You’ve probably come here in the quest of knowing just who these mysterious people are.
The “definition” of the Modern Creole goes something like this …
LOUISIANA CREOLE
Lou•i•si•a•na Cre•ole [loo-wee-zee-a-na kree-ohl]
Adjective
Any person, culture or thing indigenous to Latin contexts in colonial and contemporary Louisiana, or diasporic communities of Louisiana Creoles. Thus, “Creole people,” “Creole cuisine,” “Creole architecture,” “Creole history,” “Creole language.”
Noun
People
- A person of Latin culture indigenous to Louisiana, born and reared in French and/or Spanish colonial and national Louisiana. Or/and,
- A Louisianian who speaks any number of the following Latin-based languages: French, Louisiana Creole or Spanish. Or/and,
- A person or group of people from states formally part of the French and Spanish colonial Louisiana who speaks any number of the following Latin-based languages: French, Louisiana Creole or Spanish. Those modern states include Mississippi, Alabama, Michigan, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Nebraska, and beyond. Or/and,
- A Louisianian (or person of colonial Louisiana descent) who speaks a Latin-based language natively spoken in colonial or national Louisiana who practices Roman Catholicism, or who is influenced by Roman Catholic culture. And/or,
- A person of Latin Louisiana descent who lives in a diasporic community and continues to practice vestiges of Louisiana Latin culture. And/or,
- A person of Latin Louisiana cultural heritage who now lives outside of Creole communities but who practices (vestiges of) Louisiana creole culture. And/or,
- A person of any number of ancestral roots and routes, phenotypes and religions who is a practitioner of Latin Louisiana culture. And/or,
- Often erroneously and exclusively associated with persons carrying French, Spanish or German surnames, at the exclusion of persons with British surnames.
Language
- A Latin-based language, heavily French lexified, indigenous to colonial Louisiana, there emerging as early as the 1730s; one decade after New Orleans, Natchitoches and other old colonial cities were founded. And/or,
- An indigenous language of colonial and statehood Louisiana lexically related to French as English is to Dutch, Portuguese is to Spanish and Hebrew is to Arabic. And/or,
- An indigenous language of colonial and statehood Louisiana spoken by self-identified Creoles, Cajuns, whites, blacks, mixed-race people, American Indians, First Nations people, African-Americans, Syrians, Lebanese, Egyptians, Turks, and others who’ve settled in Creole-speaking communities over time and who, through assimilation, have learned the language as their maternal language.
Architecture
- Architecture indigenous to colonial or statehood Louisiana characterized by architectural features highly localized for better aeration in summers and insulation in winters. And/or,
- Architecture commonly referred to as “Acadian style” since the mid-1900s in southern Louisiana. And/or,
- Architecture from the colonial Louisiana period making use of bousillage, adjacent windows and doors, poteaux-en-terre stilts in flood zones, urban cottages and shotguns. And/or,
- Architecture from colonial or statehood Louisiana characterized by vivid colors.
Cuisine
- Foodways whose preparations and combination of ingredients are indigenous to Creole communities in colonial or statehood Louisiana. And/or
- Indigenous foodways to creole Louisiana utilizing a combination of dried spices whose origin is from Central America and/or the Caribbean (e.g. hot peppers, Cayenne, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder). And/or,
- Indigenous foodways to creole Louisiana utilizing Paul Prudhomme’s “holy trinity,” which includes onion, bell pepper and celery. Wikipedia attributes first attestations of the “holy trinity” in 1981.
- Foodways indigenous to Creole Louisiana often referred to as “Cajun cuisine.”
Plants & Animals
- Varieties of animals and plants identified by the French as being indigenous to Louisiana. Thus, the “Creole horse,” “Creole onion,” “Creole tomato,” and so on.
I created these connective cultural and historical tissues by combining all of the “things” that each Creole (in divergent definitions) share. From there, I enumerated those shared elements in the list above. It roughly corresponds to what Creoles were recognized as before Reconstruction revisions racializing créolité. Those Reconstruction revisions, prompted by Alcée Fortier, Charles Gayarré, and other prominent New Orleans Creoles, from an inclusive term trans-racially, to a racially exclusive term. Today, we have the residual effects of those Reconstruction alterations, but the connective thread has ultimately remained consistent.
Morning Christophe,
Very nice just wish the print was bigger for these old eyes, haven’t had my second cup of coffee yet. Are you just including those whose ancestors were Creoles living in Louisiana? I ask because many of these families were Creoles but their families also lived in Creole communities along the MS coast, in Mobile, & Pensacola, FL.
My paternal granny always said we were part Creole, her mother’s family I suspect, not her fathers for sure. Now that I have uncovered all sides back to the mid 1700’s on the Southern side & had DNA done on maternal & paternal sides we can say that the family as it is today is triracial. I’m sure some of the more recent folks are turning over in their graves. My granny did a good job of hiding that she was passing & using the smoke screen of being a white Creole when she should have been admitting at least to us she was of African descent. She never in her wildest dreams thought that someday all those old records would be available to us or that there was something called DNA.
Our people were in LA & MS records from the 1780s onward, some lived in what was West Florida as far east as Pensacola area. We grew up on the old stories from before the Civil War of pirates, Indians & settlers who came down the Natchez Trace & the river on flatboats. We always spoke a little French, not the perfect European kind, mostly a sprinkling of words & phrases picked up from Granny & her friends. We’re always learned to cook & appreciate the food of the Gulf coastal region. My father had to teach my mom (from the upper Midwest) how to cook proper gumbo, jambalaya, corn bread, greens, seafood, etc. We are an eccentric religious blend of Catholic & Methodist, & Native American. We love Mardi Gras, fishing or crabbing in the Gulf & nothing better than sailing. My dad always said that comes the pirates in the family.
Grew up on folktales from Native Creeks & Brer Rabbit & his friends. Did you know Brer was from a mixture of rabbit tales from the African slaves & native American slaves? The Native American rabbit tales come from the folktales of the Mayan moon goddess Ixchel & her trickster rabbit Lamat, who was the rabbit in the moon. Southeastern tribes always saw the rabbit in the moon never a man. The rabbit tales brought by slaves from Africa was also a trickster & the descendant of these two rabbits was the trickster Bugs Bunny.
Well I do go on too long, please put more on about the Creoles of the coast,
Marcie
Marcie: I’ve removed the image and placed plain text in the post, instead. I also added some things that I think address your query.
Thanks for writing.
Thank you, I can even read it now without my glasses on its great that you expanded the list.
Heres one for under architecture & folklore together. The use of colors such as the shade of blue sometimes called haint blue which was used to keep spirits from entering your house. It was & is used on porch ceilings, sometimes trim around windows & doors. We had it on our porch floors & for some unknown reason on the dining room ceiling. Since we lived in an old house built in1890s which had 18 foot ceilings it was rather pretty.The architecture of the house was built in the style which was brought to Louisiana & MS coast by the Creoles of the islands when they migrated to there. Some people called it the raised Creole cottage style. The house being built off the ground a good eight foot facing the south to let the breezes in before AC, that was a godsend. The wrap around porch had bamboo shades on the west side of the house to keep out afternoon sun. Inside the wide central hall let the breeze float through the house front to back & upstairs to second floor where a opening to the ceiling let it out through the attic. There was no heat on the second floor but a double fireplace downstairs & a couple of well placed space heaters kept the first floor comfortable.This house was built out of what they called in the day heart of pine so it was pretty indestructible to termites & so well built it has survived all hurricanes even Camille & Katrina with minimal damage even though only three blocks from the beach in Gulfport. To give an example of how strong the wood was, after Camille we had to have house rewired for insurance purposes, The electricians found that the wiring was the original from about 1900 & broke many of their drill bits in the wood it was so solid. Although it is no longer in our family have many good memories of growing up in it. My father always said it he could have picked it up & moved it when we moved he would have brought it with us. Oh and lastly like all old houses it was the home of the ghost of the lady who originally had it built, my granny saw her & although she never had seem her before described her exactly to her son who owned the house next door to us. They don’t make houses like that anymore & I would trade it in a minute for this modern house with half the windows that don’t open facing the wrong direction to catch the wind & built flat on the ground.
Fascinating, Marcie, on the folklore associated with coloration of Creole homes. We’ve lost so much of this folklore through Americanization and religious conversions.