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

Cajun and Creole Folktales

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Cajun and Creole Folktales. The French Oral Tradition of South Louisiana. Dr. S. Kay Gandy Western Kentucky University. Creole. Distinguish that which was native to colonies from that which was imported Distinguish descendants of Europeans born in colony from immigrants - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Page 1: Cajun and Creole Folktales

Cajun and Creole FolktalesThe French Oral Tradition of

South Louisiana

Dr. S. Kay GandyWestern Kentucky University

Page 2: Cajun and Creole Folktales

Creole

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

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Cajun

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

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Excluded Minority

1900s law banned speaking of Cajun French in schoolsNo written literature by Cajuns—oral storytelling tradition1968 Council for Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL)

Preserve and utilize French language and culture by offering subject in schools

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Results of CODOFIL

Elevation of ethnic consciousnessPopular to associate with Cajun or Creole cultures

ZydecoFoodTales

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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 traditionFits well with National Standards for Social Studies Teachers: Culture and Cultural Diversity; People, Places, and Environments; and Individual Development and Identity

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Categories of TalesBased on vestiges (trace of something gone)

Animal tales—follies of animalsMagic tales—old world romance

Based on popular traditionJokesTall tales

Based on historical experienceLegendsHistorical tales

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Animal TalesAnimals speak, cry, laugh, and reason like humans

Cleverness (rabbit, fox, turtle)Ignorance (wolf, bear, hyena)Malice (spider, monkey)

Based on French and African traditionsFrequently framed by comments and judgments

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Animal Tales

Book jackets from amazon.com

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Magic Tales

Typically long, oral narrativesComplex plots, amazing skill, quest for treasure, and heroes/heroines who succeed in the endFormal vocabulary

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Jokes

Most popular oral genreFunny, but seriousDefine a culture from the insideOften told in English

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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)

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Cajuns as IlliteratesCajun 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).

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Tall TalesCommon in prairies to the westBased on familiar activitiesHighly public and often told to strangers (test gullibility)

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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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Loup Garou

Book jackets from amazon.com

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Legendary Tales

Based on belief, often told as trueExplore boundaries between everyday and supernaturalBuried treasure or mysterious events

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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.

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Historical Tales

Embellished truthExaggerated attributes of heroOccurrence of events in groups of threeEntertainment as important as transmission of facts

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Little Pierre

Book jackets from amazon.com

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For the Classroom

Sketch migration path of Cajuns from Acadia to Louisiana and follow the settlement patternsHow 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

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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

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Conclusion

Direct relationship between culture and folktalesCreate cultural awareness and understandingReflect everyday life of a peopleBinds the listener and the storyteller

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Resources and MaterialsAncelet, 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.