignorant behaviour is tantamount to accusing the Acadians of passing Bill 101. [ The French language law in Quebec. ] based solely on an erroneous assumption that all French speakers in Canada "must be" Acadian. It is evident that many people have a glaring blind spot when it comes to the actual Boer people because a lot of folks make sweeping presumptions based solely on the fact that the folks who ran South Africa in the 20th cent were generally White & Afrikaans speaking & automatically presuming [ or rather jumping to conclusions ] that these White Afrikaans speakers were all descended from the Boers while never once taking the time to discern that this is mathematically impossible as the actual Boer people have always been outnumbered by the erstwhile Cape Dutch: the Afrikaners of the Western Cape who have had a totally different outlook to the Boers who developed on the frontier.


When I note the Boers as distinct from the bulk of the Afrikaners: I am not trying to "divide" [ as though a marginal blogger such as myself even has the power to do so ] them from anything they do not wish to be divided from [ in fact it is totally their own decision even if they should all wish to remain part of South Africa & hope for the best ] because I am trying to do justice to the actual Boer people & their centuries long just struggle for self determination.


The problem is that a lot of people forget or do not realize that the Boers have had to struggle not just against the Dutch & British powers in the past for self determination but they have also had to struggle against the Afrikaner power as well. The first notable example of this was with the Maritz Rebellion of 1914 but the most blatant example of this was during the 1940s when the drive to restore the Boer Republics was popular among the Boers [ massively so ] & was only stopped because the Afrikaner establishment broke it up fearing it as a threat to their control & even later when Robert van Tonder left the National Party in 1961 in order to advocate for the restoration of the Boer Republics as he felt that they were being betrayed [ 1 ] under Hendrik Verwoerd who created a nominal republic for the macro State of South Africa that exact same year. Boervolk Radio Chairman Theuns Cloete noted publicly that key Afrikaner leaders [ even those who were political opponents ] organized & broke the Boer Republican movement of the 1940s down to nothing. [ 2 ]


Therefore to simply ignore the Afrikaner dynamic in the subversion of the Boer people is to perpetuate a grave injustice against the Boers as the Afrikaner establishment has routinely worked against Boer aspirations of independence & self determination. It has been repeatedly observed that the erstwhile Cape Dutch have never had a struggle for freedom. This is due to the salient fact that they were often quite content with Colonial rule [ 3 ] & could not understand why anyone would want to be independent from the Colonial powers they admired. While the Boers on the other hand have had numerous freedom struggles & have had a strong desire for independence from the start & were formed as a distinct people on the Cape frontier over this independence desire when they trekked out of Colonial society & into the Cape frontier during the late 17th cent & were initially known as Trekboers. The Boers therefore have a long history of anti Colonialism. A sentiment which eventually led to the establishment of upwards of 17 Boer Republics from 1795 to the late 19th cent. When the macro State of South Africa was created & the Boers were subjugated & forced into it: the Boer Republican outlook was soon replaced by the neo empire building of the Afrikaners who institutionalized laws which are often ignorantly blamed on the actual Boer people who had a very minimal role in the implementation of the said laws ergo any conflation of the subjugated Boers with the larger Afrikaners only further perpetuates an injustice against the Boer people who were now under the domination of the Afrikaner network.


No people anywhere on Earth can ever hope to find authentic self determination if they are forced to be tethered to another ethnic / cultural group [ particularly one which is either unsympathetic to them or might even work against them ] even if they might happen to share a language. It is for that reason why there exists separates states / collectivities / provinces for the Germans & Austrians. The Serbs & Croats. The Romanians & Moldovans. The Canadians & the Americans. The Quebecois & Acadians. Etc. Few would tell the Basque people to give up their struggle for self determination just because they are under the Spanish State or have "intermarried" with the Spanish people. The only way for the Boers to find self determination is to do so as Boer people because anything else is just a license to dispossess them further under a macro designation which was only ever used in the first place in order to achieve such a goal. [ 4 ]


Few would assert that the Coloureds are all one nation or not recognize the Cape Malays as a distinct group from the Griquas & recognize that they are both distinct from the macro Coloured population. Few would argue that Xhosas & Zulus no longer exist & that they are all one nation. Despite their common Nguni origins. But for some strange reason there are those who would deny the Boers their distinct nationality & argue that they are not distinct from the bulk of the Afrikaner population.


When Dixie declared independence no one claimed it was "dividing" the North American English speaker. [ The assertion was that it was diving a "union" re: macro State ( which was supposed to be voluntary) but not a monolithic people. ] When the various countries of South America were established no one asserted that it was "dividing" the local Spanish speakers. Cultural groups are organic & are the result of anthropologically distinct histories. The desire of self determination is the natural process of cultural groups to take responsibility for their own well being & to defend themselves from forces which are detrimental to their long term survival.


The homepage of the old Stop Boer Genocide (http://web.archive.org/web/20050206213527/www.stopboergenocide.com/index2.html)web site specifically noted that the Boers are a distinct entity from the Afrikaners. Therefore no one should have to endue attacks for simply noting what others [ who are more directly related to defending the Boer people ] have already mentioned themselves. These attacks only serve to obscure the distinct struggles & history of the Boer people which is probably the whole point of the cavalier attacks in the first place.


The point of pointing out this valid distinction is not about "dividing" but rather about raising cognizance of the fact that the Boers can not find the self determination that they seek & have been struggling for centuries now so long as they remain under the tutelage of a powerful & well funded Afrikaans speaking network which works hard to keep them on the Afrikaner reservation which works at maintaining the Boers as a colonized people under the suzerainty of the macro State of South Africa & at the mercy of its neo colonial surrogate ruling regime which is in fact tied to the Afrikaner financial [ 5 ] power.


Not enough generations have passed to have merged the two groups as the different political outlooks between the two are still evident. All one has to do is to contrast the sentiments of the mainstream Afrikaans media outlets with that of the actual Boer people. Afrikaner academics even use crafty techniques when they assert that the independence outlook of the Boers "is not within the mainstream of Afrikaner thought." [ direct quote ] Well no kidding genius because the Boers are only a segment of the macro Afrikaner grouping - ergo even if every single Boer were to stand up & say they want independence [ or even just like the colour blue for that matter ] the Afrikaner academics could still claim that Boer thought "is not within the mainstream of Afrikaner thought" thereby marginalizing them as though they are just some fringe movement that "average" Afrikaners need not pay any attention to. Are the anti-Boer neo Afrikaner Nationalists starting to wake up to the danger of the proposed "unity" they seek to propagate? Do they not consider just who will ultimately control such a language based union?


Consider also the fact that if White Afrikaans unity becomes such an "important" political goal: then what is to stop the natural progression & calls for White "unity" / South African "unity" / African "unity: / Global "unity"! [ As is already happening ] Notice more dangers to ethnic / national independence? Do not be fooled that you can call for one type of "unity" & be able to refuse the others because as history has clearly shown [ especially in South Africa ] one call for "unity" will only embolden & "legitimize" [ there is the real danger as even the illegitimate macro State of South Africa has an "air of legitimacy" as a result of just such "unity" behaviour ] other calls for "unity" until everyone will be dispossessed of their inherent national [ or folk ] right to self determination.


Furthermore an eclectic range of personalities & vast array of sources have noted this distinction as well. The following notable folks ALL recognize the distinction between Afrikaner & Boer: Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio & Boer Separatist / Adriana Stuijt: a Dutch born former South African journalist / the late Robert van Tonder of the Boerestaat Party & founder of Randburg / William McWhirter of Time Magazine / Noel Mostert former Canadian journalist. Arthur Kemp former South African policeman / author. Fred Rundle long time Boer self determination activist. Malcolm & Debbie Wren of Stop Boer Genocide.com. Professor Tobias Louw. Frank / John & Peter of the Right Perspective radio program. Louis Pepler aka Bok van Blerk & Johann Botha commenting on the De La Rey song. [ 6 ] Theuns Cloete notes that: "we are being told that we're Afrikaners & that has been our death". The Unrepresented Nations & Peoples organization has accepted the Boers into the organization & separately from the Afrikaners they accepted into the organization prior further demonstrating recognition of the distinction.


One can propagate the dangerous & insidious meme of "unity" with all Afrikaans speakers all day but what point is there to such a mindless action when such an association will only come to the great detriment of the Boer people [ & anyone attempting to find self determination ] who will be represented by the Afrikaner leadership who are by their very nature totally against any notion of any authentic form of self determination. I have tried to understand what possible benefit could ever come from advocating that the Boers must submit or continue to submit to the Afrikaners just for the sake of a dangerous "unity" with the very forces which work so hard at undermining & subverting Boer self determination. This act simply makes no sense at all & is suicide for Boer freedom. I however do favour unity in the name of Boer independence [ & ethnic / national independence in general ] but one must be careful about simply aligning with everyone just for the sake of increasing numbers when many among those numbers might simply be adamantly opposed to the goal of Boer self determination.


None other than Paul Kruger himself was rather wary of allowing too many of the Cape Dutch into the ZAR as he felt that they were too influenced by the British [ pro British ] & would work to undermine the independence of the ZAR. [ 7 ] Just as their descendents are today too influenced by the current & past South African regimes & could threaten the independence of any future Boer republic.


I remember reading many years ago an informative article on this from a Radio Pretoria news commentary or from another Boer news service website about the danger of a mindless Afrikaner union which noted that the Boers who seek independence must be careful about the non-Boer descended Afrikaners who could be the "albatross" [ their word ] around the neck of the Boer Nation in any reconstituted Boer Republic because they would naturally undermine Boer traditions & would agitate towards the inclusion of all & any other surrounding cultures into the new republic. Therefore the call for this sort of dangerous "unity" is not all that different from the folks who call for a "unity" of all of the peoples of South Africa because in the end the right to ethnic & cultural self determination will be conquered in the face of the union as the majority of the folks within such a union will not favour such self determination.


Theuns Cloete of Boervolk Radio has noted that the Afrikaner financial elite are adamantly opposed to Boer independence & spend lots of money against it & that they would not want to live in a Boer republic because "they do not accept that they are Boers" [ as Cloete noted ] & would be forced to go back to the Cape & Natal. Therefore to those who falsely accuse [ or rather to the individual who has ] please cease with the shortsighted & erroneous allegation that any recognition of Boers as distinct from the bulk of the Afrikaners is "divisive" when in fact any ignorance to or dismissal of such an inherent & documented distinction is dangerous to the cause of Boer self determination. Because the Afrikaner political elite KNOW that Boers are a distinct entity from themselves & work hard & have worked hard in the past at preventing the Boer from reclaiming their self determination.


Just remember that the term Afrikaner is a macro term / label which was applied to all Afrikaans speakers & includes two main ethnicities / cultural groups within the White population in the same way the term Coloured includes numerous ethnicities / cultural groups. The term Afrikaner just means African therefore everyone in Africa is an Afrikaner therefore this term spells even more trouble for those of Boer descent [ & even Cape Dutch ] as it has the potential to dispossess them even further as more & more ethnicities claim the Afrikaner designation.

http://iluvsa.blogspot.com/2010/02/struggle-for-self-determination.html

[Cristiano viejo]

I'm not an expert on what went on in Canada, and I won't pretend to be. What I do know is that a great deal of us left and wandered down into the shittiest location we could find ;). This was a time when Louisiana was owned by the Spanish, and they helped the Cajuns relocate there, so that's where the Spanish tie in. We later overthrew the Spanish governor with the help of the Germans though, but I'm not sure what prompted that.
Incorrect.
Louisiana ceased to be spanish because Spain gave it to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso :thumb001:
There are cajuns of spanish origin as well, from Canary Islands.

[Ouistreham]

The Cajuns of yore were certainly very resilient and tough people. They managed to assimilate to their culture the many German immigrants who settled down in the area (mainly the Côte des Allemands,, North of New Orleans along the Mississipi River. .

A minority assimilating another minority: this must have been a unique occurrence in history.

From Wiki:

German Coast

The German Coast (French: Côte des Allemands) was a region of early Louisiana settlement located above New Orleans on the east side of the Mississippi River – specifically, from east to west, in St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and St. James parishes of present-day Acadiana. The four settlements along the coast were Karlstein, Hoffen, Meriental, and Augsburg.

Originally, the Germans settled at the Arkansas Post, however the conditions were intolerable. The area's name was derived from the large population of German pioneers who were settled there in 1721 by John Law and the Company of the Indies. When the company folded in 1731, the Germans became independent land-owners.

Despite periodic flooding, hurricanes, and the rigors of frontier life, the German pioneers made a success of their settlements. Their farming endeavors provided food not only for themselves but also for New Orleans' residents. Some historians credit these German farmers with the survival of early New Orleans.

In 1768, they joined with Acadians from the Cabannocé Post area to march on New Orleans and overthrow Spanish colonial governor Antonio de Ulloa. The German and Acadian settlers united again, under Spanish colonial governor Bernardo de Gálvez, to fight the British during the American Revolution.

Most of the German Coast settlers hailed from the Rhineland region of Germany, the German-speaking cantons of Switzerland, and other places today called, Bayou des Allemands and Lac des Allemands (meaning Germans' Bayou and Germans' Lake, in French). Many Germans came from the German-speaking region of Alsace-Lorraine in France, and some from Belgium.

From the time of their arrival, the German immigrants began speaking French and intermarried with the early French settlers. Over the subsequent decades they intermarried with the descendants of the latter as well as the Acadians. Together with other settlers, they helped create Cajun culture. For example: German settlers introduced the diatonic accordion to the region, which become the main instrument in Cajun music by 1900.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Coast

[deffender]

this is based on what i know from the top of my head so excuse me if i have any facts wrong. accadian drift wood most likely has more info about this than i do
creoles-
the creole people are often of mixed ethnic background in this day and age within the USA.
The creoles are often of French heritage mixed with black and even Indian american, spanish sometimes and some Germans were known to have mixed with them as well. many have roots to the light skinned mixed race Haitians who moved to the southern USA after and during the wars between 1800-1804. Their culture has much in common with the Cajuns.

Cajuns-
most are of a french Canadian heritage from the 18th -19th century when the british were trying to kill and run all french out of the british Canadian controlled territory. They made their was to Louisiana a then spanish controlled region and were most comfortable in places like new orleans for many reasons but mostly because they were Catholic as were the people in Louisiana.

Both these groups have amazing history and culture.
they both speak a french creole dialect.
they both have foods that are very french inspired.
the Cajuns formed communities within swamps and many have become amazing outdoors men who can live off the land in harsh conditions.
both groups have many catholics within them and they have created many amazing forms of music like zydeco and dancehall cajun music and traditional cajun music and the list goes on.

[Isleño]

What exactly is it you need to know? There's a few of us around here.



And can you explain what you mean here? A lot of Cajuns in Louisiana have French Creole ancestors as well.You are 100% right. I live in south Louisiana, born and raised, and I’ve been researching this for years. Many of the folks claiming to be “Cajuns” are not Acadians as they claim to be. Yes, there are those that are full or near full Acadian, most of which live in the bayou areas near the Gulf of Mexico. However, a great many of the “Cajuns” are mixed with other ethnicities and French Creole (white Creole type) are one of them.

Let me give you an idea....many popular “Cajun” surnames have non-Acadian origin (the term Cajun derives from Acadian, which were colonial immigrants to Louisiana from the area known as Acadie in the French Canadian maritimes).... Cajun surnames like LaFleur, Soileau, Fontenot, Mouton, Devillier, Ardouin, Fuselier and many more I could list are French Creole (white colonial Louisiana French descendant) and those surnames were in Louisiana before the arrival of the Acadians. Cajun Names like Rodrigue, Domingue, Migues, Barrios and Romero came from Spanish Creoles (white colonial Spaniard descendants) and lastly, Cajun surnames like Zeringue, Labranche, Trosclair, Schexnayder, Haydel, Keller, Zeller, Waguespack, Vicknair and Tregre come from German Creoles (white colonial Louisiana German descendant) and adopted French creole surnames used by Louisiana Native Americans also found their way into some families like Dardar, Gregoire, Billiot, Verdin, Parfait, Courteau and Solet.

So you see, many Cajuns are not fully Acadian. And Cajuns that are fully Acadian like those found in places like Vermillion, Lafourche and Terrebone Parishes, are Creoles themselves because in Louisiana, creole means you descend from the colonial Louisiana population that were “native born” to the Louisiana colony and the Louisiana born children of those Acadian immigrants were Creoles just as any other native born to the colony.

In fact, before the term Cajun came to be popular (1960’s-1980’s) the term Cadien (the French corruption of Acadien) was used for Acadian descendants sparingly for about 100 years since the mid 1800’s. The term “Acadian Creole” was used before that for every Acadian descended generation after the immigrants.

So if we were to categorize correctly, Louisiana would be made up of Creoles which include the different creole groups like French creole, Acadian Creole, Spanish Creole (of which I am one), German Creole, Creoles of color (mulattoes), Métis creole (mestizo) and black creole (Afro-Creole). All of these groups have in common they descend from the Louisiana colonial population, which is what makes them Creoles. The rest of Louisiana are simply Louisianians whether they be English descent, Irish descent, Italian descent, non-Creole French descent, non-creole black African descent or non-creole German descent.

Everything I’ve said I’ve researched to death, believe me when I tell you these are truths.

[Isleño]

Incorrect.
Louisiana ceased to be spanish because Spain gave it to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San Ildefonso :thumb001:
There are cajuns of spanish origin as well, from Canary Islands.
Cristiano, you are correct about the history of transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France, but about Isleños being Cajuns....well half not and half yes. Let me explain...

Isleños from St, Bernard Parish (next to New Orleans), which is where I come from are not Cajuns as we identify as Isleños, not Cajuns and our ancestry is Canarian Spanish. This is also the case with many Isleños that live near Baton Rouge, which is known as the Valenzuela settlement of Canarians. However, there are many Cajuns (Acadian French descendants) that have Isleño spanish ancestry admixture, but identify as Cajuns, not as Isleños as their Isleño admixture may not be large enough or they just don’t know about it. Some have tried to call us “Spanish Cajuns”, but that’s a misnomer.

So overall, Isleños are not Cajuns. However, some Cajuns are part Isleño but identify as Cajun. I hope that helps your understanding, from a point of view from an Isleño of Louisiana :)

Oh and for a bonus....all of us that descend from colonial Louisiana are Creoles. Louisiana Creole=colonial Louisiana descendant. Examples....French Creoles (white French descendants), Spanish Creoles (Isleños and Malagueños), German Creoles, Acadian Creoles (Cajuns), Creoles of color (mulattoes), Métis Creoles (Louisiana colonial mestizo descent) and Afro-Creoles (black African descendants that lived in the colony).

[Isleño]

Good Cajun music ;):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fs12_-ihPY&feature=related

Lyrics as translated by some guy on youtube:
My favorite Cajun song is “La danse de Mardi Gras”...check it out

http://https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pr_HcNzNBXg

[Lucas]

Cristiano, you are correct about the history of transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France, but about Isleños being Cajuns....well half not and half yes. Let me explain...

Isleños from St, Bernard Parish (next to New Orleans), which is where I come from are not Cajuns as we identify as Isleños, not Cajuns and our ancestry is Canarian Spanish. This is also the case with many Isleños that live near Baton Rouge, which is known as the Valenzuela settlement of Canarians. However, there are many Cajuns (Acadian French descendants) that have Isleño spanish ancestry admixture, but identify as Cajuns, not as Isleños as their Isleño admixture may not be large enough or they just don’t know about it. Some have tried to call us “Spanish Cajuns”, but that’s a misnomer.

So overall, Isleños are not Cajuns. However, some Cajuns are part Isleño but identify as Cajun. I hope that helps your understanding, from a point of view from an Isleño of Louisiana :)

Oh and for a bonus....all of us that descend from colonial Louisiana are Creoles. Louisiana Creole=colonial Louisiana descendant. Examples....French Creoles (white French descendants), Spanish Creoles (Isleños and Malagueños), German Creoles, Acadian Creoles (Cajuns), Creoles of color (mulattoes), Métis Creoles (Louisiana colonial mestizo descent) and Afro-Creoles (black African descendants that lived in the colony).

Very interesting. Do you know some Islenos Gedmatch kits?

[Celestia]

My maternal side is Cajun ^_^

Very fun, wild, family-oriented and proud bunch.

[Isleño]

I'm ashamed to say I don't know anything about any of the colonists of South Afrika. I'll have to remedy that soon. If you can recommend any articles I'd appreciate it.

I'm not an expert on what went on in Canada, and I won't pretend to be. What I do know is that a great deal of us left and wandered down into the shittiest location we could find ;). This was a time when Louisiana was owned by the Spanish, and they helped the Cajuns relocate there, so that's where the Spanish tie in. We later overthrew the Spanish governor with the help of the Germans though, but I'm not sure what prompted that.

As for where the name Cajun comes from, it's just a phonetic spelling of how people tend to pronounce "Acadian". The "A" is dropped and and "dian" ends up jumbled together as "jun". It's sort of like the American use of Injun rather than Indian. I don't know truly how to define the soul of a Cajun and I'll leave your other questions to the more knowledgeable posters.

Actually the Acadians (at that time, the term Cajun didn’t exist yet) did not overthrow anyone in the Spanish government of Louisiana. It was the French Creoles (white French descendants, whom many “Cajuns” today have as ancestors), with the help of Germans that made the attempt to overthrow Governor Antonio de Ulloa, but in his place Spain sent Alejandro O’Reilly and O’Reilly crushed the rebellion, restoring Spanish rule and Louisiana remained Spanish until it was given to France, nearly 40 years later. You can read more about the rebellion of 1768 on its wiki: http://https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Rebellion_of_1768

Also, notice the Cajunization of much Acadiana’s white Creole population (called French Creole historically) into the general “Cajun” population, whom are hardly Acadians. Many Cajuns are a mixture of Acadian, French, Spanish, German even some have English or American Indian admixture. Some “Cajuns” are not even Acadians, as they descend from French Creoles completely. This is more common around Avoyelles, St. Landry, Pointe Coupée and Evangeline Parishes where there are still populations of French Creoles (white French descendants) that still claim a creole identity, but many have been assimilated into Cajun identity.

There are still Cajuns of full or near full Acadian descent which most of these live in parishes along the gulf like Vermillion, St. Mary, Lafourche and Terrebonne. But much of the Cajun population in the rest of south Louisiana is mixed with others ethnicities besides Acadian. Cajunization of the area of what is now called Acadiana took place because politicians Edward Edwards, a “Cajun” with an English surname and Dudley LeBlanc, along with the French language preservations group CODOFIL, which is headed by “Cajuns”, together worked to cajunized the area and name it Acadiana. Now there is a push for products of Louisiana to be stamped with “certified Cajun” stamp, which is ridiculous given the history of food in Louisiana, which would exclude all the culture groups that contributed to Louisiana foods. South Louisiana was once creole as it should be, but is now Cajunizing by forces with a Cajun agenda and have been since the 1960’s.

You probably also have ancestors that were not Acadians as well.

And what’s worse, since Acadians were known in Louisiana as poor folks living off the land, those who claim to be Cajuns that have French creole ancestors, by default of claiming to be Cajun are disowning their ancestors that had wealth, status and power, that owned plantations and vast tracts of land and prestige in Louisiana history. I met one before that I helped complete a family tree. He thought he was strictly Acadian and descended from poor folks that lived off the land. Turned out he was a descendant of three of the wealthiest and most powerful French creole families (remember, French Creoles are white people) in Louisiana with the most prestige in Louisiana history, the Livaudais, Roman and Verret families.

[PaleoEuropean]

I did survey on European/American people.
None of them were really interesting.
Then,accidentally, I came across the Cajun/French people.
What a very interesting people they are.Just up my street.
Could anyone shed some light on these people.??????
I do not need the Cajun/Creole.

laissez les bons temps rouler!

Cajun isn't as French as you think, Also British and Spanish Cajuns.

[Isleño]

Very interesting. Do you know some Islenos Gedmatch kits? I don’t have anyones kit numbers, sorry. I made a thread here before with my own gedmatch results from various calculators and I even took requests from others, but I backed off afterward while cuz too many folks requesting calculators. It’s on this forum if you want to view them.

[Isleño]

My maternal side is Cajun ^_^

Very fun, wild, family-oriented and proud bunch.


What are the Cajun family surnames? If you don’t mind me asking...

[Isleño]

Cajun isn't as French as you think, Also British and Spanish Cajuns.


Usually, Cajuns have Acadian French ancestry (Acadian comes from Acadia in the colonial Canadian French maritimes), but I’d say a great many are admixed with other ethnicities such as French, Spanish, German, Irish, Italian and Native American, which they can have any of these in any percent. There are some Cajuns that are not Acadians and are just French Creoles (white Louisiana French colonial descendants) that were assimilated into being “Cajun”. There are also those that are highly mixed between French Creoles and Acadians such as the late famous “Cajun” chef Paul Prudhomme. Some even have spanish or German or others like I explain above. Some even have English admixture like the late famous TV Cajun personality Justin Wilson or ex Louisiana Governor Edward Edwards.

In my opinion, Cajun does not equal Acadian anymore. In my opinion, Cajun is usually someone that has at least some Acadian ancestors in their tree, but not always. There is a saying here in south Louisiana, “Cajun by blood, by the ring (marriage) or by the back door” that just shows you the avenues for admixture that are accepted in Cajun culture.

Anyway, we Colonial Louisiana descendants are all Creoles. Louisiana Creole=colonial Louisiana descendant. Creole is the umbrella term for all of us. I’m a Spanish Creole, an Isleño of Louisiana.

[MS85]

My maternal side is Cajun ^_^

Very fun, wild, family-oriented and proud bunch.GREAT! Very interesting people. Have you seen a masterpiece called 'Louisiana Story' from 1948 about the Cajun people. It is a great piece of filmmaking by great director Flaherty.

This movie/documentary is very interesting from an anthropological perspective. Very interesting dialect from 1948!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzvwE_9Pj8

[Celestia]

What are the Cajun family surnames? If you don’t mind me asking...

Sure.
Some common ones are
Bertrand, Leger, Le Blanc, Thibodeaux, Landry, Pichoff, Labat,Robichaux, Babin.
Those are just from the top of my head

[Celestia]

GREAT! Very interesting people. Have you seen a masterpiece called 'Louisiana Story' from 1948 about the Cajun people. It is a great piece of filmmaking by great director Flaherty.

This movie/documentary is very interesting from an anthropological perspective. Very interesting dialect from 1948!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzvwE_9Pj8

I haven’t but thanks for sharing!!
I want to learn more about that side of my family.

[MS85]

I haven’t but thanks for sharing!!
I want to learn more about that side of my family.Can you understand their dialect?

[Celestia]

Can you understand their dialect?

Somewhat.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to grow up knowing much about that side of my family.
What I do know is they have super thick accents.
Majority only speak English but they have their own words.
For example, “sha baby” is basically a term of endearment for a little baby. Like “oh cute little baby”

[Celestia]

For anyone who is interested my sisters husband is 100% Cajun with family from Louisiana for centuries.
His ancestrydna came back as 76% French 21% England, Wales and Northwestern European and 3% Portuguese.

[billErobreren]

GREAT! Very interesting people. Have you seen a masterpiece called 'Louisiana Story' from 1948 about the Cajun people. It is a great piece of filmmaking by great director Flaherty.

This movie/documentary is very interesting from an anthropological perspective. Very interesting dialect from 1948!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzvwE_9Pj8

Whoa! That's a gem! First time I've ever seen this.
It sounds awfully pretty, much too pretty to be deemed a peasant dialect as it often has been.

I understood a good chunk of this, so I'm not gonna lie, they seem to have words and pronounciations of their own; "cadaeux pour ta mare" rather than "mere" for "mother", the way they say "bon", when the lady opens the the present, kinda sounds closer to the way Brazilians say "bo" for "good".

Bit sad to see, considering how much it's declined in Louisiana

[Celestia]

Cajun family

88742

[Peterski]

For anyone who is interested my sisters husband is 100% Cajun with family from Louisiana for centuries.
His ancestrydna came back as 76% French 21% England, Wales and Northwestern European and 3% Portuguese.

So it is a myth that Cajuns are mixed even with alligators?

[Morena]

This is very interesting. It's a lot more complex than I once thought. I had this vague idea cajuns were country-bumpkins and creoles were individuals of French origin. I had no idea whatever of Acadians.

[Daco Celtic]

I wouldn't mess with Cajuns based on this movie alone.


https://youtu.be/swKpsdkW-Hk

[Isleño]

Sure.
Some common ones are
Bertrand, Leger, Le Blanc, Thibodeaux, Landry, Pichoff, Labat,Robichaux, Babin.
Those are just from the top of my head
Nice. Well Leger, LeBlanc, Thibodeaux, Landry, Robichaux and Babin are authentic Acadian surnames, brought with Acadian settlers to colonial Louisiana, which makes them truly Cajun. The surnames Bertrand, Pichoff and Labat are French Creole surnames, brought to colonial Louisiana straight from France. Actually Pichoff was Bishof at one point before it became Pichoff. So with that said, most of your “Cajun” ancestry is Acadian, and some of it is French Creole. French Creoles in Louisiana are white Louisianians of French descent that came straight from France to the Louisiana colony. Hope that helps the understanding of your family history.

[Isleño]

GREAT! Very interesting people. Have you seen a masterpiece called 'Louisiana Story' from 1948 about the Cajun people. It is a great piece of filmmaking by great director Flaherty.

This movie/documentary is very interesting from an anthropological perspective. Very interesting dialect from 1948!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzvwE_9Pj8
Yes, I saw it. It is a great piece of work.

[Mr.G]

This was what I learned about Cajuns, from my favorite childhood cartoon!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG44wis41nk

[Isleño]

this is based on what i know from the top of my head so excuse me if i have any facts wrong. accadian drift wood most likely has more info about this than i do
creoles-
the creole people are often of mixed ethnic background in this day and age within the USA.
The creoles are often of French heritage mixed with black and even Indian american, spanish sometimes and some Germans were known to have mixed with them as well. many have roots to the light skinned mixed race Haitians who moved to the southern USA after and during the wars between 1800-1804. Their culture has much in common with the Cajuns.

Cajuns-
most are of a french Canadian heritage from the 18th -19th century when the british were trying to kill and run all french out of the british Canadian controlled territory. They made their was to Louisiana a then spanish controlled region and were most comfortable in places like new orleans for many reasons but mostly because they were Catholic as were the people in Louisiana.

Both these groups have amazing history and culture.
they both speak a french creole dialect.
they both have foods that are very french inspired.
the Cajuns formed communities within swamps and many have become amazing outdoors men who can live off the land in harsh conditions.
both groups have many catholics within them and they have created many amazing forms of music like zydeco and dancehall cajun music and traditional cajun music and the list goes on.
Actually the group you described as “Creoles” are only one type of creole group here in Louisiana and not the only one. The mulattoes of French, Spanish, Black African and sometimes American Indian are called Creoles of color. Why Creoles of color? Because there are Creoles not of color (white Creoles). Creole in Louisiana means to be descended from the colonial Louisiana population, who used the term to mean native born in Louisiana, of old world origin. So that includes all the whites, mulattoes, blacks and métis (mestizos) in Louisiana whose has ancestors were born in colonial Louisiana. Ironically, the Cajuns are also Creoles, and they used to be referred to as Acadian Creoles (late 1700’s-early 1800’s), meaning Acadians born in Louisiana. However, the Acadians later separated themselves from the creole identity and took on an identity more central to their origins (the term Cajun came to be around 1850, but wasn’t used widely and enforced until 1968). After 1968, they began to identify as Cajuns only and here we are today with a Cajun vs. Creole dilemma that shouldn’t exist.

Back when the term creole was an umbrella term for all Louisianians (colonial times), mulattoes were called “gens de couleur” which means Free People of Color, as opposed to blacks who were enslaved people of color. Whites, mulattoes, Métis and blacks were all referred to as creole at some point during Louisiana’s history. There was a time when Creole mostly referred to white Creoles, mainly of French and/or Spanish descent as evidenced by historical documents and witness accounts stretching back as far as 1751, but just as now there are many like yourself that believe Creoles are mulattoes, those of yesteryear believed they were white only. But the truth is, Creole is not a particular racial group, it’s just an identity linked to the lineage of Louisiana’s history. In my opinion, there should be a formal Louisiana cultural council formed to sort out the confusion and protect the identities and cultures of Louisiana and I truly wish we’d just go back to creole’s original Louisiana definition, meaning native born to Louisiana of old world ancestry.

[Morena]

This was what I learned about Cajuns, from my favorite childhood cartoon!


Do you have a GI Joe reference for everything. xD

[Isleño]

For anyone who is interested my sisters husband is 100% Cajun with family from Louisiana for centuries.
His ancestrydna came back as 76% French 21% England, Wales and Northwestern European and 3% Portuguese.

What is his family surnames? I ask because true Cajuns are those of full or near full Acadian French ancestry. Remember, in Louisiana there are three types of French ancestry that have historical differences added to them in Louisiana related to identity....Acadian French, French Creole and foreign French (French people that arrived after 1803 when Louisiana became a state). So the three historical Louisiana identities would be Cajun, French Creole and French.

[Mr.G]

Do you have a GI Joe reference for everything. xD

Yeah, and I have one in my mind for your above comment. Sadly, nobody on YT has put that particular clip up - I just spent the last 5 min trying to find it. :p

[Daco Celtic]

This was what I learned about Cajuns, from my favorite childhood cartoon!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG44wis41nk

Lol...knowing is half the battle. Look out for the evil twin brothers.

[Celestia]

So it is a myth that Cajuns are mixed even with alligators?

haha I don't know about all of that but they do eat them lol

[Celestia]

What is his family surnames? I ask because true Cajuns are those of full or near full Acadian French ancestry. Remember, in Louisiana there are three types of French ancestry that have historical differences added to them in Louisiana related to identity....Acadian French, French Creole and foreign French (French people that arrived after 1803 when Louisiana became a state). So the three historical Louisiana identities would be Cajun, French Creole and French.


My brother in laws:
Leger, Leleux, Sonnier, Monte, Quebedeaux, Richard, Garry, Cormier

My Cajun side:
Bertrand, Guillory, Vezena/Vizena/Vesina, Desneiges, Bassinet, Demouche, Terrien, Tessier, Lavigne, Deshotels, Fontenot, Roquincourt, Higdon, Stephan, Roland, Manuel, Gallien, Guenard, Trouillet, Lajeunesse, Lenoyer

*To note; I have remote French Creole.

[Isleño]

Somewhat.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to grow up knowing much about that side of my family.
What I do know is they have super thick accents.
Majority only speak English but they have their own words.
For example, “sha baby” is basically a term of endearment for a little baby. Like “oh cute little baby”I know several Louisiana French words and phrases, which are often used by all Louisiana French speakers, whether Cajun or creole. They are often shared words and terms used by Louisiana creole speakers, Cajuns and the old creolized French dialect of old Louisiana once used in New Orleans that exists only on old recordings today, because the language was lost in the city by the 1950’s. Terms like:

Cher/Chére used as you would use dude, bro/ sweety, darling. Term of endearment.

Using cher or chére there are those used like cher ‘tit bougre (sha-tee-boog) to address boys or chére ‘tite fille (sha-tee-fee) to address girls

Saying like “Lache pas la patate” which is a way to say don’t give up, literally means don’t drop the potato

Of course the popular “Laissez les born temps rouler” you hear all over south Louisiana, especially in New Orleans.

Mais, garde des don ...sounds like may-gah-de-dohn... it’s like saying “well look at that”

Fais pas ça (fay-pah-sah) - means like don’t do that.

Jamais ’d la vie- (jaw-maid-la-vee, the j sounds like the g in mirage) it’s like saying “never in my life” which you would say if something is something you don’t like or bad

2 ways to say poor little thing...cher ‘tit bet (sha-tee-bet) or pauvre ‘tit bet (pawv-tee-bet)

And I know various words like for goosebumps is “frissons”
For scared it’s capon
For pout it’s boudé
For saying the whatchamacallit, it’s quelquechose (pronounced kek shawz)
For drunk it’s cassé (cah-say) younger English speakers will Americanize it and say something like “I was so cassed the other night I couldn’t drive”
For walking around with nothing to do, no purpose...it’s rodier (row-dee-ey)

And money is piastre (pee-ah-st or pee-ah-s) this one was used in all Louisiana French dialects, it was the standard money in Louisiana in colonial times instead of dollars, but after statehood folks still used the word for dollar. Even we Isleños used it when selling our seafood and produce to French speaking New Orleans back in the day (some Isleños learned the creolized French spoken in New Orleans back in the day to communicate when going to the French market in New Orleans to sell their seafood and vegetables) but amongs ourselves we still used the Spanish word peso back then.

Just some Louisiana French words and phrases that I know from socializing over the years.

[Celestia]

I know several Louisiana French words and phrases, which are often used by all Louisiana French speakers, whether Cajun or creole. They are often shared words and terms used by Louisiana creole speakers, Cajuns and the old creolized French dialect of old Louisiana once used in New Orleans that exists only on old recordings today, because the language was lost in the city by the 1950’s. Terms like:

Cher/Chére used as you would use dude, bro/ sweety, darling. Term of endearment.

Using cher or chére there are those used like cher ‘tit bougre (sha-tee-boog) to address boys or chére ‘tite fille (sha-tee-fee) to address girls

Saying like “Lache pas la patate” which is a way to say don’t give up, literally means don’t drop the potato

Of course the popular “Laissez les born temps rouler” you hear all over south Louisiana, especially in New Orleans.

Mais, garde des don ...sounds like may-gah-de-dohn... it’s like saying “well look at that”

Fais pas ça (fay-pah-sah) - means like don’t do that.

Jamais ’d la vie- (jaw-maid-la-vee, the j sounds like the g in mirage) it’s like saying “never in my life” which you would say if something is something you don’t like or bad

2 ways to say poor little thing...cher ‘tit bet (sha-tee-bet) or pauvre ‘tit bet (pawv-tee-bet)

And I know various words like for goosebumps is “frissons”
For scared it’s capon
For pout it’s boudé
For saying the whatchamacallit, it’s quelquechose (pronounced kek shawz)
For drunk it’s cassé (cah-say) younger English speakers will Americanize it and say something like “I was so cassed the other night I couldn’t drive”
For walking around with nothing to do, no purpose...it’s rodier (row-dee-ey)

And money is piastre (pee-ah-st or pee-ah-s) this one was used in all Louisiana French dialects, it was the standard money in Louisiana in colonial times instead of dollars, but after statehood folks still used the word for dollar. Even we Isleños used it when selling our seafood and produce to French speaking New Orleans back in the day (some Isleños learned the creolized French spoken in New Orleans back in the day to communicate when going to the French market in New Orleans to sell their seafood and vegetables) but amongs ourselves we still used the Spanish word peso back then.

Just some Louisiana French words and phrases that I know from socializing over the years.

oh wow awesome! You seem fairly knowledgeable when it comes to Cajun Slang.
If you're able to give me some info on the surnames I provided that would be cool.
I have a bunch of French surnames in my family tree but these DNA tests barely score me any French unless it gets lapped in with England which is what I am assuming. Or I am mostly Breton rather than French.

[Isleño]

My brother in laws:
Leger, Leleux, Sonnier, Monte, Quebedeaux, Richard, Garry, Cormier

My Cajun side:
Bertrand, Guillory, Vezena/Vizena/Vesina, Desneiges, Bassinet, Demouche, Terrien, Tessier, Lavigne, Deshotels, Fontenot, Roquincourt, Higdon, Stephan, Roland, Manuel, Gallien, Guenard, Trouillet, Lajeunesse, Lenoyer

*To note; I have remote French Creole.
Wow, the plot thickens lol.

Well your brother-in-laws...they are all Acadian surnames except for Leleux which is French creole and Garry, which is Spanish creole (originally was Garido and comes from the Malagueño Spanish settlement of New Iberia).

As for yours, this set of surnames are heavily creole. The French creole surnames are Bertrand, Guillory, Terrien, Deshotels, Fontenot, Gallien and Guénard. Manuel is Spanish Creole from the Malagueño Spanish settlement of New Iberia. The others are Acadian, but two look to be foreign French like Roquincourt and Desneiges. I’d say your “Cajun” ancestry is likely to be a mixture of Acadian and French Creole, with a couple names from Spanish Creoles from the Louisiana colony and French immigrants that came when the US was already a state. You can tell people you are partially Cajun and Creole, the prof is there. Best of it all!

[Celestia]

Wow, the plot thickens lol.

Well your brother-in-laws...they are all Acadian surnames except for Leleux which is French creole and Garry, which is Spanish creole (originally was Garido and comes from the Malagueño Spanish settlement of New Iberia).

As for yours, this set of surnames are heavily creole. The French creole surnames are Bertrand, Guillory, Terrien, Deshotels, Fontenot, Gallien and Guénard. Manuel is Spanish Creole from the Malagueño Spanish settlement of New Iberia. The others are Acadian, but two look to be foreign French like Roquincourt and Desneiges. I’d say your “Cajun” ancestry is likely to be a mixture of Acadian and French Creole, with a couple names from Spanish Creoles from the Louisiana colony and French immigrants that came when the US was already a state. You can tell people you are partially Cajun and Creole, the prof is there. Best of it all!

Thanks!! I only get 3% SSA on my dna tests though. My mother is closer to 5-10%

[Isleño]

oh wow awesome! You seem fairly knowledgeable when it comes to Cajun Slang.
If you're able to give me some info on the surnames I provided that would be cool.
I have a bunch of French surnames in my family tree but these DNA tests barely score me any French unless it gets lapped in with England which is what I am assuming. Or I am mostly Breton rather than French.
I’d be careful trusting commercial DNA tests to tell you which nation your ancestors came from. Because the French people are mixed with various Western European ancestries like Celtic, Germanic, Iberian, Brittonic and even some Nordic in the North from Viking settlements, commercial DNA tests can give you an array of answers based on which reference populations they used and how their algorithms work with that data. For instance, someone from southern France might score more Iberian than someone from Northern France who might score some British or Scandinavian or some Eastern French that might score a large amount of German. But that’s france for ya, it’s varied because the people are varied in their genetic percentages of all the ancestries that make up the French people.

[Isleño]

Thanks!! I only get 3% SSA on my dna tests though. My mother is closer to 5-10%


What does SSA have to do with anything?

[Celestia]

What does SSA have to do with anything?

French Creole's typically have higher SSA admixture.

[Isleño]

French Creole's typically have higher SSA admixture.

No ma’am. You are thinking of Creoles of color, whom are mulattoes. If I recall, I pointed out to you several comments ago that French Creoles are Louisiana whites that have French ancestors that were born in the Louisiana colony before US statehood. It’s just today, the mulattoes are getting their 15 min of fame with songs from Creoles of color like Beyoncé who is half creole of color and communities of Creoles of color living outside of Louisiana, particularly Los Angeles and Chicago, so Americans are familiar with them more. But white Creoles are still in Louisiana, not all of them were assimilated into the Cajun identity many live all over south Louisiana.

Just to recap once more, Louisiana Creole means to be a descendant of the colonial Louisiana population, regardless of race. They used the word creole to mean native-born to the new world (Louisiana in this case), but of old world origins. So here are the creole groups of Louisiana:

Whites:

French Creoles
Spanish Creoles
German Creoles

Mixed race:

Creoles of color (mulattoes, which is a black-white mix, but in their case some have a little Amerindian)
Métis Creoles (mestizos, Which is an American Indian-white mix)

Blacks:

Afro-Creoles (descendants of black slaves that lived in colonial Louisiana. Other blacks descended from slaves from the English-speaking US states that migrated to Louisiana are not included).

If your mother has 5-10% SSA, that came from somewhere else than any white Creoles or Cajuns, I’m sure. Possibly a mulatto creole of color or black person entered your family down the line at some point for her to have that amount. Just my 2 cents.

[Celestia]

No ma’am. You are thinking of Creoles of color, whom are mulattoes. If I recall, I pointed out to you several comments ago that French Creoles are Louisiana whites that have French ancestors that were born in the Louisiana colony before US statehood. It’s just today, the mulattoes are getting their 15 min of fame with songs from Creoles of color like Beyoncé who is half creole of color and communities of Creoles of color living outside of Louisiana, particularly Los Angeles and Chicago, so Americans are familiar with them more. But white Creoles are still in Louisiana, not all of them were assimilated into the Cajun identity many live all over south Louisiana.

Just to recap once more, Louisiana Creole means to be a descendant of the colonial Louisiana population, regardless of race. They used the word creole to mean native-born to the new world (Louisiana in this case), but of old world origins. So here are the creole groups of Louisiana:

Whites:

French Creoles
Spanish Creoles
German Creoles

Mixed race:

Creoles of color (mulattoes, which is a black-white mix, but in their case some have a little Amerindian)
Métis Creoles (mestizos, Which is an American Indian-white mix)

Blacks:

Afro-Creoles (descendants of black slaves that lived in colonial Louisiana. Other blacks descended from slaves from the English-speaking US states that migrated to Louisiana are not included).

If your mother has 5-10% SSA, that came from somewhere else than any white Creoles or Cajuns, I’m sure. Possibly a mulatto creole of color or black person entered your family down the line at some point for her to have that amount. Just my 2 cents.

ah I see. In Texas we refer the Mulattos as "Creoles" and the Europeans as "Cajuns"
You are probably more politically correct with differentiating the two, I was just grown up using different terms to identify.

And I found my ancestor, she was a slave mistress to my French ancestor from the Guillory family. She had been sold from the Senegambian trade.
But thank you for responding with your wisdom!
I agree that most of my ancestors were French despite what these tests give me.

[Isleño]

ah I see. In Texas we refer the Mulattos as "Creoles" and the Europeans as "Cajuns"
You are probably more politically correct with differentiating the two, I was just grown up using different terms to identify.

And I found my ancestor, she was a slave mistress to my French ancestor from the Guillory family. She had been sold from the Senegambian trade.
But thank you for responding with your wisdom!
I agree that most of my ancestors were French despite what these tests give me.
Baby girl, I’m born and raised in south Louisiana and I’m a Spanish Creole, believe what I say because I’m not bullshitting you at all. There are all the historical documents to back up what I’m telling you.

Your idea that “Creoles” are mulatto and “Cajuns” are white, is sadly a misbelief that took root in Acadiana (Southwest Louisiana) after the Cajunization of Acadiana in the 1960’s which absorbed much of the white Creole population in that area by blood, the ring (marriage) or the back door, however white creoles that identify as creole still exist in Acadiana, primarily in the 4 northern Acadian parishes of Avoyelles, St. Landry, Evangeline and Pointe Coupée and there is a Creole Bastille Day held there every year where white Creoles attend. Much of the folks still claiming to be white Creoles live in the Greater New Orleans metro area that retained its creole identity much better, which is where I’m from.

The Cajun/Creole misbelief was also transported to East Texas as many mulatto type Creoles and Cajuns moved there, importing their misbelief stereotype from Acadiana to East Texas. This stereo type went even further as mulatto type Creoles moved en masse to Los Angeles and Chicago. So now the misbelief is more widespread than the truth. However, those of us in Greater New Orleans that still claim a white creole identity continue to spread the truth to try and help fix the misbelief spread so far by those from Acadiana. Everything I say has historical documentation such as church records, marriage records, census records and many more historical documents from old Louisiana to prove the truth. These documents are the one roadblock from allowing the big lie to become absolute unchallenged truth. Help spread the truth, please.

Let me give you an idea how this big misbelief is such a farce even in old Acadiana where the misbelief began, around the time of the mass Cajunization of the area. If I remember the situation correctly (I may have to dig up the article) but an old newspaper from Acadiana (in Lafayette) reported on one evening that a band of musicians that were to play and they were mulattoes and they said they were Creoles, but the folks in the area were upset that they used the term creole for themselves (during this time, Creole was more synonymous with white Louisiana) and demanded that the group leave town. So they up and left town. This is documented.

Just goes to show you how a misbelief can spread quickly and be it not for historical documents, it would be absolute by now. But we will fix it, slowly but shortly. It may take a while.

[Isleño]

ah I see. In Texas we refer the Mulattos as "Creoles" and the Europeans as "Cajuns"
You are probably more politically correct with differentiating the two, I was just grown up using different terms to identify.

And I found my ancestor, she was a slave mistress to my French ancestor from the Guillory family. She had been sold from the Senegambian trade.
But thank you for responding with your wisdom!
I agree that most of my ancestors were French despite what these tests give me.


Guillory is a popular French Creole family name here in south Louisiana. It came from a French family that settled Louisiana during its colonial days, but once their children were born in Louisiana, so began the family’s Creole history. Creole in colonial Louisiana meant born in the colony. There is a convenience store in my parish not far from my house called Guillory’s and it’s a green painted building, but we just call it the green store because of the color. But I know plenty of people named Guillory, in which all are whites. Those in greater New Orleans mostly claim a creole (French Creole) identity, but I know a few in Acadiana and they claim a Cajun identity (the misbelief in action), in which they have no idea its French creole (and they are too, at least partly if not wholly). I’m speaking of the white Creoles, not the mulatto ones.

If you want to see Guillory is a French Creole name (a couple of your other family surnames are here also), you can see here is a comprehensive list of common French Creole surnames showing that (a few surnames may be Spanish creole or German creole also):


Collection of Creole surnames:

https://www.acadianmemorial.org/ensemble_encore2/cajunrootsc.htm

[Boudin]

Many Cajuns are a mixture of Acadian, French, Spanish, German even some have English or American Indian admixture. Some “Cajuns” are not even Acadians, as they descend from French Creoles completely. This is more common around Avoyelles, St. Landry, Pointe Coupée and Evangeline Parishes where there are still populations of French Creoles (white French descendants) that still claim a creole identity, but many have been assimilated into Cajun identity.

There are still Cajuns of full or near full Acadian descent which most of these live in parishes along the gulf like Vermillion, St. Mary, Lafourche and Terrebonne. But much of the Cajun population in the rest of south Louisiana is mixed with others ethnicities besides Acadian.

Any idea of percentage Acadian ancestry for various parishes in Acadiana?

[Boudin]

This is more common around Avoyelles, St. Landry, Pointe Coupée and Evangeline Parishes where there are still populations of French Creoles (white French descendants) that still claim a creole identity, but many have been assimilated into Cajun identity.

There are still Cajuns of full or near full Acadian descent which most of these live in parishes along the gulf like Vermillion, St. Mary, Lafourche and Terrebonne. But much of the Cajun population in the rest of south Louisiana is mixed with others ethnicities besides Acadian.

This thread of mine illustrates that really well (https://www.theapricity.com/forum/showthread.php?365574-Louisiana-23andMe-Statistics-for-6-Parishes), with Terrebonne (bottom right) having the highest French and Amerindian ancestry. I was confused when I posted it, but after reading your post, it all makes sense!




https://i.imgur.com/UxhRyIk.png
https://i.imgur.com/gCMnlHD.png
https://i.imgur.com/n6gQLlN.png
https://i.imgur.com/5mroGMY.png
https://i.imgur.com/IOrenPQ.png
https://i.imgur.com/rFw7dIo.png

[Boudin]

Your idea that “Creoles” are mulatto and “Cajuns” are white, is sadly a misbelief that took root in Acadiana (Southwest Louisiana) after the Cajunization of Acadiana in the 1960’s which absorbed much of the white Creole population

What do you call someone who's part Cajun, part Creole?

[Isleño]

What do you call someone who's part Cajun, part Creole?
Well technically there is no such thing as Cajun vs. Creole as Cajuns are white Louisiana Creoles. Too many people today have taken believe in this imaginary idea that Creole is something other than it really is. Louisiana Creoles are the Louisiana-born local people of any race who descend from the colonial Louisiana population, of any race. So there are white Creoles, black Creoles, mixed race Creoles and there are even Filipino Creoles (Filipinos that arrived in the 1700’s aboard Spanish Galleon ships and settled in various southeast Louisiana parishes such as St.Bernard, Jefferson, Lafourche and Terrebonne Parishes. Before the 20th century adoption of the term Cajun as an identity, Cajuns were identified as Acadian Creoles. So for the white Louisiana Creoles there were 4 types: French Creoles (whites of a mixed French and Québécois ancestry), Spanish Creoles (whites of Spanish ancestry such as the isleños and malagueños of Louisiana), German Creoles (whites of German descent whose ancestors been in Louisiana since 1721) and lastly, Acadian Creoles (Cajuns). The mixed race Afro-French-Spanish race (a minority of them have minor Amerind of a few percent) that many Creole-ignorant folks think are THE Creoles are historically known as Creoles of Color. Why of color? Because there are white Creoles too.

But I do want to add that today’s Cajuns are not the same people as the Acadian settlers that arrived in Louisiana in the 1700’s. A minority are nearly, yes. But most are a three-way mixture of Acadian, French and Québécois. And that’s because starting in the late 18th and mostly in the 19th century, there was heavy mixing and intermarriage between Acadians and French Creoles in south Louisiana, especially the Acadiana area. And this 3-way mixed group, some absorbed Spanish, German or British/Irish ancestry from other Louisiana folks of those ancestries. And because of that, today there are more non-Acadian surnames among Cajuns than Acadian surnames. I can name dozens of them.

So you see, there really is no such thing as Cajun vs. Creole. It’s an imaginary thing that many folks today are trying to make a real thing.

Same like many people calling the food, food style and culture of the Acadiana area of Louisiana as Cajun. Well the real truth is that the entire south Louisiana cuisine and culture from one end of south Louisiana to the other, is traditionally called Creole, just like south Louisiana’s local people of any race. And we all put in to create it. Just because Cajuns adopted a new identity in the early to mid 20th century, it didn’t magically make the cuisine and culture to stop being Creole. Cajuns cook and eat Creole cuisine, celebrate Creole culture just like everyone else in south Louisiana because we all contributed to creating it. The only major differences in the culture is regional as in west of the Atchafalaya vs east of the Atchafalaya and even Acadiana vs greater New Orleans. But that’s about it. It’s all one big culture and cuisine just with regional differences and styles.

As for ancestry per parish, it’s really a mixed bag. Some have more French than others, some have more Spanish than others, some have more German than others etc. But you wouldn’t know which at first due to all the mixed ancestry people claiming to be Cajuns as if they were the same exact people as the Acadian settlers. Lots of bending the truth going on, on all fronts…culture, cuisine, identity etc. Not only that, there are other peoples in south Louisiana besides Cajuns too.

[Boudin]

Great explanation, but can you define "colonial Louisiana"? If one's ancestors immigrated to Louisiana after what year are they not considered Creole?

[Isleño]

Great explanation, but can you define "colonial Louisiana"? If one's ancestors immigrated to Louisiana after what year are they not considered Creole?

1803 is the cutoff. The U.S. purchased Louisiana in 1803. The common Creole groups in Louisiana are the French Creoles, Spanish Creoles (to which I belong, I’m a Louisiana isleño), German Creoles, Acadian Creoles (Cajuns), Creoles of Color (Euro/Afro mixed race), métis Creoles (Euro/Amerind mixed race), African Creoles (black race) and Filipino-Creoles. All of these groups were present in colonial Louisiana and the cultural influences of all of these people can be seen as the co-creators of the culture and food of south Louisiana.

In colonial Louisiana, Creole just meant a local person born in Louisiana of any race, basically everyone from colonial Louisiana. But after US statehood, the incoming American settlers didn’t use the term Creole and didn’t abide by it. So the term became associated with descendants of the colonial Louisiana population.

So we are all Louisiana Creoles here in south Louisiana. We need to get back to that, but no offense, the Cajunization of all things Louisiana by the tourism industry and by Cajuns is making that hard to do.