Laissez les bons temps rouler
(Let the Good Times Roll)

It’s Mardi Gras season again and each year at this time I get a little homesick for Louisiana. Although our time in Cajun Country was relatively short, I’ll always have a special place in my heart for the Deep South, the Cajun culture and the warm-hearted people we met while living in Lafayette.

Everyone knows about Mardi Gras. Sure, it has a somewhat sketchy and sultry reputation, but in Lafayette, and the surrounding parishes, it was about culture, history and tradition. You might associate Mardi Gras with parades, hurricanes, (the drink, not the storm), beads, and jazz. For the most part, you would be accurate. However, in St Martin Parish, and along the Bayou Teche, there is another very celebrated tradition that takes place each year, La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns.

Anything can be a celebration among Cajuns, including the butchering of a hog. Called a Boucherie, the occasion brings together family, friends and neighbors, all of whom participate, and leave with some byproducts of the butchering. It is not by accident that the predominately Catholic Cajuns from St. Martinville hold their annual “La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns” right before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of the Lenten season. The community comes together for one last “bon temps,” or “good time.”

In 2003, my mother, Janie, sister, Stacie and niece, Whitney, came down for a visit at Mardi Gras. We had a fabulous time. Although not the warmest of weather that year, we hit many parades, caught hundreds of beads, drank daiquiris and even had a crawfish boil. As they say, “When in Rome… We decided to take that to the fullest extent and check out this “boucherie.” There we were, just a group of good ol’, fair-haired Missourians mixin’ right in with the locals. The kids were there having a great time, we ordered some beer, had a little gumbo and boudin, a Cajun delicacy and soaked in the excitement. Of course, we knew, eventually, a pig would die. But somehow, you just aren’t quite prepared for the 250 pound bald man, with a finely sharpened blade, dragging a squealing, fully matured hog into a trailer to meet its maker. I’ll never forget the look on my sister’s face as we heard the shrieking pig take its last breath and the crowd cheer with excitement. It was almost as good as the look on her and my mother’s face when they dragged it back out of the trailer and began pouring boiling water over its lifeless body while shaving it clean for the butchering. I thought Stacie was going to lose it, but she hung in there, clutching her beer in one hand and her digital camera in the other.

The kids loved every minute. Somehow the grim sight of a large dead hog being slaughtered inches away really had no affect on them. They are Cajun at heart.

After the excitement, we sauntered past the tent peddling items reading, “I Ate Flesh on the Teche,” to the “Squeal Like a Pig” contest. Now that was a treat. People have no shame. The winner was actually a lady from Kentucky who claimed she’d never squealed like a pig before that very moment. You could have fooled me.

If you ever make it down to Louisiana and want a little culture and “bon temps,” stop for a spell in Acadiana, Cajun Country, and immerse yourself in the culture. I guarantee you’ll never forget it.

For more information on St. Martin Parish, visit
www.cajuncountry.org

Don't Forget to Subscribe!
If you were forwarded this e-zine by a friend, and don't want to miss future issues, Subscribe Here

Join Sarah's Mailing List

E-mail:

Submit a Quote...

Many of my paintings include humorous quotes. If you have a quote you would like to submit send it to quotes@sarahminor.com.

If I create a painting using a quote you submitted, I'll send you a signed lithograph when the painting is complete.

Submit Quote