Cajun and Creole Folktales

1. Cajun and Creole Folktales The French Oral Tradition of South Louisiana Dr. S. Kay Gandy Western Kentucky University

2. Creole • Distinguish that which was native to colonies from that which was imported • Distinguish descendants of Europeans born in colony from immigrants • Distinguish French-speaking black people from English-speaking African Americans • French Creole referred to white, upper class, non-Cajuns

3. Cajun • Americanized for of term “Cadien” (pronounced Ca’jin) • Referred to Acadians deported from Nova Scotia • Cultural and linguistic blend with Creoles, Spaniards, Germans, Scotch and Irish

5. Excluded Minority • 1900s law banned speaking of Cajun French in schools • No written literature by Cajuns—oral storytelling tradition • 1968 Council for Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) • Preserve and utilize French language and culture by offering subject in schools

6. Results of CODOFIL • Elevation of ethnic consciousness • Popular to associate with Cajun or Creole cultures • Zydeco • Food • Tales

7. Folktales • Portray the kinship, language, religion, customs and heritage of culture • Always been symbolic of the culture of a people, typically becoming part of the oral tradition • Fits well with National Standards for Social Studies Teachers: Culture and Cultural Diversity; People, Places, and Environments; and Individual Development and Identity

8. Categories of Tales • Based on vestiges (trace of something gone) • Animal tales—follies of animals • Magic tales—old world romance • Based on popular tradition • Jokes • Tall tales • Based on historical experience • Legends • Historical tales

9. Animal Tales • Animals speak, cry, laugh, and reason like humans • Cleverness (rabbit, fox, turtle) • Ignorance (wolf, bear, hyena) • Malice (spider, monkey) • Based on French and African traditions • Frequently framed by comments and judgments

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11. Magic Tales • Typically long, oral narratives • Complex plots, amazing skill, quest for treasure, and heroes/heroines who succeed in the end • Formal vocabulary

12. Marie Jolie

13. Jokes • Most popular oral genre • Funny, but serious • Define a culture from the inside • Often told in English

14. Boudreaux and Thibodeaux had bought their own airline. On their first flight from Lafayette to Jamaica, they ran into motor trouble. Thibodeaux came on the speaker and said, "We are going to have to make an emergency crash landing. We are over the ocean so all of you that can swim please move to the left side of the plane, and all of you that can't swim, please move to the right side. As soon as the plane hits the water I want all of the people on the left to swim for shore. All of you on the right, well, Captain Boudreaux and I would like to thank you for flying Cajun Airlines (from http://www.carencrohighschool.org/LA_Studies/Humor/boud&thib.htm)

15. Cajuns as Illiterates • Cajun boy who went to LSU and came home for Christmas. The proud father gathered 100 people to welcome the boy home and demanded that the boy share something he learned at “L.U.S.” The boy shared what he learned in algebra… • "Look, boy, I done spen' my las' money wi'at I got on you fo' you to got some educate, an' here you come tole me you can't said somet'in' in algebra. You better said somet'in', or you won't be able to go back to school no time. I'm gonna beat yo' head from you." De son say, "Hokay, pa-pa. Pi R Square." His pa-pa look at him an' say, "Now if dat ain't a damn fool. Averybody know pie are roun'--cornbread are square" (Wilson & Jacobs, 1974, 102).

17. Tall Tales • Common in prairies to the west • Based on familiar activities • Highly public and often told to strangers (test gullibility)

18. The Bent Shotgun • There's a man who had gone duck hunting. And it was a round pond and the ducks had lighted all around next to the bank. He wanted to kill all the ducks. He didn't know what to do. So he bent the barrel of his shotgun according to the lines of the pond, and the pellets went all around and killed the ducks (Ancelet, 1994, 124).

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20. Legendary Tales • Based on belief, often told as true • Explore boundaries between everyday and supernatural • Buried treasure or mysterious events

21. The Man Who Asked for Rain • The story teller uses the story to present a moral against pride and greed. The fact that this man seeks not only to succeed himself, but to see his neighbors fail recalls the line often attributed to Attila the Hun: “It is not enough that I win; others must lose.” • Ancelet, B.J. (1994). Cajun and Creole folktales, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, p. 151.

22. Historical Tales • Embellished truth • Exaggerated attributes of hero • Occurrence of events in groups of three • Entertainment as important as transmission of facts

23. Little Pierre Book jackets from amazon.com

24. For the Classroom • Sketch migration path of Cajuns from Acadia to Louisiana and follow the settlement patterns • How did the “neighbors” in surrounding areas influence the Cajun culture and how did the Cajun culture influence others? • Examine Tall Tales that have developed in other areas of the U.S., such as, Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan and compare to Cajun tales

25. For the Classroom • Taste Cajun cuisine and note the ingredients that came from other cultures (African vegetable” okra”, Choctaw spice “file powder”, French base of “roux”, German “Andouille”, Spanish “jambalaya”). • Examine influence of Creoles in New Orleans through architect

26. Conclusion • Direct relationship between culture and folktales • Create cultural awareness and understanding • Reflect everyday life of a people • Binds the listener and the storyteller

27. Resources and Materials • Ancelet, B.J. (1994). Cajun and Creole folktales, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. • Reneaux, J.J. (1992). Cajun folktales, Little Rock: August House Publishers, Inc. • Reneaux, J.J. (1994). Haunted bayou and other Cajun ghost stories, Little Rock: August House Publishers, Inc. • Breaux, T.J. (1999). Cajun stories my granpa tole me, Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company. • Thomassie, T. (1995). Feliciana Feydra Le Roux, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. • Thomassie, T. (1998). Feliciana meets d’Loup Garou, Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. • Reneaux, J.J. (1995). Why alligator hates dog, Little Rock: August House LittleFolk. • Soper, C. (1997). Cajun folktales, Gretna: Pelican Publishing Company. • San Souci, R.D. (2003). Little Pierre: A Cajun story from Louisiana, Orlando: Harcourt, Inc.