Blog 6

Growing up military, and namely outside of Louisiana, I would always get the same question from my teachers after roll call.( Participle, shows state of action) As their eyes skimmed the list, absentmindedly calling names to a chorus of “here,” I would see them stop and stare at one near the bottom of the roster. As their eyes flitted between confusion and curiosity, I knew it was my name they had stopped on. “Taylor—um—Taylor T?” I would laugh and correct them, and inevitably, this question would follow: What an interesting last name! Where did it come from? I would say its Cajun, to which I would always get the answer “You mean. . .  Like the food?”

There are very few out there who know that Cajun is a culture, a language, and a way of life. This springs from the fact that the Cajun culture is only found in south Louisiana, a very small area. But Cajun culture is as diverse as any, and rich in traditions. Unfortunately, the Cajun language was all but obliterated in as little as a single generation.

The Cajun people originated in France. In the 1700’s, a small group, no more than 15,000, left France for Canada. Once there they lived in peace with the local Indian tribes, sharing farming methods and land, until in 1754 the British army invaded. One of the Majors of the British army, Major Charles Lawrence, demanded the French settlers—now called Acadians—to convert from Catholicism to the protestant church. (Two Appositives, shows more information on the French settlers)

When they refused, chaos followed. Many where shipped off to kingdom come, landing either in England or along the new colonies of America. Some tried going back to France, where they where, and still are, treated as outcasts. This wandering continued for the Acadian people, until they came to the Spanish Colony of Louisiana. While the Spaniards thought of the Acadians as illiterate and uneducated, they offered them a home, and over the next decade or so, about 3,000 Acadians settled in the bayous and swamplands of Louisiana.

In the 1920’s, to be labeled “Cajun” was synonymous with “hillbilly” or “redneck” or “trailer trash.” Hardly anyone was proud of their Cajun heritage; many refused to speak Cajun, a dialect of French, and refused to teach their children it. Because of this, there rose a generation of people who could understand Cajun French, but not necessarily speak it.