53 (D-9) Breaux Bridge, Henderson / bayous again / Quiz 6

On our way to Baton Rouge we first stop to visit the towns of Breaux Bridge and Henderson.

Breaux Bridge
1. "The Crawfish Capital of the World"
2.  The city of 8,139 (2014) is 49% White and 47% Black or African American.
3.  The city gets its name from the first footbridge crossing the Bayou Teche, built by Firmin Breaux, an Acadian pioneer, in 1799.
4.  Hunter Hayes, the 4-year-old boy who sings Jambalaya, (Blog, Day 49  D-13) is from Breaux Bridge.  Today that 4-year-old is 23 years old!
5. My great-aunt Gerty (Marie Gertrude Thomas), born (Sept. 21,1915), was a school teacher in Breaux Bridge. (We share the same birthday...the same day, not the same year!)

Henderson
Henderson, a great place for freshwater fishing (bass, sac-au-lait or crappie, bream and other species.)  Local cuisine is some of the finest Cajun cooking anywhere.  A population of 1600, about 49% are English-speakers, 39% French-speakers, and 13% speak...Vietnamese!
We'll have the possibility for another airboat tour here, to see the beauty of the moss-filled cypress forest and the primitive habitat of wild alligators.

Cypress trees: they are bald cypress trees.  Why bald?  Because unlike other cypress trees, these are deciduous trees and loose their leaves...so, bald!

Jane
_________________________________________
Do you know the song Blue Bayou?
Linda Ronstadt https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_lzeHYNngE
Roy Orbison  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_ZSAe5uPME
-bass (fish) = le bar
-sac-au-lait, crappie = North American fish, le crapet
-bream = la brème

QUIZ 6
1.  What is Storyville? (Post 24...with a lot of Louis Armstrong music you can listen to also)
2.  Where is Sidney Bechet buried?
3.  What are the colors of Mardi Gras in Louisiana?
4.  What are Higgins boats?  (Post 28)
5.  Do you remember the amazing story of the sinking of the SS Robert E. Lee and the German submarine U-166 on July 30, 1942 in the Gulf of Mexico?  And Captain Claudius?  (Post 29) 

If by chance you can't come up with the answers without a little help, return to Posts 24 - 29.
by chance -->  http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/by%20chance
-come up with -->  http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/come%20up%20with

52 (D-10) Jean Lafitte Cultural Center / Jean Lafitte, the pirate / Quiz 5

The Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette tells stories of the origins, migration, settlement and contemporary culture of the Acadians (Cajuns) and other area groups.  Films, exhibits and events share a variety of local traditions including music, story-telling, dance and food and at the center you can explore the mysteries of the Atchafalaya Basin.  The Atchafalaya River is a 137-mile long (220km) distributary of the Mississippi River and Red River in south central Louisiana.  The name "Atchafalaya" comes from the Native American Choctaw for "long river", from hachcha, "river" and falaya, "long".
In fact, The Jean Lafitte Cultural Center is a multi-site.  In addition to the Acadian Cultural Center in Lafayette, there is also the Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery at the site of the Battle of New Orleans in 1812, and The Barataria Preserve with trails and canoe tours through forests, swamps and marsh.  A pity we don't have the time to visit all of them.

Why "Jean Lafitte" Cultural Center?  
Who was Jean Lafitte?
Now, a look at Louisiana's famous pirate!  Pirate?  Why name a Cultural Center after a pirate?  A special pirate: he helped Andrew Jackson defeat the British during the War of 1812!
Here we come back once again to France...he was perhaps born in Bordeaux, or St. Malo, or Brest, or Bayonne, or Pauillac, or the French colony of Saint Domingue!!  Much uncertainty.  But we do know that he was a smuggler and a pirate, first in New Orleans and then on the small island of Barataria in Barataria Bay with his brother, Pierre. 
Stop reading...it's time to listen to his story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58h8-vUsNU8
You can click on subtitles in the lower right hand corner, but remember that it is a computer creating the subtitles and sometimes the computer doesn't understand English very well!!
Or, if you prefer more (easy) reading, take a look here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uJ-AQ4MMs8
Yes, EASY, if you understand FRENCH, and SO INTERESTING!

Anonymous portrait Jean Lafitte, early 19th century  

Jane
______________________________________________

-distributary = a branch of a river that flows away from the main stream

-marsh = les marais

-smuggler = contrebandier

MINI-QUIZ 6

1.  What are the differences between Negro Spirituals and Gospel music?

2.  What is Congo Square in New Orleans?

3.  Where was Mahalia Jackson born?  Go back and listen to   her music again.  Post 21

4.  What were "Jim Crow laws"?

5.  Do you remember one of Louis Armstrong's nicknames?  You can go back and listen to some of his music at Post 23.

6.  Where is the Louisiana Museum of Art??  (Do you remember April Fools' Day?

You can refresh your memory by looking again at Posts 20 to 24.

51 (D-11) More music: zydeco / Quiz 4

Yes, MORE music.  We can't forget zydeco.

What is zydeco?  
Zydeco is a type of popular music that developed from the Cajun and Black populations of Louisiana bayou country, starting during the years 1955-1960.  It combines traditional Cajun dance melodies and rhythms and French lyrics along with blues and rock influences.  The instruments used are the accordion, the fiddle and the rubboard. It was the King of Zydeco Clifton Chenier who redesigned the washboard by making it an instrument that could easily hang from the shoulders (vest frottoir).

Why is this music called "zydeco"?  One possible origin is from the French expression "Les haricots ne sont pas salés", meaning "the snap beans aren't salty" or idiomatically "I have no spicy news for you."  Or possibly it means "I'm so poor that I can't afford any salty meat for the beans." Or others suggest that the word comes from a combination of Native American (Atakapa tribe) and African slaves which was then transformed when the Spanish pronounced it!!! Or other researchers suggest that it may have African origins.

Listen to Clifton Chenier's "Jolie Blonde" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yteXz_J1Nlk
Then go back to the Cajun music version (Day 49 D-13, two days ago) to compare zydeco and Cajun music.

I like Queen Ida also.
Please listen to Hello Joséphine. It's in English and in French!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG7kJywfGgg
She does Jambalaya too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c0pH4iYLcA

One more:  again Clifton Chenier, to finish with more Jambalaya:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfuOet2mDRM

Musically yours, 
Jane

PS.  If you don't have time for all of this music now, do come back at another time to listen. 
Louisiana is music!
____________________________________
-snap beans = green beans, string beans or wax beans (yellow)
____________________________________
QUIZ 4
1.  What is the "holy trinity" in Cajun and Creole cuisine?
2.  What is "Gumbo"?
3.  Why is The Cabildo an important historical building in New Orleans?
4. What famous French impressionist painter, whose mother was Creole, came in 1872 to New Orleans; he painted A Cotton Office in New Orleans in 1873?
5.  If you like, go back and listen to the the accents of New Orleans in Post 19.  Do you understand them better after nearly 2 months "traveling" in Louisiana?

If not in your head, you can find the answers to these questions at Posts 15 - 19.

50 (D-12) Cajun humor / Quiz 3

So much information I give you every day.  Every day for two whole months! 
In English we say "All work and no play makes Jane a dull girl."
(In fact, it's "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." but in France we must have "parité" and in English we must be politically correct and not always use the masculine form.)

So, it's time for a break.  A bit of Cajun humor for you today. 
My students have heard these jokes in class already, but I'll share them with everyone.

First, a dialogue between Thibodeaux and Boudreaux (very typical Cajun names).

Thibodeaux:  Boudreaux, did you get the parrot I sent you for your birthday?
Boudreaux:  Yes, it was good!
Thibodeaux:  You ATE the bird??!!
Boudreaux:  Of course I ate it.
Thibodeaux:  That bird spoke FIVE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES!!
Boudreaux:  Then he should have said something!

________________________________________________

A few years ago, the School Board hired an American teacher who had just finished her studies at the university.  Her job was to teach first graders (CP) at a little school in the bayou.  The new teacher was having a difficult time because her first graders spoke very little English (and, of course, she didn't speak French).  She thought,  "If only I could teach them to count to ten in English, I will have accomplished something."  So, with that in mind, she began the lesson.  "Class," she said, "Say one."  The class responded "One."  "Very good class," she said.  "Now, say two."  And they all left.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND THIS JOKE?  
READ IT ALOUD (à haute voix).

Jane 
_______________________________________
-dull =  boring   ....No, never!!!
-get  = here "get" means "receive"
-a parrot = a bird that can "talk"
-he should have said =  il aurait it dû dire
-school board = commission scolaire
______________________________________
QUIZ 3
1. What can we observe when we compare the population of New Orleans in 2000 with its population in 2014?  Why?
2.  What is "Le Vieux Carré" of New Orleans called in English?
3.  Jackson Square in New Orleans --> Who was Andrew Jackson?
4. Do you remember who Marie Laveau was?
5.  What can you have to eat and drink at the Café du Monde in the Vieux Carré?

Need help refreshing your memory?  
Return to Posts 10 - 14.

49 (D-13) Cajun Music / Fais Do-do / Quiz 2

Fais do-do is a name for a Cajun dance party.  Go to sleep little ones so that Mama and Papa can dance all night!

Cajun music instruments:
The fiddle, the melodeon and a metal triangle

Some Cajun music for you: 

Joli Blon
Joli Blon, ma chere 'tit fille
Gardez donc quoi t'après faire
Joli Blon, tu croyais
Il avait juste toi dedans le pays.

Eh a ha!  Eh a ha!
Joli Blon ma 'tit fille criminelle
Jol blon, tu m'as laisse moi tout seul

______________________________________________

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

A later version:

Joli blonde, regardez donc quoi t'as fait,
Tu m'as quitté pour t'en aller.
Pour t'en aller avec un autre, oui, que moi
Quel espoir et quel avenir, mais, moi, je vais avoir?
Jolie blonde, tu m'as laisse, moi tout seul,
Pour t'en aller chez ta famille.
Si t'aurais pas écouté tous les conseils de les autres
Tu serais icitte avec moi aujourd'hui
Joli blonde, tu croyais il y avais just toi,
Il y a pas just toi dans le pays pour moi aimer.
Je peux trouver just une autre jolie blonde
Bon Dieu sait, mois j'ai un tas.


Another version:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjWZ9OyYdj4

______________________________________________

Jambalaya is a delicious Cajun dish.  But it's also a song I love.

Jambalaya
Goodbye Joe me gotta go, me oh my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh my oh
Son of a gun we'll have big fun on the bayou.

Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gumbo
'Cause tonight I'm gonna see ma cher amio
Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o
Son of a gun we'll have big fun on the bayou.

An old video, but it's fantastic.  The boy's name is Hunter Hayes.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57sfRo26fAc
You can find many other versions of this song on youtube.

__________________________________________________________

Other Cajun groups:
Breaux Brothers (Breaux Frères) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD4NB5mta-g
Pine Leaf Boys
Magnolia Sisters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRxJow0jOrI 
Bruce Daigrepont (L'Acadie à la Louisiane:  Return to Post 42 (D-20) on this blog)
Beausoleil
Mamou

Jane
___________________________________
QUIZ 2
1.  Can you remember one nickname for Louisiana and one nickname for New Orleans?
2.  Where is the source of the Mississippi River?
3.  In what year did René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle claim the Louisiana territory for France and name it in honor of The Sun King, Louis XIV?
4. What name did the British give to Baton Rouge when the territory was turned over to them from Spain in 1763?  
(This is a difficult question. You may have to go back to Post 8 D-54.)
5. Three Flags Day, March 9 and 10, 1804:  What three countries each ruled over the Louisiana Territory, one after the other, during these 24 hours?

Need help?  Go back to Posts 5 to 9.

48 (D-14) Cajuns, in fact many origins / old friends / More nostalgia / Quiz !

Day 48 of this blog...just two weeks before we leave!

Still more information:
Several thousand of the exiled Acadians came to live in Louisiana.
They kept much of their culture, and also absorbed some of the other cultural influences.  The German, French, Spanish, English, African American, Native American and other cultures added to the Acadian culture to produce Cajun culture.  Today's Cajuns may have roots that go back to the Acadians, but you will probably find all these other cultures merged with the Acadians.  And that is the definition of "Cajun" today.

Again more nostalgia: My 2nd grade class photo gives me that same impression, though I was living in New Orleans, not in Acadiana.
Look at the names of my classmates from the past.  Can you guess their origins? 
This time it's easier to find Jane.  
And Diane Romig.  We were friends growing up together in the same neighborhood.  Today she lives in Church Point, 35 km northwest of Lafayette...and I'm going to see her in a few weeks time...and we haven't seen each other since we were about 15, the last time I was in New Orleans!  And that was a very long time ago!
http://www.churchpoint-la.com/index.html  http://www.churchpoint-la.com/history.html
Jane

 Jane 1st grade

Jane 2nd grade..in case you didn't find me in the class picture

Diane 1st grade

Diane and Jane, young teenagers 

Information  /  nostalgia  /  and it's time for your first 
MINI-QUIZ:
1.  What are the 3 states that border Louisiana?
2.  Louisiana can be divided into 5 regions.  Beginning in the north with North Louisiana, what are the names of the 4 other regions?
3.  Do you remember what the population of Louisiana is?
4.  What can you see on the flag of Louisiana?

Should you have forgotten any of this information, go back to the beginning of this blog to find the answers. 

47 (D-15) Cajun French / Louisiana French

Can you speak French?  Can you understand French?
Can you speak/understand Louisiana French?


Let's start with a listening exercise.  Good luck!

An interview :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPs_KSdRcnY  with transcription  9 minutes...take a quick look.

Another:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYTqI7rF2ys  8 minutes ...very interesting also.

More difficult:  Cajun French with ENGLISH subtitles!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvPqifZqjM4 

________________________________________________________

After that listening exercise, take a look at a little grammar.

______________________________________________________________

And vocabulary: 
-assayer = to try
-asteur = now
-autrement que = unless
-une barbue  = a catfish
-un brème = eggplant (British = aubergine)
-une bête à Bon Dieu = a ladybug (British= ladybird)
-un cocodri (cocodril, cocodrie) = alligator
-cogner = knock (Quelqu'un est après cogner à la porte.  Someone is knocking at the door.)
-dîner = to have lunch, to have a noon meal
-la drigaille = rubbish, trash (or trashy people)
-échapper = to drop  Il a échappé sa boisson par terre.
-étouffée = a style of cooking in which the food is smothered by being cooked while covered.
-Ca fait chaud. = The weather is hot.  
-faraud = well-dressed
-une fromi = an ant
-prendre la galerie = to go out on the porch
-une grègue = a coffeepot
-hormis que = unless
-icitte = here
-itou = also, too (Moi itou, je veux partir.)
-joliment = very (Ca va joliment bien aujourd'hui.)
-lagniappe =  something extra given at no cost, from Spanish "la napa" meaning "something extra"
-boutique de linge = a clothing store
-une machine à herbes = a lawnmower
-la mangeaille = food
-mouiller = to rain
-nous autres = us (Venez avec nous-autres.)
-propter = to clean
-qualité = kind  (Quelle qualité de crème tu veux?)
-quoi faire = why
-radoter = to talk incessantly
-le souper = the evening meal
-du tactac = popcorn
-le voisinage = neighborhood
-zirable = disgusting
-une z'oie = a goose

For the curious, here you have a French-English glossary and you can listen to the pronunciation of some of the words.  Click on the underlined words for pronunciation.  From LSU (Louisiana State University) Department of French Languages: http://uiswcmsweb.prod.lsu.edu/hss/french/Undergraduate%20Program/Cajun%20French/item49567.html
                   ___________________________________________________________


In 1915 it became compulsory (obligatoire) for the Cajuns to speak English. (The Americanization Movement)  Children were punished in school for using French; they were called names like "swamp rat" and "bougalie", forced to write lines ("I will not speak French in school"), made to kneel on kernels of corn and slapped with rulers.

In 1968, a Lafayette native James Domengeaux, a US Congressman and State Representative, created the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), whose mission was to promote and develop the use of the French language in Louisiana.  His objective was to make all Louisianans bilingual in International French and English. He worked with political leaders in Canada and France, even former French President Georges Pompidou.  He found Louisiana French too limiting so he imported Francophone teachers from Europe, Canada and the Caribbean to teach normative French in the schools.  He lost support because many Louisianans wanted Louisiana French, not "Parisian French"!

Thank you Jacques for giving me this article from Le Figaro March 20, 2015. To read it on the internet, a subscription to the newspaper is necessary.  Here is just the beginning of the article:  (http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2015/03/20/01003-20150320ARTFIG00183-la-miraculeuse-survie-des-francophones-de-louisiane.php

Jane
A long blog entry today!  It's still vacation...you have a lot of free time!!!!????
And if you are interested in statistics (just take a quick look):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Louisiana_parishes_by_French-speaking_population

46 (D-16) Jane's St. Martinville

St. Martinville is my mother's hometown.  Her maiden name was Thomas.   Many of my ancestors come from St. Martinville.  It will be a very special place for me to visit and to share with the UIAD students I am taking to Louisiana.

Some of the names of these ancestors are: Bienvenu, Fontenette, Tertrou, Beauvais, Guidry, Peignon, Latille de Thimecourt. Philippe Bienvenu and Françoise Claire Allari were married in Ploemeur in Brittany in France in 1699!  (What do you know about St. Martinville and Ploemeur if you read yesterday's post?)

There was also Marguerite Decuir who died in St. Martinville in 1815.  In 1766 in Point Coupée, Louisiana, she married François Jacques Ozenne from New Orleans, who died in 1819 in St. Martinville.  Their daughter Suzanne Ozenne married Jean Baptiste Beauvais and one of the daughters of this couple is Laurent Tertrou's wife!!!!  Laurent Tertrou died in St. Martinville on October 14, 1847 and he is buried in St. Martin de Tours Church cemetery.  

STOP, this is too complicated!!
  
Laurent Tertrou, my great-great-great-grandfather originated from Nantes and his father, Michel Charles Tertrou, born in 1763, was from Chaudron in Maine-et-Loire. 

I will stop here, I promise!

Thanks go to my father who did all this genealogy research in the 1970s and even published a book in 1976, which I will always cherish.  Thank you so much, Dad.

Jane

An old postcard of St. Martinville

An ancestor's death certificate; he is buried in the Church Cemetery of St. Martinville.

After the time when St. Martinville was called "Petit Paris" came The Civil War (1861-65). Adolphe Bienvenu and Emma Fontinot's marriage certificate.  This Bienvenu died on March 13, 1869...the last years of his life saw St. Martinville in decline (The Terrible Years).

My great-grandfather's brother is also buried in the cemetery of St. Martin de Tours Church.

Dad doing his genealogy research at St. Martin Cemetery in St. Martinville in the 1970s.

45 (D-17) St Martinville / Evangeline

From Lafayette to St. Martinville:  16 miles (26 km)

10 facts about St. Martinville:

1.  The city of St. Martinville is twinned with the village of Ploermel in Brittany.

2. It is situated on Bayou Teche and its terrain is a mixture of swamp and prairies.

3. With a population of 6100 (2014), its largest racial/ethnic groups are African American (61%) and White (34%).

4. Its economy is based on agriculture (crawfish and sugar cane).

5.  April 25, 1766 marked the arrival of the first Acadians.

6. It's called the birthplace of Cajun culture and traditions, in the heart of Cajun Country. It's a multicultural community with Acadians, Cajuns, Creoles (French coming from Guadeloupe, Martinique and Santo Domingo), French, Spaniards, Africans and African Americans.

7. It's nickname, Petit Paris, dates from the era when St. Martinville was known as a cultural mecca with good hotels and a French theater (1830).

8.  It's the third oldest town in Louisiana, and has many buildings and homes with beautiful architecture.

9.  The Evangeline Oak, made famous in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's* poem, Evangeline, An Acadian Tale, stands on the bank of the Bayou Teche.  The epic poem tells the story of Evangeline who spends much of her life wandering North America in search of her love, Gabriel. It's based on the true story of Emmeline Labiche and her love, Louis Arceneaux, who were separated when the British chased the Acadians from their homeland in 1755. 
(I shouldn't tell you this, but Evangeline dies of a broken heart at the end of the poem.)

10.  St Martin de Tours Church is one of the oldest churches in Louisiana and is known as the Mother Church of the Acadians because it was founded in 1766 when the Acadians arrived.


And we'll return to this church and this town, in a special way tomorrow.  I hope you are interested.

Jane
*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, American poet (1807-1882) 
__________________________________________
-twinned = jumelée
-swamp --> http://www.wordreference.com/enfr/swamp
-crawfish--> http://www.wordreference.com/definition/crawfish if you have forgotten
-oak = chêne
-tale = a story  (a fairy tale = un conte de fée)
-bank = http://context.reverso.net/traduction/anglais-francais/banks+of+the+mississippi

44 (D-18) Lafayette... and Lafayette!

LAFAYETTE, there's a name the French people know!  And what a coincidence!  Look at Saturday's post on this blog: Acadian Village / Lafayette.  That Saturday, April 19, 2015 was the day when the replica of the Hermione, the ship which took Lafayette (in 1780, at age 23!) back to America 235 years ago, set sail from Ile d'Aix for a six-week journey to the United States. 
http://www.lavoixdunord.fr/france-monde/la-fregate-l-hermione-appareille-pour-l-amerique-235-ia0b0n2779418
Or in English if you prefer: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-19/replica-of-french-general27s-historic-us-independence-ship-sai/6403618

And Lafayette is also the name of the 4th-largest city in Louisiana, with a population of 124,276 in 2013.  The city was founded in 1821 by Jean Mouton, a French-speaking man of Acadian descent and in 1884 its name was changed from Vermilionville to Lafayette* for General Lafayette who fought with and greatly helped the American Army during the 
American Revolutionary War (1775-1783).

Lafayette is considered the center of Acadiana. (See the map on Day 2 (D-60)...when this blog began!

The city's economy was primarily based on agriculture until the 1940s, when the petroleum and natural gas industries became dominant.

Today more than 1000 students participate in the Lafayette area's French immersion learning option, in which students begin at an early age --  either preschool or kindergarten -- learning all their subjects in the foreign language, except for English.

Jane
____________________________________________
*Many other cities in the United States, as well as counties, streets and squares - including Lafayette Square opposite the White House - are also named after Lafayette.
Did you know that there was also the Lafayette dollar minted (frappé) in 1899 as part of the United States participation in The Paris World's Fair of 1900?
And did you know that Lafayette named his only child, born in 1779, George Washington de Lafayette?

Washington and Lafayette

Le Serment de La Fayette à la Fête de la Fédération, 14 juillet 1790 

The painting is in the Musée Carnavalet in Paris

The boy in the painting is Lafayette's son, George Washington.

_______________________________________________________________________

a county = United States administrative division which, as you remember, is called a parish in Louisiana.
  

43 (D-19) Le Grand Dérangement, Part 2 / Cajun Dancing

The Great Upheaval = Le Grand Dérangement

First, a brief history lesson:
Acadia was founded in the 17th century in Nova Scotia by the French.  In 1713, it became British.  Acadians remained neutral during persistent conflicts between the French and the British. But the British were afraid that the Acadians would side with France so in 1755 their homes were burned, the families were separated and deported.  In all, of the 14,100 Acadians in the region, approximately 11,500 were deported.  Most were sent to the British colonies along the East Coast of North America, others were sent to Britain and France (Belle-Ile-en-Mer). 

Double click to see the map better.

The Acadians arrived in Louisiana starting in 1764 until 1768, coming from the British colonies on the east coast or from Halifax via St. Domingue.  From 1768 to 1785 no new Acadian settlers arrived in Louisiana.  

Henri Peyroux, de la Coudreniere (1743-18??) was a French politician and author who organized sending the exiled Acadians from France to Louisiana.  Louisiana was ruled by the Spanish at that time and Peyroux made a deal with the Spanish.  About 1600 Acadian exiles sailed for Louisiana between May and October 1785.

Of the 11,500 deported, some historians estimate that nearly fifty percent died as a direct consequence of the expulsion. 

Numbers:  Acadian arrivals in Louisiana -->  20 from New York in 1764, about 311 from Halifax in 1764-65; about 689 from Maryland and Pennsylvania in 1766-70; about 1600 from France in 1785; and 19 from St. Pierre in 1788.  More came in over the years, but documentation on their arrival is still being sought.   http://www.acadian-cajun.com/exla.htm

Secondly, going from past to present:
Yesterday you discovered the story of Le Grand Dérangement through a video and song.

Today, this Grand Dérangement has become La Joie de Vivre.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbrDu88lEvI


Cajun Dancing...Would you like to learn?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgUUUgmy6qA

Or you can go to Challes Les Eaux...http://nonc.jack.pagesperso-orange.fr/cajun.htm

Jane...who says: "Laissez le Bon Temps Rouler!"
____________
to side with = se mettre du côté de
sought  (seek- sought- sought) = chercher

42 (D-20) Le Grand Dérangement

It's vacation time.  Enjoy this special way to learn about Le Grand Dérangement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQTfMjWa2p0
More tomorrow.

Jane 

41 (D-21) Acadian Village / Lafayette

In the afternoon on this sixth day, we go to Lafayette where we'll first visit the private cultural park, Acadian Village, where a typical 1800s Cajun village was recreated during the 1970s.  Seven of the eleven buildings are authentic homes of the 19th century donated by the families whose ancestors once occupied them.  

Just a glimpse:

Come back tomorrow to learn more about Acadia, Le Grand Dérangement, Les Acadiens-->The Cajuns.

And do enjoy your Spring holidays!

Jane
-glimpse = un aperçu