Many Cajuns also have ancestors who were not French.

Since many Cajuns and Creoles were farmers and not especially wealthy, they were known for not wasting any part of a butchered animal.

However, Protestant and Evangelical Christian denominations have made inroads among Cajuns, but not without controversy — many Cajuns will shun family members if they convert to any form of Protestantism because of the extreme persecution the Cajuns were subjected to by Protestants during the Great Expulsion of 1755, and throughout their history for maintaining their Catholicism.

The name of the parish is derived from the former French colony of Acadia in Canada ( which consisted of the modern provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and much of Maine ) many of whose French-speaking inhabitants were deported to France and then migrated to Louisiana in the Great Upheaval ( see Cajuns ).

Many of the newcomers were white businessmen from outside of Louisiana who attempted to force the Cajuns and Creoles to adopt the dominant American cultural forms, even outlawing the use of the French language in 1916.

Despite the law, many Cajuns and Creoles still spoke French at home, and musical performances were in French.

" Cajun " combinations were common in southwestern Louisiana, which was populated primarily by Cajuns, descendants of the French-speaking settlers expelled from Acadia ( in northeastern North America ) in the mid-18th century.

The white French Creoles introduced jambalaya to the Cajuns, but since tomatoes were rarely used in Cajun cooking, they omitted them, browning the meat for color instead.

New Brunswick has seen a roots revival of their own Acadian traditions, dating back to before the French settlers of the area were expelled to Louisiana and became the Cajuns.

Advertisements and banners reading " University of Louisiana at Lafayette ," " Ragin ' Cajuns ," and " www. ragincajuns. com " also were installed around the black retaining wall that surrounds the field.

In an interview on National Public Radio, Canada's Ambassador to the United States said that in addition to the basic desire to help a neighbor in need, many Canadians also remember the ancestors of Louisiana's Cajuns were expelled from what would become Canada by the British in the 18th century, which he felt gave an extra historical dimension to Canadians ' desire to help the people of Louisiana during the recovery operation.

While Lower Louisiana had been settled by French colonists since the late 18th century, the Cajuns trace their roots to the influx of Acadian settlers after the Great Expulsion from their homeland during the French and Indian War ( 1754 to 1763 ).

Recent documentation has been made of Cajun English, a French-influenced dialect of English spoken by Cajuns, either as a second language, in the case of the older members of the community, or as a first language by younger Cajuns.

Today Easter is still celebrated by Cajuns with the traditional game of ' paque ', but is now also celebrated in the same fashion as Christians throughout the United States with candy-filled baskets, " Easter bunny " stories, dyed eggs, and Easter Egg hunts.

* Bayou Folk ( 1894 ) by Kate Chopin who wrote about the Creoles and Cajuns ( Acadiens ).

* La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns-sponsored by La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns, Inc., a Louisiana non-profit organization benefiting the youth of St. Martinville and other civic projects

The Creoles are a community with varied non-Anglo ancestry, mostly descendant of people who lived in Louisiana before its purchase by the U. S. The Cajuns are a group of Francophones who arrived in Louisiana after leaving Acadia in Canada.

Jazz's roots come from the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, populated by Cajuns and black Creoles, who combined the French-Canadian culture of the Cajuns with their own styles of music in the 19th century.

Creole jambalaya, or red jambalaya as it is called by Cajuns, is found primarily in and around New Orleans, where it is simply known as ' jambalaya '.

Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and traditional French Louisiana musical influences.

Although many Cajuns use the word in regard to themselves, other Cajuns view the term as an ethnic slur against the Cajun people, especially when used by non-Cajuns.

Socioeconomic factors appear to influence how Cajuns are likely to view the term: working-class Cajuns tend to regard the word " coonass " as a badge of ethnic pride, whereas middle-and upper-class Cajuns are more likely to regard the term as insulting or degrading, even when used by fellow Cajuns in reference to themselves.

Some amateur linguists believe that the word refers to the Cajuns ' occasional habit of eating raccoons, or from the use of coonskin caps by the Cajuns ' ancestors while fighting in the Battle of New Orleans or in the Revolutionary War under Spanish colonial Governor Bernardo de Gálvez.

Cajuns (; or les Acadiens, ) are an ethnic group mainly living in the U. S. state of Louisiana, consisting of the descendants of Acadian exiles ( French-speakers from Acadia in what are now the Canadian Maritimes ).

Since the mid-1950s, relations between the Cajuns of the U. S. Gulf Coast and Acadians in the Maritimes and New England have been renewed, forming an Acadian identity common to Louisiana, New England, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

Domengeaux asserted that Frenchmen used the term in reference to Cajun soldiers serving in France during World War II, and that Anglo-American soldiers overheard the term, transformed it into " coonass " and brought it back to the U. S. as a disparaging term for Cajuns.

The Louisiana Purchase territory was home for many of the Cajuns after the British forced them to leave from their former home of Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Cajuns of Louisiana also believed in a similar creature with the variant name of Rougarou.

In the rural Acadiana area, many Cajuns celebrate with the Courir de Mardi Gras, a tradition that dates to medieval celebrations in France.

Some of the Acadians who had been relocated to France subsequently left for Louisiana, where their descendants are now known as Cajuns.

Many Acadians or Cajuns living in North America can trace ancestry to this region as their ancestors left from here in the 17th century.

Cajuns of southern Louisiana carry the same mutation that is seen most commonly in Ashkenazi Jews.

Today, the Cajuns make up a significant portion of south Louisiana's population, and have exerted an enormous impact on the state's culture.

The Acadia region to which modern Cajuns trace their origin consisted largely of what are now Nova Scotia and the other Maritime provinces, plus parts of eastern Quebec and northern Maine.

Since their establishment in Louisiana the Cajuns have developed their own dialect, Cajun French, and developed a vibrant culture including folkways, music, and cuisine.

The Cajuns retain a unique dialect of the French language and numerous other cultural traits that distinguish them as an ethnic group.

La., 1980 ), hinged on the issue of the Cajuns ' ethnicity.

Cajuns fought in the American Revolution.

Living in a relatively isolated region until the early 20th century, Cajuns today are largely assimilated into the mainstream society and culture.

Some Cajuns live in communities outside of Louisiana.

Not all Cajuns descend solely from Acadian exiles who settled in south Louisiana in the 18th century, as many have intermarried with other groups.

Historian Carl A. Brasseaux asserted that it was this process of intermarriage that created the Cajuns in the first place.

During World War II, Cajuns often served as French interpreters for American forces in France ; this helped to overcome prejudice.

Besides advocating for their legal rights, Cajuns also recovered ethnic pride and appreciation for their ancestry.