and so it is … Cajun Christmas

From the outside looking in, on first glance, there is nothing much different about Christmas way down South. But, of course, one cannot stand outside around here without being invited in for the traditional spicy, hot gumbo with a heap of potato salad sitting right there on top. To be honest, not everyone eats it that way. Over the years, those with aspirations of rising to the top of the Cajun social ladder began to eat their potato salad on the side. Such a pity! The blending of the flavors and the hot and the cold … well, as they say ‘round here … it makes ya wanna slap ya momma!

One of the grander traditions on the bayou is the lighting of the bonfires to show the way for Pere Noel. There are a few folks, still, who build there own and gather around with their families on Christmas Eve to light the flames and toast the tradition. But there are also entire communities who have adopted this tradition in a large way. They build hundreds of bonfires on the levee of the Mighty Mississippi, and this evening thousand will gather as the fires are lit.

And as people walk around, from one bonfire to another, folks in the community gather in their front yards to offer the warming bowl of gumbo to those who are otherwise strangers. Cajuns do know how to warm the spirit while warming the body. Most importantly, they seem to instinctively know that nurturing the spirit takes precedence.

Most of us have altered the tradition to allow for Christmas lights, hung from the eaves or draping the doorways and hugging the bushes. The effort is still made, by those of us living on the bayou, to shine the brightest lights in order to show the way. You can drive either side of the bayou and find houses all along the way brightly lit with the hope of Christmas. I admit I am particularly fond of this tradition, and I also indulge in the decorations. My bushes are hugged and my doorway is draped as I sit in anticipation of the magic of the season … the magic that lights the way for us all.