Joe Paris's Blog (4)

Visit www.youtube.com/cparisb4udie and hear / see some great Cajun bands playing live at various venues in Acadiana . Continue

Dear Fellow Cajun Culture Lovers This time at the end of the year is often accompanied by a reflective look back AND a hopeful look forward. One year is dying and another is about to be born. To honor this time passage, Here's an Old Cajun Toast I heard from my Great Uncle Mose one year : May your coffin Be made of the finest wood From Century-old Cypress trees That I shall plant Tomorrow. I love this toast because of its fierce misdirection. You start on the seemingly in… Continue

Once upon a time, Halloween wasn't just about costumes and parties and candy; it was about sweetly told family stories. I am an Acadian ('Cajun,' or South Louisiana French American) by blood, earth , and disposition - my ancestors were Acadians, I was born within the culture, and I am blessed with a "joie de vie" personality. In my Cajun culture of South Louisiana (and many other cultures around the world, I have learned), late afternoon on 'All Hallow's Eve' (October 31st) primarily meant prep… Continue

In Acadiana (that Cajun part of south Louisiana), it's usually mid-September before the temperature cools down enough to pass "The Windows Down Test." That's when passengers in a vehicle are actually comfortable with the windows DOWN while traveling. I've lived long enough to recall when having the windows down was a given (no air conditioning in cars except for a very few), and from around Mother's Day until about a fortnight after Labor Day, it was hot going anywhere at any time. As summer… Continue