#louisiana culture

[skrrtdotcom]

Btw. If you're not cajun, creole, or franco-louisianan, you don't get to tell us who we are. Period. This is like discourse 101 for all other minorities but we get the short end of the stick because some of us are white.

[milokissa707]

Don’t think or Talk about it

Is this vent? Is this an info post? I don’t really know. 

Hey cousins just out here to remind you. You have the right to be mad, at America(USA+Canada), at England, at France, at Spain, at the church, and others, and the goddamn traders who sell out our identity for a profit to make it in the European world. You have the right to feel all that generational pain, whatever that is to you and for you. Because I’m sorry if you think colonialism ended with the settlement of the Atakapas territory by the Acadians, it stop with the genocides and slavery, it stopped with the selling of the Louisiana territory, it stopped with a civil rights act or the end of Jim Crow, or when the laws were overturned about being able to speak our languages in schools and in public. Because if you think it stopped, I’m so sorry to tell you it hasn’t. 

It is painful to me, sad and painful, that so many people believe a lie sold to them about their own group, about their own people. The separation of the Cajun and Creole identity, to the people that say that Cajun are white(nothing else don’t look into it), and that Louisiana creoles are black or mixed(ignore the fact that thousands of white folk before the Jim Crow era had called themselves Louisiana Creole, including top brass government officials, even during the Civil War). No, you’re never supposed to talk about the fact that many Cajun families have some really bad internalized racism from being assimilated into whiteness (believing that this was the only way to make it, so if they gave up their traditions, and looked a certain way, they would be more palatable to the rest of the world), and to make sure that the rest of the family never does acknowledge the fact that somewhere along the line someone was mixed in the family, treated like a shameful secret never to be said, the ones who speak up are pushed to the side lines or worse actively shunned. Never acknowledged the black or indigenous folks who call themselves cajun, only to be met with racism by their fellow people. Never acknowledge that we live on stolen land of people in every day life we call friends, brothers and sisters, family, coworkers, lovers, or cousins, never to acknowledge how they were forcibly made to move to make way for someone else and how so many were never able to come back. Don’t ever talk about how other ethnic groups besides Germans, Italians, and Irish contributed to our culture. No, do not talk about the Arabs and other Africans that moved here, Eastern and Central Europeans that contributed to New Orleans (look up the people who designed that cathedral), the Jewish people that came here looking for safety but only to find hate here, the Filipinos who moved over from Spanish colonized Philippines, or how many Asian and Pacific Americans that came here after America’s constant wars in their land, and even never to acknowledge the existence of the Roma presence within our communities. Nope, it’s just that Cajun are white and creole are black or mixed, don’t think about it too much lol, it’s not that complicated.

Alongside this, don’t ever acknowledge the fact that the struggles we see in our people are seen across the world wide. Never acknowledge the fact that we have so much in common with so many other Latin American or Caribbean cultures. Never to acknowledge our community similar struggles, no instead of being part of this international community we must stay alone or play into European ideals. We are Americans, aren’t we? We don’t want to give them another reason to other us more or worst yet think we’re not like them. So we stay alone, not to acknowledge the struggles of the Caribbean and Latin America countries and cultures, never to acknowledge the struggle and similarities to other creole people across the world. Because why would we want to give the Americans another reason to think that we’re different from them.

Never acknowledge how the same people who mock us, who line the pockets of our politicians that do nothing for us, have polluted our environment, our Bayous, and our waterways that we have lived in for generations, that we use for water and food, our way of life for so long, for so many people. The same people who are doing a genocide in Palestine,or are using child slave labor in the Congo, who have denied climate change and have only made it worse, and so so much more that I can’t even begin to talk about the are the same people capitalize on our culture and only hurt us. Cultural and corporate colonialism, just like ever from of colonialism before hand has only hurt us. We have the right to take about this. The colonialism has never stopped.

But we don’t, we don’t have to go along with this lie. Are culture is at a tipping point now, and we should use this opportunity for the better! We are always stronger together rather than apart. That’s why I do honestly believe in an international creole movement, not only to uplift our own communities, but others as well. To help communicate ideas, problems, and solutions to the problems are communities face. A good example of this would be climate change, as many creoles live on islands and water ways, our way of living is at direct threat for climate change.

I guess what I’m trying say by all of this is despite what people may make it out to be we are not alone in our struggle, not by a long shot.

[gascon-en-exil]

a non-FE question from a person with a tenuous familial connection to quebec (anglo father adopted by a québécois couple) who's always curious about the different francophone experiences: my dad spent a lot of time in new orleans and loved it, but how do the new orleans francophones generally regard the québécois? are there any particular culture clashes?

Unfortunately there aren't many actual culture clashes because there's so little contact. Louisiana and Québec are separated by thousands of kilometers and a national border, and everything from vastly different climates to separate experience with resisting forced assimilation has caused us to diverge from one another quite substantially. I'm glad that I've made friends in Québec, and it seems like every week we're discovering some point of commonality we share in spite of everything that divides us, but that's an entirely personal connection that I sought out myself. Just a few days ago for example a few of them were sharing this post on Facebook:

and they asked me to tell them more about Louisiana king cakes, our spin on the traditional French galettes des rois which are still prepared in Québec apparently just as they are in France.

But let's see if I can condense our biggest differences to some bullet points.

Language: Québec is well known for being a majority French-speaking province, whereas Louisiana is...not. Practically all of the Louisianais are fluent English speakers, because starting from the 1870s French in Louisiana was stigmatized and systemically excluded from education, business, and politics. In recent decades there have been attempts at reviving the language, but they've been slow to take root without a foundation in the home to build upon. Both the Louisianais and Québécois practice code switching (the linguistic term for switching between languages in casual conversation), albeit in opposite ways. The Québécois speak mostly French but will include occasional English words and phrases in their speech, whereas as mentioned the Louisianais primarily communicate in English but use a variety of French terms and names as well as direct English translations of French not used in standard English (ex. "making groceries," a literal translation of faire les courses). This stark contrast is because of...

Population and politics: I won't pretend to understand the Québécois political system in any real depth. I do get however that a large part of the reason that they've been able to maintain a limited degree of autonomy as well as preserve their language is that ethnic French people vastly outnumber Anglos in Québec, and Québec constitutes a much larger percentage of Canada's population and economy than Louisiana does the US's, even back in the 19th century when New Orleans was a much larger city relative to the rest of the US than it is today. Beginning shortly after the Louisiana Purchase, Anglo-Americans began moving into northern and central Louisiana, establishing settlements and slowly pushing southward toward and even into New Orleans. This combined with various political maneuvers that progressively weakened Creole control in the area - splitting what are now coastal Mississippi and Alabama, which had initially been settled by the French, off from Louisiana, moving the capital from New Orleans to a then-barely-inhabited upriver border fort: Baton Rouge, which is mostly Anglo-populated despite the name - resulted in the Louisianais having far less control over our own state than what the Québécois have. Compound that with the aforementioned stigmatization of the French language, and many of the Louisianais have been left feeling disenfranchised and unwilling to participate in national politics. Louisiana is a "red state," in US political parlance, because its biggest voting demographic consists of the very same sort of people that make up the surrounding Bible Belt. Speaking of...

Religion: Québec had its Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, largely removing the presence of the Catholic Church and moving closer to France's model of laïcité/secularism. By contrast, Catholicism is still a highly visible element of life and culture in southern Louisiana, and Catholic education continues to be the standard in New Orleans. This is down to several factors, ranging from the poor quality of public services (not helped, surely, by the voters of northern Louisiana who like US conservatives in general recoil in horror from anything that might be dubbed socialism) to a matter of cultural preservation. The Bible Belt is an aggressively Protestant region, dominated by denominations that have historically held Catholics in poor regard. The US at large also has a long history of anti-Catholic discrimination, particularly in large cities like Boston and Chicago where Catholic immigrants formed a large percentage of the working classes. Southern Louisiana, however, has been majority Catholic since the colony's founding over three centuries ago, and presided over by specifically Latin Catholics in spirit if not in actual practice for all that time. The Louisianais have used that to make allies of other Catholic populations who've moved here, mostly the Spanish and Italians but also more recent immigrants like the Vietnamese. While I wouldn't describe most of us as religious in the sense that the US conceives of that term (I'm certainly not), Catholicism is still a crucial part of our heritage and the preservation of this region as a cultural enclave. I've had trolls calling me a conservative religious nut job because I call myself a Catholic, and yet ironically here we associate the Church with the city's decadent and libertine atmosphere. The focus on visual aesthetics, the relaxed attitude toward alcohol and sex and even sin itself...it's all in sharp contrast to the austerity of Bible Belt Protestants who descend upon New Orleans at regular intervals to protest Mardi Gras and Decadence and call us the new Sodom and Gomorrah, etc. And finally...

Climate: I said it before and it's a comparatively much more straightforward issue, but it really does make a difference. When we're in the height of our social season courtesy of mild subtropical winters, Québec is buried under snow. The reverse is true in summer, which in Louisiana is long and lethally hot and humid and plagued by disease-bearing insects and the ever-present threat of hurricanes. This has also affected our cuisine. Louisiana has a rich and internationally-recognized culinary tradition that builds upon a French foundation with a wealth of local innovations based on crops that thrive in this climate as well as the bounty of the Gulf of Mexico. Québec has...poutine. Obviously I'm joking a bit there, but it's telling that there are multiple Louisiana-themed eateries in Montréal - but the reverse is not true. I've always heard that hot weather climates produce richer and more diverse cuisines than cold weather climates, and I suppose that in this case at least it's true.

[tani-b-art]

Harold Guillory and Patricia Angel

(from what I’ve researched, I believe his dance partner is Patricia)

[onefail-at-atime]

Speaking of Vietnamese influence in the swampbenders...

Viet-Cajun cuisine is a thing. The fusion of flavors and culture came from the resettlement of Vietnamese immigrants along the Gulf Coast, specifically regions of Louisiana. Like the Gulf, Vietnam was colonized by the French. Shared cultural similarities, like French dialects, a sustainability from fishing, shared climate, and even religion (in Catholicism), emerged when the Vietnamese began to settle in the areas of Algiers and New Orleans.

I don't know if the creators were aware of this when they created the swampbenders and developed the storyline, but I find it incredible considering the Gulf Coast swamp lifestyle and accents that were given to those characters.

Is there any Vietnamese specific influence in the world of avatar that can be seen in atla or LoK?

The Swampbenders have Vietnamese-inspired names and homes:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | What’s in a Name: Water Tribe Pt. 3 (tumblr.com)

https://atlaculture.tumblr.com/post/646846228070612993/cultural-architecture-foggy-swamp-homes

The EK village that Zuko and Iroh begged in was very Vietnamese:

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Anatomy: “The Swamp” Episode (tumblr.com)

The Cabbage Merchant wears a Khăn Vấn (Vietnamese Headwrap):

The Cultures of Avatar: The Last Airbender | Cultural Fashion: Cabbage Merchant’s Headwrap (tumblr.com)

[musictyme]

HD4President - Jiggin Out My Body

[toyastales]

Cajun Chicken and Sausage Gumbo

[shanellofhouston]

Solange [2024]

[cheap-jumpscare]

Louisiana!Miku gone fishing ... :)

[skrrtdotcom]

Cadien punks rise up

[kemetic-dreams]

Simbi water spirits are revered in Hoodoo originating from Central African spiritual practices. When Africans were enslaved in the United States, they blended African spiritual beliefs with Christian baptismal practices. Enslaved African Americans prayed to Simbi water spirits during their baptismal services. In 1998, in a historic house in Annapolis, Maryland called the Brice House archaeologists unearthed Hoodoo artifacts inside the house that linked to the Kongo people. These artifacts are the continued practice of the Kongo's minkisi and nkisi culture in the United States brought over by enslaved Africans. For example, archeologists found artifacts used by enslaved African Americans to control spirits by housing spirits inside caches or nkisi bundles. These spirits inside objects were placed in secret locations to protect an area or bring harm to slaveholders. "In their physical manifestations, minkisi (nkisi) are sacred objects that embody spiritual beings and generally take the form of a container such as a gourd, pot, bag, or snail shell. Medicines that provide the minkisi with power, such as chalk, nuts, plants, soil, stones, and charcoal, are placed in the container." Nkisi bundles were found in other plantations in Virginia and Maryland. For example, nkisi bundles were found for the purpose of healing or misfortune. Archeologists found objects believed by the enslaved African American population in Virginia and Maryland to have spiritual power, such as coins, crystals, roots, fingernail clippings, crab claws, beads, iron, bones, and other items assembled together inside a bundle to conjure a specific result for either protection or healing. These items were hidden inside slaves' dwellings. These practices were concealed from slaveholders.

In Darrow, Louisiana at the Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation historians and archeologists unearthed Kongo and Central African practices inside slave cabins. Enslaved Africans in Louisiana conjured the spirits of Kongo ancestors and water spirits by using seashells. Other charms were found in several slave cabins, such as silver coins, beads, polished stones, bones, and were made into necklaces or worn in their pockets for protection. These artifacts provided examples of African rituals at Ashland Plantation. Slaveholders tried to stop African practices among their slaves, but enslaved African Americans disguised their rituals by using American materials and applying an African interpretation to them and hiding the charms in their pockets and making them into necklaces concealing these practices from their slaveholders. In Talbot County, Maryland at the Wye House plantation where Frederick Douglass was enslaved in his youth, Kongo related artifacts were found. Enslaved African Americans created items to ward off evil spirits by creating a Hoodoo bundle near the entrances to chimneys which was believed to be where spirits enter. The Hoodoo bundle contained pieces of iron and a horse shoe. Enslaved African Americans put eyelets on shoes and boots to trap spirits. Archaeologists also found small carved wooden faces. The wooden carvings had two faces carved into them on both sides which were interpreted to mean an African American conjurer who was a two-headed doctor. Two-headed doctors in Hoodoo means a conjurer who can see into the future and has knowledge about spirits and things unknown.

At Levi Jordan Plantation in Brazoria, Texas near the Gulf Coast, researchers suggests the plantation owner Levi Jordan may have transported captive Africans from Cuba back to his plantation in Texas. These captive Africans practiced a Bantu-Kongo religion in Cuba, and researchers excavated Kongo related artifacts at the site. For example, archeologists found in one of the cabins called the "curer's cabin" remains of an nkisi nkondi with iron wedges driven into the figure to activate its spirit. Researchers found a Kongo bilongo which enslaved African Americans created using materials from white porcelain creating a doll figure. In the western section of the cabin they found iron kettles and iron chain fragments. Researchers suggests the western section of the cabin was an altar to the Kongo spirit Zarabanda

[boingeaux]

Fish fry @ Miku's house

I was a lazy w/ this but I wanted to contribute to the regional Miku trend bc I rarely see ANYTHING representing cajuns, and it's rare I have the motivation to pick up a pen in the first place nowadays

[onefail-at-atime]

"None of the show's cultures are based on European or American history or culture."

Have we forgotten the swamp benders? The water benders who lived in the swamps of the Earth Kingdom and were absolutely based on Asian Cajun Americans?

Yeah, it may have been the creators poking fun at what society would see as hillbillies but you can't give characters that Southern accent and not mean for it to be connected with that specific culture. They could have strictly eluded to the island cultures of the Philippines or Papua New Guinea, but then why make the characters the way they did? Why give them those accents and mannerisms?

Just a bit of history: The general term Asian Cajun is used to describe the Vietnamese immigrants who settled in the southeastern United States after the Vietnam war and the food that became a blend of both Vietnamese and Cajun cuisine.

The episode was a little blip in the overall arc of the entire series, but my friends and family in the south got a good laugh out of the characters and probably would have only liked it better if Huu and the guys had treated Team Avatar to a crawfish broil.

so you wanna get into the Avatar fandom?

a poorly constructed beginner’s guide for people watching the show for the first time from someone who’s been with it from the start and is very excited and highly entertained by observing people getting into it for the first time:

1. Zutara vs. Kataang is a ship war that was fought years ago. We all have battle scars. Please do not bring it back- you may ship either in peace, they’re both perfectly fine ships and minimally problematic at most. Discourse on the topic is incredibly tired.

2. Discussions of Azula’s mental health are hotly contested- best not to try to diagnose her unless you have some expertise on mental health disorders and know how to talk about psychiatric disorders in an informed, balanced way. 

3. Related, but it is better if you do not call Azula a psychopath/sociopath. You will inevitably get yelled at by someone if you describe her as a such (and it’s not accurate anyways). Best not.

4. The Fire Nation is neither fascist nor a dictatorship. They are based on Imperial Japan and are thus a monarchy.

5. Similarly, no one in the ATLA universe is white and none of the show’s cultures are based on European or American history or culture in the slightest. Any whitewashing in fanart is strongly frowned upon.

6. Themes of child abuse, trauma, and war are prevalent throughout the show and thus the fandom discourse. If these are potentially triggering for you, proceed with caution.

7. Whether or not the sequel series, Legend of Korra, is good or worth watching is also hotly contested. However, it is better to watch it and form your own opinion before getting into those conversations.

8. ATLA is a very old fandom and as such you can find fics, fanart, youtube videos, and other content dating back to 2005 in some places. If you do find these works it is important to consider the context of the internet and the state of fandom at the time these works were created- it was a very different world from the current fandom climate. Be respectful of these content creators, even if you’d consider their work cringey or uncomfortable now. Similarly, be respectful of older fans- many of them have been in the fandom for up to 15 years now.

9. The validity of the post-canon comics series is also a topic of debate. Some fans love and accept them and others choose to disregard them entirely. Formulate your own opinion of course but understand that some fans may not consider them canon or want to discuss them.

10. The live action movie does not exist.

[blurrymango]

The current Miku trend has inspired me to. Draw. Badly. But most importantly, take up my roots as a guy who draws characters with Mardi Gras theming.

So. Yayyyy. Louisiana Miku, both a Mardi Gras version and a more casual but no less blatant Louisiana version.

Also. Made her mixed race.

[todayinhiphophistory]

Today in Hip Hop History:

The Hot Boys released their second studio album Guerrilla Warfare July 27, 1999

[yeoldenews]

Hi! It seems like fireworks and firecrackers were a very common item in Santa letters, to the extent that they’re often thrown in at the end along with fruit like a ‘default’ Santa gift. If you know, why and when did fireworks stop being a go-to present for kids to ask from Santa?

This is actually something I keep meaning to dig into more.

It was almost exclusively a Southern practice (particularly in the Deep South), but was so universal there that it's honestly more unusual for Southern kids to NOT ask for fireworks than to ask for them. I'm not sure if there were cultural aspects to this or was just because it makes more sense to give them where it's actually warm enough to shoot them off.

They seem to have been given primarily as a stocking-stuffers, as they are almost always listed alongside the standard fruit, nuts and candy.

From what I've seen, requests for fireworks dropped off sharply in the early 60s, though I as of yet haven't found any convincing reason as to why.

That's a bit early to coincide with the general shift away from little boys asking for firearms, which seems (from my observations at least) to be largely correlated with the advent of video games in the 70s and 80s.

It's possible it may have been a natural result of child safety standards evolving beyond the 'sure, give your six-year-old explosives, what's the worst that could happen?' that seems to have been the dominant attitude for the first half of the 20th century.

If anyone from the South has any insight on this I'd love to hear it.