12 Days of a Jane Austen Christmas: Crescent City Giveaway by Jack Caldwell

day7Christmas


The Cajun Cheesehead Christmas Chronicles
[Originally posted 03/26/2011]

ChristmasHello, folks. Jack Caldwell here. As I have said ad nauseum, I am a Cajun, born and raised in Thibodaux, Louisiana. You may have heard of it:

Jerry Reed’s Amos Moses
(http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/j/jerry_reed/amos_moses.html)

I digress. (You should be used to that by now.) Anyhow, Louisiana being what it is—own language, parishes instead of counties, different legal system, best food on the planet—it should not come as a great surprise that there are unique ways of observing the Christmas season that are found only there.

christmas-preparations-in-new-orleans-louisiana--$7021893$300You should understand that New Orleans and south Louisiana is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. It’s the Christmas Season down there, not the “Holiday Season.” That doesn’t mean we leave out our Jewish friends, as you will see.

You should also understand that there is a difference between New Orleans and Cajun Country. New Orleans is the cosmopolitan, almost European, major city in the state. To the south and west stretch the swamps, farms, and prairies where the country folk—Cajuns—reside. They are different from New Orleanians, and they will be the first to tell you that.

Because they are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve is a big deal there. Really big. Standing-room-only big. Go-to-Mass-twice-a-year big. Everyone goes home to prepare for the visit by Santa, otherwise known as Père Noël or Papa Noel. Often James Rice’s Cajun Night Before Christmas is read:

Cajun_Xmas_largeDen out on de bayou dey got such a clatter…
Make soun’ like old Boudreaux done fall off his ladder.
I run like a rabbit to got to de do’…
Trip over de dawg an’ fall on de flo’!
As I look out de do’ in de light o’ de moon,
I t’ink, “Manh, you crazy, or got ole too soon.”

Cuz dere on de bayou when I stretch ma’ neck stiff…
Dere’s eight alligator a-pullin’ de skiff…
An’ a little fat drover wit’ a lone polein’ stick…
I know r’at away got to be ole St. Nick.
Mo’ fas’er an’ fas’er de ‘gator dey came.
He whistle an’ holler an’ call dem by name:

“Ha, Gaston!
Ha, Tiboy!
Ha, Pierre an’ Alcee!
Gee, Ninette!
Gee, Suzette!
Celeste an’ Renee!”

To de top o’ de porch dem ole ‘gator clime!
Wit’ de skiff full o’ toy an’ St. Nicklus behin’.

Upriver from New Orleans, in the parishes of St. James and St. John the Baptist, bonfires have been lit on the river levee since the mid-1800s. According to Marcia Gaudet’s Tales from the Levee, the bonfires in Louisiana originated with the Marist priests at Jefferson College in Convent.

bonfire“These French priests began building and lighting bonfires on the batture (levee) on New Year’s Eve, a tradition they had known in France. Years later, the tradition was moved to Christmas Eve and the fires were built on the levee.”

The fires were constructed as a tall four-sided pyre with timbers laid log-cabin style and fueled by any kind of trash which was stacked in the middle. They used to be forty feet high, until some collapsed. Now they are restricted to twenty feet. The building of fires is elaborate and very competitive. Teams of young men organize themselves year after year to build the biggest and most unique fire. The structures range from life-sized, fully equipped oil rigs to forts. Competition between the groups is so strong that often the teams post 24-hour guard during the week of construction so to guard against the possibility of arson or sabotage.

To see the bonfires on the levee, drive along the Mississippi River levee between New Orleans and Baton Rouge after dark on Christmas Eve.

CITOCelebrations in the Crescent City are more sedate, with a Victorian feel to them. Houses along St. Charles Avenue are decorated and lit, but in a tasteful, restrained manner. Celebration in the Oaks at City Park is a festive display of nearly two million lights decorating one-hundred-year-old oak trees. Ride a horse-drawn carriage through the park or travel by foot or car. Christmas concerts are held at St. Louis Cathedral in the French Quarter and at the plantations homes lining the Mississippi River, like Oak Alley.

buche_de_noelSince this is New Orleans, food is all-important. Réveillon dinners, special four and five course prix fixe menus served only during the Advent season, are available at most of the restaurants in town. Lately, Bûche de Noel, a French Christmas cake shaped like a log, have become popular.

There are Christmas observances all over the state. People come from all over the view Natchitoches Christmas Festival of Lights, where the entire downtown of this north Louisiana city is festooned with over 300,000 lights. It is the longest-running part of the Holiday Trail of Lights, with similar displays in Shreveport and Bossier City, Louisiana, and Marshall, Jefferson, and Kilgore, Texas.

9091889-largeOur Jewish friends are not forgotten. Traditional Israeli music is played at the annual ceremony of Lighting of the Menorah at the Riverwalk in Spanish Plaza when a twelve-foot Menorah is lit.

Advent is a wonderful time to visit New Orleans and Cajun Country. The weather is mild and pleasant, and because there are no big conventions or sporting events in town (except for the New Orleans Bowl), rooms are very reasonable. Things start getting crazy again after Christmas, with the run-up to the Sugar Bowl and Carnival.

The best thing about Christmas in Louisiana is that it is NOT done for tourists. The locals put on these celebrations and displays for themselves. While they are very happy to share with visitors, they would do these things even if no one outside of the community came. It is part and parcel of who Louisianians are. It is real—just like the great people of the great state of Louisiana.

Come on down, y’all! You’ll pass us a good time, I gar-on-tee!


 

 

Merry Christmas!

“It takes a real man to write historical romance,
so let me tell you a story…”

 

43 comments

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    • Florence Solowianiuk on December 17, 2015 at 2:53 am
    • Reply

    The most unusual tradition here in New York City has to be Santacon. That’s where people dress up in Santa costumes and go from bar to bar, celebrating the season.

    1. A Santa pub-crawl. Yeah, that’s the season. Different strokes, and all that…

      Thanks for commenting! Merry Christmas!

    • Nancy Wurden on December 17, 2015 at 3:07 am
    • Reply

    Here in northern New Mexico, Christmas Eve is celebrated with rows and rows of farolitos, little lanterns, that light up streets, driveways, parks, churches, and rooftops. Made of small paper bags weighted with sand and a lit votive candle, they cast a lovely glow. Entire neighborhoods set out farolitos and drivers dim their light to appreciate the subtle beauty. Visible across the Rio Grande valley in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the bonfires, or luminarias, light the way to the distant villages for the Santa Nino, the Christ Child, to bring gifts. Families all over New Mexico enjoy posole (a hominy stew with pork and Chile) and tamales, and the New Mexico state cookie, the biscochito, for dessert on La Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve. Our church teens perform a living Crèche on Christmas Eve, and passersby in cars wave and call out “Merry Christmas.” Early the next morning, Native Americans in neighboring Pueblos perform special dances for Christmas. Christmas brings out the best in our tri-cultural state. I love a New Mexican Christmas!

    1. Many folks put out what they call luminaires, and what you call farolitos, but apparently nothing at the scale you describe.It sounds wonderful.

    • Rosa on December 17, 2015 at 4:38 am
    • Reply

    Thank you for sharing your traditions. I’ll just say the best food on the planet is… French!! You’ve guessed I’m a French girl 😉

    1. New Orleans Creole food is French — only better! LOL! Joyeux Noël!

    • Deborah on December 17, 2015 at 5:54 am
    • Reply

    Thanks for sharing the celebrations.

    1. Thank you, Deborah. Merry Christmas!

    • Kristine Shore on December 17, 2015 at 7:38 am
    • Reply

    It is not really a Christmas tradition, but since Thanksgiving is traditionally the beginning of the holiday shopping season I will share my towns “claim to fame.” For more than 30 years, on the night before Thanksgiving, one of the bars in town has a Turkey Testicle Festival to raise money for local charities.

    1. O-kay. Whatever floats your boat. I hope you “raised” lots of money.

      (Yeah, that was juvenile.)

      Merry Christmas!

        • Kristine Shore on December 17, 2015 at 11:08 pm
        • Reply

        Thank you! And it does.

    • Meg on December 17, 2015 at 8:05 am
    • Reply

    What wonderful traditions you have in LA. The bonfires must be quite a sight. It’s all too commercial in most places in our country. Thanks for sharing.

    1. Thanks. Nothing is stopping you from starting your own traditions, though. Merry Christmas!

    • Theresa M on December 17, 2015 at 8:28 am
    • Reply

    Im suburban NJ, we are in the midst of PC country. The only “Christmas” tradition that has stayed is the town still has a Christmas Tree but only because the town park is on land loaned to the town with the stipulation that the high school band does a concert once a year in the gazebo AND that the town has a Christmas tree. If they dont the family foundation can take the land back…..just sad.

    1. Strange how Christmas has become political. I’ll refrain from saying more, except Merry Christmas.

    • Jennifer Redlarczyk on December 17, 2015 at 8:53 am
    • Reply

    Fascinating post although I will say that Crown Point, Indiana is really traditional. The HS kids carol on the square, the soup kitchens are open and things go on as usual. Now if you go back to Halloween, they open up the old jail which housed Dillinger and make it into a haunted house. Happy Holidays. Jen Red

    1. Merry Christmas to you, Jen!

    • Carol hoyt on December 17, 2015 at 9:58 am
    • Reply

    Thanks for sharing the Christmas customs of Louisiana!

    Merry Christmas!!

    1. Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas!

    • Ginna on December 17, 2015 at 9:59 am
    • Reply

    Fascinating post, Jack. Wish I could see all that you describe.
    My town has absolutely nothing unique. The closest thing is down in DC where there is always the ‘lighting of the national Christmas tree’. Mostly, we just keep our eyes peeled for excessive light displays whenever we’re out driving at night.

    1. My wife and I enjoy that, too. Merry Christmas!

    • Stephanie L on December 17, 2015 at 10:08 am
    • Reply

    Lovely post. I keep telling my DH that he needs to take me to NO but he only has memories from Sugar Bowl trips (working them, not attending) and they are not very pleasant memories. LOL As for traditions around here, I’m in Norman, OK so everything revolves around OU and that’s not very Christmasy. LOL The only traditions I can think of are the Norman Christmas parade which happens no matter how cold or wet it is and the Downs Family Christmas light show (which actually made it onto a national Christmas light show competition a couple years ago) which gathers donations of food stuffs for food pantries. After that, we just wait for whatever bowl OU is in (and I want to watch every single bowl no matter who is in it)…LOL

    Great post Jack and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

    1. The good news is OU got into the final four. The bad news is you get to play Clemson. Funny how MSU jumped y’all, isn’t it? Anyhow, Merry Christmas!

    • Susan Schwartz on December 17, 2015 at 11:00 am
    • Reply

    Thank you for such a lovely description of the holiday season in New Orleans. I love that city!

    Here in Portland, Oregon we do quite a nice and traditional Christmas celebration. A huge Oregon grown tree is lighted the in our Pioneer Courthouse Square to music and the singing of carols. We have a Christmas Parade, a la Macy’s in NYC. Our Zoo Lights features tens of thousands of lights, and we have one entire neighborhood that does “extreme” outdoor lights and displays and serves visitors hot cocoa as you walk along the streets (no cars). Our Grotto — a combination shrine and botanical garden — also does a Festival of Christmas Lights. And we have a Jingle Bell Run for the athletes. It’s a special time here.🎄

    1. Sounds like Portland does a nice job. Merry Christmas!

    • Betty Campbell Madden on December 17, 2015 at 11:24 am
    • Reply

    Being a typical mid-sized mid-western town, my town had nothing unique to it per se, but there was a huge display of lighted objects, many with motion, that one very wealthy family provided the community and surrounding areas. Lights covered the mansion, filled the very large yard. Eventually, it became so large and traffic, so heavy in the neighborhood that it was moved to a larger public area. At least until recent years, and, perhaps, still, it was still a special part of Christmas, with much volunteer effort expended in setting it up over several days each year.

    I now I’ve possibly talked myself into going over to see it.

    1. We have a house near Venice, FL that does the same thing. It’s quite a sight. Merry Christmas!

    • Sheila L. M. on December 17, 2015 at 11:27 am
    • Reply

    I live near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania…CHRISTMAS CITY USA! A local newspaper prints about 7 different Christmas Light tours for people to follow and view local homes and bldg. which decorate elaborately. Moravian Church has old hand carved figures which it uses to tell the Christmas story by spotlighting the appropriate figures during the telling of the birth of Jesus and the arrival of the Magi. (Story times are scheduled.) High above the city on a mountain sits the huge star which can be seen from all directions and guides visitors to Bethlehem. Tour buses bring in people for walking tours of the city guided by locals in traditional costumes from the past. The city was named on Christmas Eve in 1741, by David Nitschmann and Count Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, after the Biblical town Bethlehem of Judea, the birthplace of Jesus. One of our traditions is the placing of candles in windows and also replicas hanging on porches, in arches and doorways of the more intricate Moravian Star.

    So I can appreciate all the traditions of your hometown as well. I so appreciate history and people who treasure it.

    1. Okay, you win. The light display, that is.

      Merry Christmas!

    • Michelle H on December 17, 2015 at 12:10 pm
    • Reply

    This Christmas season marks the 18th year we have lived in central Texas, and our son was 18 and just starting at RICE in Houston that year. We moved from up north, and I can still remember how enchanted I felt when that first Christmas found us looking at all the tree trunks wrapped in lights all over town, and not a few entire oak trees!!! I was such a little kid about it, and still am. I mean, we only decorated evergreens up north. Ha. I know, such a rube.

    Your article was the perfect addition to the Crescent City Trilogy, which I absolutely loved. I credit you with getting me to enjoy a contemporary JAFF. I have thought about the trilogy countless times since I read it in October. I highly recommend it. I borrowed the books through Kindle Unlimited and they are now in my wish list, to purchase. I just love your books, Mr. C.

    Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you and yours. Here’s to a productive writing year in 2016.

    1. Thank you so much. Yeah, we’ve got a book coming out next year, but that would be telling…

      Merry Christmas!

  1. Loved this post, Jack. Some day I will get myself to the Crescent City and see all the sights. Right now I’m limited to glimpses on NCIS NOLA. 😉

    Here in sunny San Diego, one of our treasured Christmas traditions is the Parade of Lights on San Diego Bay. Hundreds of sailboats and other boats, most privately-owned, are decorated with lights and all kinds of Christmas and Hanukkah fol-de-rol and then they motor quietly from one end of the bay to the other, with the various walkways along Harbor Drive filled to the brim with those watching the spectacle. Yes, there are some huge hulking boats that obviously come from people with $$$, but they are interspersed with little Coronado 25’s and other modest boats all decked out. It’s a great deal of fun.

    We also have Christmas on the Prado in Balboa Park. Although the organizers renamed it “December Nights” to be more politically correct, all self-respecting San Diegans (and my family has been here since 1901 and helped to build Balboa Park!) still call it Christmas on the Prado. As soon as darkness falls, all the lights switch on throughout the park, swooping in long swags over our heads. The huge pipe organ in the Organ Pavilion is cranking out carols, at times accompanied by various church choirs from around town. All of the museums throw open their doors, and people can browse the exhibits for free and shop for gifts in the gift shops. The International Houses also throw open their doors, and we go from house to house, sampling the Christmas fare: Irish stew with soda bread, Swedish meatballs, Russian borscht, Japanese beef teriyaki on a stick over rice, hot Indian curry, English tea, scones, and kidney pie, and, if you’re really brave, a slice of Scottish haggis. Hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts are sold on corners, and the carols from the pipe organ reverberate in our (very full) stomach. It’s a lovely time, no matter what you call the event. 😉

    Thanks, Jack, for your lovely description of a Lousiana Christmas and for your give away. Crossing my fingers and wishing hard….

    Advent blessings,
    Susanne 🙂

    1. San Diego has long been my favorite California city. Merry Christmas!

    • tgruy on December 17, 2015 at 3:46 pm
    • Reply

    In Mexico we have the Posadas, they run from December 16th till Christmas Eve on the night of the 24th. First there the asking and receiving of shelter. There’s a song for it, some people, usually representing or carrying an image of the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph, sing asking for shelter from outside a house and some people answer from inside for several verses, all ending up in shelter being granted and all the people getting together to celebrate. Then a star shaped piñata with 7 points is broken, the points representing the 7 capital sins.and our willingness to banish them from our lives. Then everybody eats, usually tamales and champurrado (a beverage usually made in winter) or Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.

    1. Mexico has a wonderful and fascinating culture. Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas!

    • TJ on December 17, 2015 at 10:15 pm
    • Reply

    It almost feels like Christmas time in the South here in Cheesehead country. No snow yet ans no snow forecasted, only rain. Might even cut the grass this weekend, which would be a first for me-cutting lawn in December in Wisconsin! These traditions you speak of sound like wonderful celebrations, such fun to look forward to. Merry Christmas to you from Packer Nation!.

    1. The Cajun Cheesehead says back at ‘cha! Now, if the Packers could get an O-line to protect Rogers…

      Merry Christmas!

  2. In Spain, we have a big lottery prize on the 22nd December and it is like the beginning of Christmas. It is called “El Gordo” (the fat one) and almost everybody buys a ticket at least!

    • junewilliams7 on December 18, 2015 at 10:05 pm
    • Reply

    I’m from Hawaii. Christmas means going to the beach. When I was growing up, TV programs were on tape and had to be shipped from the Mainland (a week-long trip by cargo vessels), so we watched Christmas programs on New Year’s. When I finally traveled to the Mainland, I wanted to experience this “traditional white Christmas” that I had seen on TV, so my friends put on Christmas music and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a real fire in the fireplace…. in August.

  3. There is no unusual Christmas tradition in my hometown. As I come from a country with a majority of Muslim population, most treat holiday season as commercial activities where shopping malls outdo each other and create themes that attract people to visit and spend money. I prefer the traditional way of attending mass and celebrating the birth of Christ with friends and family.

    Blessed Christmas to you, Jack.

    • Sarah on December 19, 2015 at 9:05 pm
    • Reply

    So much culture, tradition and variety packed into a relatively small part of the world!
    I am a bit jealous because I don’t feel like we have that where I live (which is Australia), not really. In trying to think of traditions, let alone unusual ones, all I can come up with is that there are probably more family traditions than those those related to the country.
    Festive meals vary depending on your family background and what traditions have developed (usually a hot roast dinner (ham or turkey or both) or cold seafood dinner). We also have huge Christmas carol concerts and people head for the beach (although it is easier to stay inside in air conditioning!). Then on Boxing Day there is the test cricket match and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
    Merry Christmas!

  4. I live in a small town in SC (near Clemson – go Tigers! Had to throw that in there!) and we don’t have many traditions that I’m aware of. We have a small Christmas parade and a town tree-lighting which, over the years, has gotten less fun and festive. There’s also a Christmas Market on the town square each Saturday in December, where local businesses, farmers and artisans come and sell their wares, trying to encourage folks to buy small and local. Some of the old historical homes and plantations in the area give special Christmas tours – they’re nothing to Pemberley but I haven’t been in years, so maybe I’ll go this year.

    New Orleans seems very festive at any time but I bet Christmas is especially wonderful. 🙂

    • Eva E on December 22, 2015 at 8:28 pm
    • Reply

    Thank you for talking about New Orleans and Christmas! The city knows how to celebrate. Two unusual traditions stand out where I currently live – walking tours of the downtown historical churches 2 days after Christmas and the lighting of a Christmas tree in the middle of a lake in the City Park with the Art Museum in the background. It is truly beautiful. Thank you for the giveaways.

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