Cajun (Population Group)

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The traditional 22 Akadian wards in Louisiana; the dark-colored region forms the so-called Cajun Heartland

The Cajuns (English [ ˈkeid.ʒəns̩ ] ( listening ? / I ); French Cajuns [ kaˈʒœ̃ ] ( listening ? / I ), Cadiens [ ka.ˈdjɛ̃ ] ( listening ? / I )) are a francophone population group living in the Cajun Country lives in the US state of Louisiana . They are descendants of the Acadian French expelled from the Atlantic provinces of Canada in the 18th century . Audio file / audio sample Audio file / audio sample Audio file / audio sample

Their ancestors came from the eastern Canadian province of Acadie , from which it in 1755 by the British after their victory in the French-British war were expelled . This is where the name Acadiens comes from , which the English-speaking North Americans developed from Acadians as a corruption to Cajuns .

After several years of wandering, many survivors settled in Louisiana, which was then sold by the French to the Spaniards in the 1760s, which had still retained the French governor and was happy about any immigration. The territory later became French again as Acadiana and finally came to the United States through Napoléon Bonaparte's sale, the Louisiana Purchase , in 1803.

The Cajuns lived completely untouched by the American environment until the beginning of the 20th century and retained their culture; including their music, their extraordinary old West French dialect and their cuisine.

language

It was not until the 1930s, when oil was found in Louisiana, that the Cajuns came into contact with the Anglophone Americans and were subsequently forced to learn and speak English as part of the Anglicisation process. Children who spoke their Cajun French at school were punished, viewed as backwoodsmen, and laughed at and despised for their faulty, harsh English.

It was not until the 1970s, after long efforts on the part of the Cajuns, that the value of their culture was recognized, and French became the second state language in Louisiana. An organization is committed to protecting the cajun culture.

kitchen

The cuisine of the Cajuns is a rather simple and rustic cuisine made from locally available ingredients. Typical dishes are, for example, jambalaya or gumbo , they are characterized by hot and spicy notes and the use of tabasco sauce or other chilli sauces .

music

The music of the Cajuns is one of the oldest folk music in the USA. It is simple, melodic and extremely rhythmic; often it is a two step or waltz . The instrumentation mostly consists of fiddle , Cajun accordion , guitar , double bass and the "tit-fer" (small iron), the triangle .

Most of the texts, which are mostly in French, are about Cajun stories about love, hunting, drinking and their festivals. At the beginning of the 20th century, Creole and Afro-American influences gave rise to the independent musical genre Zydeco . It exists parallel to traditional music and uses not only classical but also electrically amplified instruments; their texts are often written in English.

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