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My understanding of the original usage of the term "Creole" includes cajuns:
Creoles: The natives of Louisiana irrespective of race/color/ethnicity who are not of American descent.
This includes members of the various different races/ethnicities of colonial Louisiana:
French Creoles: White persons of french ancestry
Spanish Creoles: White persons of Spanish ancestry (i.e Isleños)
Cajuns: White persons who are descendants of the exiles from Acadia(French Canada)
Creoles of color: Mixed race persons, who were historically free.
Black creoles: The native creole-speaking blacks of slave descent.
My great granma and dem made beaucoup shrimps and crabs just fine washin dem in da sink. Der gumbo was better dan anybodies and dey aint hat no Walmart.
The push to start English was in the early 1900s. It hadn't hit Lafourche Parish (or at least near Lockport) in the 1930s. At the turn of the century, french speaking children were mistreated in American public schools and for the longest time being cajun or coonass was a slur or socially looked down on by a lot of people, even creoles.
I think it's kinda messed up how the Acadians always seem to be the first ones to get punished for their culture on this land in some way ... We were exiled to specific lands before the Native Americans were and were punished for our language just like those who prefer to speak Spanish are being frowned upon for that choice...
It started earlier than that. It started after the end of the US Civil War with the formation of the Union backed state government and the formation of the new state constitution which outlawed the French language.
I wish someone would do a movie or documentary on the history of the Acadians from France, Nova Scotia, New Orleans, Acadiana, to today. It's sad that most people in the country have no idea what our ancestors went through, even sadder that many in this state don't know this story.
If you have knowledge about this subject please respond....I am of Creole decent but, I notice here in Lafayette and I'm sure other places in S Louisiana Cajuns dominate as far as name sake. Yea I understand there are more Cajuns in the area but, I wish Creole people got more recognition for our part in molding the culture. We share alot of the same things, ideas, traditions and even our French last names . But not everything down here came as a result of the Cajun culture. Alot of food, spices, and recipes come from Creole people. I'm not trying to start a fight between our people, I just wish we had a little bit more recognition
If I remember correctly from reading Louisiana history, which has been a while back, cajuns (short for acadians) came to Louisiana from Nova Scotia, after coming from France. Creoles are a mix...either of cultures or races, or both. I have in my mind that creoles are, at least in part, people who came from Haiti. Creole also refers to a type of food, which came from the creoles and/or Haiti. The creoles may have married cajuns, or Spanish people, or other races or cultures. They are, I suppose, less defined that way.
Cajuns and creoles are different. That's not to say that one is better than the other. There's no fight there between the two cultures. I would think there are more cajuns in La. than creoles, since they were instrumental in settling the area centuries ago (along with the Spanish, from Spain). The law in Louisiana is based on the French law, the Napoleonic Code, different from all the other states.
Creoles came later, I believe. I have in my mind that creoles are mainly in the most southern part of Louisiana, like New Orleans. Whereas the cajun area of Louisiana is the southwest section. People have moved around, of course, but the heart of those cultures is still in those areas.
My ancestry can be traced back to one Frenchman who emigrated from France to Nova Scotia in the 1700s. From what I know, cajuns in my family married other cajuns. I know of only one non-cajun in my ancestry, and she was Scot-Irish. No creoles. Not that there's anything wrong with creoles. Probably didn't know any. Louisiana was sparsely populated, and people tended to marry other locals, even if they were cousins.
Creoles spoke French, I suppose, because France had occupied Haiti at one time. But a creole is not necessarily French. Cajuns are descended from Frenchmen.
I'm not sure of the differences in the food, since I've never read a food history of the two cultures. But most people, when moving to new areas, take what they know and love, and adapt it to use with local foods and take from other food dishes they run across.
My understanding of the original usage of the term "Creole" includes cajuns:
Creoles: The natives of Louisiana irrespective of race/color/ethnicity who are not of American descent.
This includes members of the various different races/ethnicities of colonial Louisiana:
French Creoles: White persons of french ancestry
Spanish Creoles: White persons of Spanish ancestry (i.e Isleños)
Cajuns: White persons who are descendants of the exiles from Acadia(French Canada)
Creoles of color: Mixed race persons, who were historically free.
Black creoles: The native creole-speaking blacks of slave descent.
No, I think "creole" is a person whose ancestors came from Haiti. France had occupied Haiti at one time, so Haitians spoke French. But the creoles were not necessarily French, except for some mixing that no doubt occurred, as usual. Whereas cajuns are most definitely of French descent. Not that one is better than the other, though.
"Cajun" is a person whose ancestor emigrated to Nova Scotia from France, and then came down to Louisiana. I don't think they are called cajun if they stayed up in Acadia in Nova Scotia, but I might be wrong about that. Maybe they are called Acadians up there.
The French immigrants who stayed in Nova Scotia and moved to Maine and surrounding areas are of French ancestry and have the names we're all familiar with: Breaux, Cormier, Thibodeaux, etc.
Everyone has probably fooled around since the early days, including the Spanish from Spain who were in La. in large numbers, so a lot of people are a mix of one or the other. Still, there are cajuns who are still just cajuns, descended from Frenchmen, who didn't marry the Spanish or creoles. I come from such a family, as far as I know. I have a name that was more easly traced than some others, and someone has done the geneology for the family name. My family lives, and has always lived, in the southwest area of Louisiana that is considered the heart of the cajun terrority, since that first man came down from Nova Scotia, as far as I know. I guess my family doesn't believe in traveling much. (I moved away. True to form, it was STILL considered crazy and a rebuff of the family to move out of the area, even in this day and age. I may move back to spend my golden years, though.)
As far as cajuns marrying cajuns, it may not have been intentional. But that area was rural, the people living out in the sticks, for the most part. Everyone there was cajun. You married who you knew. I married a cajun (not sure if his mother was all French or maybe part Spanish, too, but I think she was French). We were so french that my grandparents spoke French before they learned English. My father learned both English and French simultaneously. By teh time my generation came along, it wasn't considered cool to be and speak French, so none of us kids in the family speak French, except a few words and phrases. A shame. But we definitely grew up on cajun food. Whether the food is influenced by creole food, I don't know.
Seriously , at this point the whole thing has gotten so twisted , convoluted , and commercialized that it no longer matters . People are going to define it according to what fits their belief or business situation , etc.
... I would think there are more cajuns in La. than creoles, since they were instrumental in settling the area centuries ago (along with the Spanish, from Spain). ...
In regard to settling the area, men, women, and children forcibly brought to the area from Mali, Senegal, what is now the Congo, and the Caribbean - they were quite instrumental in settling the area. These individuals arrived before the Acadians by about 50 years.
It's not my intent to compare. It's my intent to remind ourselves that a lot of our ancestors have paid their dues for us to be Americans today. From Diary of Miss Jane Pittman, by Louisiana author (of New Roads) Ernest J. Gaines, spoken by Ned, who used to be enslaved, to other young black men:
...your people plowed this earth, your people chopped down the trees, your people built the roads and built the levees. These same people is now buried in this earth, and their bones’s fertilizing this earth.”
“…. I’m much American as any man; …. America is for red, white, and black men. The red man roamed all over this land long before we got here. The black man cultivated this land from ocean to ocean with his back. The white man brought tools and guns. America is for all of us,” he said, “and all of America is for all of us.”
There are a lot of folks of color who self-identify in South Louisiana as Creole. There's pride of heritage and contribution in that identification. It has a socio-historical meaning for those who call themselves Creole.
It's not uncommon for me to hear this self-identification minimized, discounted by others. Me, I think it's respectful to be called what I want to be called. Not for others to judge if I fit their definition of same.
In regard to settling the area, men, women, and children forcibly brought to the area from Mali, Senegal, what is now the Congo, and the Caribbean - they were quite instrumental in settling the area. These individuals arrived before the Acadians by about 50 years.
It's not my intent to compare. It's my intent to remind ourselves that a lot of our ancestors have paid their dues for us to be Americans today. From Diary of Miss Jane Pittman, by Louisiana author (of New Roads) Ernest J. Gaines, spoken by Ned, who used to be enslaved, to other young black men:
...your people plowed this earth, your people chopped down the trees, your people built the roads and built the levees. These same people is now buried in this earth, and their bones’s fertilizing this earth.”
“…. I’m much American as any man; …. America is for red, white, and black men. The red man roamed all over this land long before we got here. The black man cultivated this land from ocean to ocean with his back. The white man brought tools and guns. America is for all of us,” he said, “and all of America is for all of us.”
There are a lot of folks of color who self-identify in South Louisiana as Creole. There's pride of heritage and contribution in that identification. It has a socio-historical meaning for those who call themselves Creole.
It's not uncommon for me to hear this self-identification minimized, discounted by others. Me, I think it's respectful to be called what I want to be called. Not for others to judge if I fit their definition of same.
Well, I was trying to distinguish creoles from cajuns, which is what the OP is about.
Sure, a lot of other people came to Louisiana during the years. But in the beginning, it was the Spanish who organized Louisiana into the state it became. City services and nice buildings and such. The acadians were also instrumental in creating the state we now know. Evidence of this is the Louisiana law, different from all other states in the union, based on the law of France, the Napoleonic Code.
It is after these very early days that others came in numbers to what was by then an organized state with a government and services. What I was speaking of earlier was the settling of the area. It was mainly french people and the Spanish from Spain.
All groups who came to the state contributed to it, of course. But I was speaking of the distinction between cajuns and creoles. Cajuns are a defined group of people descending from the French who settled the area, and who came from the Nova Scotia area. They are French. Creoles are a less defined group, but it's my understanding they mainly came from Haiti. They can be of any sort of ancestry.
And let's not forget the Native Americans, who were there before anyone else. But that's not what the OP was about.
No, I think "creole" is a person whose ancestors came from Haiti. France had occupied Haiti at one time, so Haitians spoke French.
Definitely not. The exiles that came to Louisiana from Haiti added to the Louisiana creole population, but they were certainly not the only creoles. "Creole" identity in Louisiana predates them coming to Louisiana.
Seriously , at this point the whole thing has gotten so twisted , convoluted , and commercialized that it no longer matters . People are going to define it according to what fits their belief or business situation , etc.
The meaning might be convoluted and subjective today, but I think historically there is a right answer.
The way the term was originally used includes "cajuns"(the exiles from acadia). "Louisiana creole" essentially means all the people and the culture native to Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase and their descendants. That meaning is well documented.
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