Nawlins – Day 2

Today was our second full day in ‘Nawlins, and we started out with a city tour by bus.  It was a great chance to see a variety of neighbourhoods and to learn more about the history of New Orleans, as well as about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.

Our tour guide, Butch, was a native of the city and a wealth of knowledge.  We learned the difference between Creole and Cajan.  Creole referred to the offspring of any French, Spanish, German, or Irish man and a female “person of colour”.  Creole children were often well educated by their wealthy white Fathers, even sent overseas to further their educations.  Many of these Creole children returned to New Orleans, setting up successful businesses and building brightly coloured homes – an expression of their own joy for life.  I have never seen so many houses in varying shades of pink and lavender in my life!

Cajun referred to people of Acadian heritage.  When France wanted to rid itself of criminals, they loaded then on a ship bound for Nova Scotia.  Once  landed in Nova Scotia these same Acadians were driven South, to Louisiana.  When asked where they had come from, they responded “Acadian”, however the difference in dialect allowed for the interpretation “A Cajun”.  The name stuck.

One very interesting part of the tour took us to a local cemetery.  The burial customs are dramatically different than what we are accustomed to in Canada.  The wealthy dead are buried in family tombs, literally stacked one atop the other.  After a body is placed inside, the tomb is sealed with brick and mortar.  Between the intense Louisiana heat and high humidity levels, it takes about one year for decomposition to be complete.  The remains fall between slats and voila! you’re ready to place another beloved in the tomb.  It is still the law that a family must wait one year and a day before a tomb can be re-opened for another burial.

The less fortunate who cannot afford a family tomb (which even 100 years ago cost over $10,000) are placed in “wall tombs” with the remains of strangers.  At the back of each of the wall tombs is a shaft into which the remains of the last resident are pushed with a long hooked tool before the next body is added.  Hence the expression when someone is down on their luck and is pushed aside in favour of another – “getting the shaft” or “being shafted”.

We visited Ward 9 on our tour as well – the area hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina.  It was amazing to see how much destruction is still left – almost 6 years later.  We toured Musicians Village, a new neighbourhood built within Ward 9 to bring musicians back to New Orleans.  Spearheaded by Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr., 70 homes were erected specifically for musicians to return to.  In exchange for their own sweat equity, they were offered 20 year interest free mortgages to help to sweeten the deal.  The homes are painted in all of those great Creole colours.