Cajun Night Before Christmas: A South Louisiana Tradition
You can always tell it’s the holiday season in South Louisiana when someone dusts off a copy of Cajun Night Before Christmas, a retelling of the classic tale with a few distinctly bayou-based twists. If you take a swamp tour with us, it’s not hard to tell why this version might sound just a little different than the traditional tale: the Cajun accent of South Louisiana is heavily influenced by “Louisiana French,” a dialect of French that has developed since the arrival of the Acadians in region back in the 1700s. It definitely doesn’t sound strictly French, but it isn’t quite a southern accent either.
Fifty years ago, Cajun Night Before Christmas actually was born from a Christmas-themed radio ad for a car dealership, where the announcer told a short tale about Papa Noel visiting all the children along the bayou. The owner of Pelican Publishing, a Louisiana-based publishing house, heard the ad while driving, pulled his car over, and decided that it would make a great children’s book. He reached out to a writer and an illustrator, and thus a beloved local legend was born.
While the plot remains the same, you’ll find quite a few differences in the details when it comes to the Cajun version of the story: a pot of gumbo bubbling over the fire, Santa showing up in a pirogue or flat bottom boat instead of the usual sleigh, and no reindeer in sight – just eight faithful alligators guiding Old Saint Nick on his Christmas Eve rounds. Snow in South Louisiana is really rare, but a swamp, a boat, and alligators are a perfect combination for children across the region.
You can enjoy a reading of Cajun Night Before Christmas, read by a true Cajun, below, and come see the alligators (and maybe even Papa Noel) for yourself on one of our swamp tours!