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 * __Cajun Culture__ **


 * Name: Isabelle **


 * __Language:__ **
 * The Cajun culture has created their own language called Cajun French. Since the Cajun culture originated from French speaking people the language consists of some French, and also some of the Cajun's own traits that make it the original language called Cajun French. **

____//Beliefs//__ __**__:__ **
 * Most Cajun's are Roman Catholic, but there are also people who are Christians and Protestants. In most families if you change religious beliefs you are shunned or turned away because of persecution that took place in 1755 during the Great Expulsions by Protestants. **

__//__Behaviors:__ //__
 * Cajun's take part in Mardi Gras, but not in the way that most people are use to. Instead of having huge parades like New Orleans has, they celebrate Courir de Mardi Gras, which is "fat Tuesday run". What happens is that a group of people on horseback, wearing a capuchons and wearing traditional costumes will go from house to house asking if they will contribute to the community gumbo pot. Usually they will make a deal that if the men can catch a chicken they can have that chicken. This group of people will then put on a comical show where they try to catch the chicken. There are jokes told, songs sung and little skits that are put on for the enjoyment of the people. After the chicken is caught it will go into the pot. Cajuns celebrate Easter with an old tradition game called 'paque'. Paque is when you select an egg, pair off and then tap your eggs together. Whoever's egg does not crack is considered the winner. They also celebrate Easter like the rest of Americans, with baskets filled with candy and the Easter bunny. **

__//__Beliefs:__ //__
 * Cajun's believe in a traiteur, a Cajun healer who lays their hands on you and says prayers. The traiteur will use a mix of remedies and Catholic prayers to try and heal things like toothache, tumors, bleeding and earache, among other things. **

__//__Values:__ //__
 * Cajuns have almost no values, but they do value hospitality and family. If there is a stranger or someone traveling and they come into a Cajun village, people will take them into their homes and provide a place for that traveler to stay. Whatever the family has they will share with the traveler, even if they have very little. **

__**Cultural Challenges **__

__//__Stereotypes:__ //__
 * The Cajuns were known as lazy, ignorant, illiterate and simple minded people. Due to the Cajuns not being efficient in work and not really caring about their progress, they moved at a slower pace compared to the rest of Americans. All Americans have basically the same values, wealth, education, freedom, etc. The Cajuns had almost none of these values, wealth and progress did not matter to them, same as education. No one had an education causing them to be illiterate, giving Americans yet another reason to look down upon the Cajuns. **

//__<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Times Changing:__ __//
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cajun culture started to get influenced by the American culture. Families stopped speaking to their children in Cajun French and started just speaking one language to them. Today, Cajun French has been lost and most Cajun people do not use their original form of dialect anymore. Also, many of their customs and traditions have been lost from generations to generations. Slowly the Cajun culture is being lost, Cajuns are forgetting the traditions that their grandparents grew up in. Americanization has caused a decline in the Cajun culture and making it almost extinct, but there are some villages that still preserve the Cajun culture. Acadian Village in Lafayette, Louisiana is an original Cajun village that is preserved and opened up to the public. **
 * [[image:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/8RhdfKKZyff0TG2cqvdktTjf6BTaQpgWJORhWws3jHDaKaPfKBcM_xx7g6ptKU1Q0qENfBXfo9stA9SGf7GjmtsGEezwyPPYPaHBpxtnM3NyZMESLrABZhL__w width="343px;" height="166px;"]]<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Acadian Village Lafayette, Louisiana **

__//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Call to Action:__ //__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Cajun culture is becoming lost, they are being Americanized slowly. The traditions and values are slowly fading, very few people speak Cajun French anymore, that language is almost extinct. If we do not try to continue to preserve the Cajun heritage, it will be all gone soon. Since Cajuns live within America, they are no longer un-educated. They are forced to go to school so they are no longer looked down upon because they are now just like everyone else in America. You would never know that you are talking to a person with Cajun heritage. In that sense it is good that they have become more civilized because it is helping them, but at the same time they are losing their former heritage. Family is still a big aspect for Cajuns so that has not been lost over the years, and they are still very kind and helpful to travelers, so their main values have not been lost. Cajun heritage is unique and different from any kind of culture within the United States of America, but also within the whole world. And this culture is on the brink of becoming extinct, and we need to save it so that generations to come will know and be able to see the Cajun culture for themselves. **

__//<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Works Cited: //__
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Cajun: History, People and Culture." Buzzle. Buzzle.com, 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cajun-history-people-and-culture.html>. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Cajun." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 29 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cajun>. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Preserving History- Enriching Lives." LARC'S Acadian Village. LARC'S Acadian Village, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <http://www.acadianvillage.org/home_page0.aspx>. **


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">N.d. Photograph. "History of Acadiana." Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. <"History of Acadiana." Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission. Lafayette Convention & Visitors Commission, n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013. .> **