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Cajun Country

Cajun Heartland, USA is an eight-parish region of south Louisiana composed of Lafayette Parish, five adjoining parishes (Acadia, Iberia, St. Landry, St. Martin, and Vermilion), as well as Evangeline and St. Mary parishes. These Cajun Heartland parishes are identified as such for travelers by distinctive border road signs showing the region’s geographical outline. Unfortunately, many people often confuse the Cajun Heartland district with the much larger, twenty-two-parish "Acadiana" region. In fact, the Cajun Heartland area is merely a subset of Acadiana, making up its central parishes.

Dictionaries generally define Cajun as "a Louisianian who descends from French-speaking Acadians." However, many common Cajun surnames — for instance, Soileau, Romero, Huval, Fontenot — are not Acadian in origin, but rather are Spanish, German or French Creole. Some are even of Anglo or Scotch-Irish origin, For this reason, contemporary scholars of Cajun history and culture tend to offer a more complex, comprehensive view, attributing the traits of modern-day Cajuns to a dynamic, unending process of ethnic interaction. Although modern Cajuns are largely homogenous, their ancestry consists of a mixture of many ethnic groups. Most early Acadians originated in the Centre-Ouest region of France, but others came from families of Spanish, Irish, Scottish, English, Basque, and, in a few instances, American Indian heritage. After their 1755 expulsion from Nova Scotia, Acadians seeking refuge in South Louisiana again intermixed with other ethnic groups, particularly with French, Spanish, German, and, later, Anglo-American settlers. Cajuns underwent a wide-spread process of rapid Americanization.

Roman Catholicism is the traditional religion of the Cajun people, who can trace their religious heritage from Louisiana and Nova Scotia to Renaissance and medieval-era France. Besides attending formal Masses, observing Holy Days, and receiving the Sacraments, Cajuns exhibit many folk religious practices and beliefs, such as making king cakes between the Epiphany and Mardi gras; commemorating saint’s feast days (by decorating altars with food for St. Joseph’s Day, for example); painting tombs for La Toussaint (All Saints’ Day); maintaining home altars and shrines; and displaying sacred lawn statuary, particularly of the Virgin Mary. Indeed, the Virgin Mary is an important symbol of Cajun worship: in 1938 Pope Pius XI proclaimed "Our Lady of the Assumption" as the patron saint of the Acadians — including the Cajuns. In some Acadiana regions, priests bless crops and fishing vessels, as with the sugar fields of Iberia Parish, or the shrimping boats at Delcambre in Vermilion Parish.

Last Updated March 20th 2002

(CANON by PACHELBEL)

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