For anyone interested in how Cajun's believe they got here, this is a quote from Rev. Msgr. Jules Daigle who lived among the Cajuns of Louisiana for 84 years and who is believed by Cajuns to be an authority on the Cajun and Acadian people:
"Historically, the Cajun's are the descendants of the French people who colonized the general area of ancient Acadia, now known as Nova Scotia, beginning in 1604. Generally known as Acadians, most of them appear to have come from Northwestern France. During most of their stay in Acadia, they were harassed by the British colonists of North America. Finally, in 1713, at the treaty of Utrecht, the French government sold out the Acadians to the British. From that time until 1755, the British not only took their land by force, but harassed the Acadians to take an oath of allegiance to England, and also tried to force them to renounce their Catholic religion and become Protestants as well as to agree to bear arms against France. Both of these, the Acadians flatly and staunchly refused to do."
"Finally, in 1755, the British began a cruel, systematic program of deportation of our ancestors. Between 6,000 and 7,000 of them were deported to several of the original thirteen British colonies. At that time, all of these colonies had proscriptive laws, outlawing all Catholics within their borders. By some estimates, as many as one-quarter of the deportees may have died on the way, either from shipwreck, epidemic or starvation."
"Penniless, ill-clad and, worst of all, being both French and Catholics, nothing but scorn and hatred awaited them in the colonies. The American historian Stevens describes their situation roughly as follows: "these seven thousand condemned people were scattered like leaves in gusts of an autumn wind, in the midst of a people who hated their religion, detested their country (France), made fun of their customs and laughed at their language. Cast-off on foreign shores, these people who had known abundance and well-being suddenly became outcasts, vagabonds and beggers, with no one to heal their broken hearts or alleviate their sufferings.""
"Obviously, the deportees could not remain in the colonies where they were so universally despised. After serving their indenture to the British colonists, some of them made their way back to Acadia or to Canada. Others found refuge in the French islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, St Dominque, etc. In the meanwhile, many of the Acadians who had evaded capture by the British sought refuge in the forests among the friendly Indians of the north. Of all the Acadians deported by the British, a considerable number were brought to England as prisoners: eventually, most of these found their way back to France."
"It was from all the above groups that many of the Acadians came to Louisiana, beginning in the early 1760's. Free at last, they had to begin a totally new and different kind of life in a strange land. For a people who had always lived near the sea, in northern climates, living in the vast prairies and along the bayous of semi-tropical Louisiana must have been a confusing experience. Not only did they have to learn new ways of making their living, they soon found out that even their French language was wholly inadequate in Louisiana. Here were countless new vegetables, trees, fruits. Here were birds, fishes, wild animals they had never seen or heard of before. Here the whole topography and geography were different. Here were bayous, marshes, ponds, cypress swamps, etc. for which their French had no names.
For all the above and countless other things and situations that touched their daily lives, the Acadians had to invent a new vocabulary, find new types of foods, develope new cuisine and a whole new way of life. Thus was born the Cajun language and the Cajun culture."
"It should be noted here that the words Cajun and Acadian do not have the same meaning. The word Cajun applies only to those whose Acadian ancestors came to Louisiana after the eviction of 1755, whereas the broader term Acadian applies to all the descendents of the original Acadians, regardless of where they now live. Thus all Cajuns are Acadians, but not all Acadians are Cajuns."
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