What is the difference between a creole and cajun person?

[Mwahfromtheheart]

I'd have to go back 8 generations, but I'm descended from LeBlanc's as well. Most of my Cajun ancestors came from the Poitou area. The creole lineage I have comes mostly from Paris, some from Germany. Once we came to the new world, I'm sure we all became family after a few generations. From what I understand, we reproduced like bacteria lol.

[Dylanragrn]

Originally Posted by Jolseen

im very interested about Louisiana culture/history, but what is the difference between the people is cajun people just french and creole is black, a french someone tell me and the zydeco music is interesting.

I am from the deep south. Terrebonne Parish to be exact. I've grown up down the bayou and so have all of my family of Marceaux's & Arceneaux's. We are Cajun. My maw maw and paw paw argued in Cajun French to keep from letting us hear the bad stuff. I speak broken french. Just about everyone I know has grown up with the Rougarou. We call a racoon a sha-wee (spelled phonetically). We have zo-daes for ears. Our kids make Doe-doe (sleep) and most are tet-der's (hard heads). They vee-an-wa (haul your ass) when we call. We cook with a roux, onions, celery, and bell peppers for just about every meal. Our talk is flat! Our heart is big!!! We always pass a good time sha'. Some of our roads end at the Gulf of Mexico. I'm proud to call myself a Cajun, but better than that, I'm proud to be a coonass.
I'm Louisiana Bred
I'm Louisiana Born
I'm Louisiana Raised
I'm from the Boot Sha'

[SangVieux]

Creole applies to visibly mixed people, usually in New Orleans and the environs. It used to refer to whites, but as English speaking degenerates moved in immediately preceding and after the Louisiana Purchase, the French speaking whites found their beloved city suddenly unsavory. This migration was amplified after the Civil War, when the carpetbaggers and scalawags came again in great numbers to dispossess the true citizens. The French whites were usually in a position to move, so the current iteration of Creole in New Orleans is a reflection of this. The sad part of the city today is that many aspects are partly as a result of their founding of the City and continued presence until a point. That part of New Orleans is used by the current resident population of the city, but the Frenchies are long gone. Most went to the more durably French areas of Bayou Lafourche, Bayou Terrebonne, and all parts of the Cajun prairie in South West and South Central Louisiana.


If you meet a person of French ancestry in Louisiana, they will fall into one of many camps:
1. French: will lay no claim to the idea of Cajun and lay claim to earlier ancestors than the Cajuns
2. Creole: Usually in the New Orleans area, and sadly like the Cajuns are slowly losing their language and heritage, even faster than the Cajuns. Almost without exception will appear part black. Their cuisine is noted for heavier use of tomatoes, note the difference between red (creole) and brown (Cajun) jambalaya.
3. Descended from exiles that were booted from the Acadia area of New France. they arrived over a short period of time on seven ships. Their numbers at the time was fewer than 4,000. This was almost equal to the population of New Orleans. They settled in the upper and lower Bayou Lafourche and the Cajun prairie. The varieties of Cajun today reflect this division, Bayou Cajun French and Prairie Cajun French. You must note at this point, that any claim New Orleans makes on Cajun culture is tenuous. There were never many of us there.