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Preface
GUMBO YA-YA--'EVERYBODY TALKS AT ONCE'-- IS a phrase often heard in the Bayou Country of Louisiana. This Gumbo Ya-Ya is a book of the living folklore of Louisiana. As such it is primarily the work of those characters, real or imaginary, living or dead, who created this folklore. We wish to express our indebtedness, therefore, to MAdame Slocomb, who was so polite that she invited even the dead to her parties; and to Valcour Aime and the golden plates at the bottom of the Mississippi; to Monsieur Dufau and his ciel-de-lits, and to Tante Naomie, bold in her 'bare feets' at the blessing of the shrimp fleet; to the ghost of Myrtle Grove and the loup-garous of Bayou Goula; to Mike Noud and 'The Bucket of Blood,' and to Jennie Green McDonald, left alone in the original Irish Channel; to Mrs. Messina, who had everything, including half an orphan, and to Mr. Plitnick, who had the timidity; to Miss Julie, who rouged her roses, and to Mrs. Zito, who made everybody cry to bead the band; to Chief Brother Tillman, for whom Mardi Gras was lfie, and to Creola Clark, 'who kept her mind on Mama'; to John Simms, Junior, the chimney sweep on a holiday, and to all the vendors of pralines and calas tout chauds; to Evangeline and to Lafitte the Pirate; to Annie Christmas and Marie Laveau; to Pere Antoine and Pepe Lulla; to Mamzelle Zizi and Josie Arlington and the hop head's love, 'Alberta'; to Long Nose and Perfume Peggy; to Mother Catherine and the Reverend Maude Shannon; to Coco Robichaux and Zozo la Brique; to Crazah and Lala and Banjo Annie; and to the Baby Doll who had been a Baby Doll for twenty years.
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vi--- Preface The material for this book was gathered by members of the Louisana Writers' Program of the Work Projects Administration. The idea was suggested by Henry G. Alsberg in 1936; he was then the National Director of the Federal Writers' Program. We in Louisiana were pleased with the idea, and at every possible opportunity assigned workers to the task of collecting the folklore of the State. The Louisiana Library Commission, of which Essae M. Culver is Executive Secretary, has sponsored this book, as well as the earlier publication, the Louisiana State Guide. The city of New Orleans sponsored our first publication, The New Orleans City Guide. It may be well to remember that Louisiana was first a French colony, then Spanish, and that the territory was nearly a century old before becoming a part of the United States. It was an agricultural territory and many thousands of Negro salves were imported. In the plantation sections the Negroes outnumbered the Whites five to one; consequently their contribution to the folklore of the State has been large. The Creoles, those founders of the French colony, contribured their elegance, their customs, and cuisine. They influenced their slaves and, in a sense, their slaves influenced them. In Southwest Louisiana lived the Acadians -- or Cajuns, as they are affectionately called -- those sturdy farming folk who, driven from their homes in Nova Scotia at the end of eighteenth century, populated that area. It would seem that the whole of Louisiana was a peculiarly fecund part of the Americas; the forests were filled with birds and animals, the bayous and lakes were teeming with fish, and the Creole mansions and the Cajun cottages were full of children.