Cited in the 1945 book "Gumbo Ya-Ya" (look at the bottom of the 2nd page here). So not only did we make them with rice but we made them with cow peas (black eyed peas) like àkàrà in Nigeria & acarajé in Brazil.

Louisiana Folktales is a compilation of stories in Louisiana Creole compiled in the 1890s. The stories of "Compair Lapin" (Kompèr in modern orthography) connect Louisiana Creoles to the rest of the African diaspora because we all have similar stories of this rabbit.

In the Louisiana Creole language rum is typically called "tafya" or "tafia"(same pronunciation, different spelling).

If you look the word Bamboula/Bambula you can see how Louisiana connects to both Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and it's because of Kongo people. These Kongo people in Louisiana were brought into a heavily Senegambian/Malian influenced colony.
Creole culture ❤️

Louisiana Creole & Antillean Creole are 2 different French-based Creole languages but 2 of our dialects share a word that differs from the general words for "thing". The Northshore dialect of Louisiana Creole & the Guadeloupean dialect of Antillean Creole use "biten" for "thing".

In the past we played our drums the way people in the lesser antilles play drums particularly Martinique & Guadeloupe. The drawing in the left is from New Orleans, Louisiana in the early 1800s, the pictures on the right is a modern day picture from Martinique.

This Louisiana Creole word bitin/biten is shared with Creole from Guadeloupe. They use it as a general term for "thing" but we commonly use it to refer to goods, possessions, furniture etc. We use zafè, kèkshoj, kèkshoz, shoz, shoj for a general "thing".

"Tafya toujou di lavérité"
"Tafia (rum) always tells the truth"

- A Louisiana Creole proverb taken from the 1885 book "Gombo Zhèbes" but put in modern orthography.

Although king cakes are a part of our Creole traditions you can find a merging of Louisiana Creole & Italian things in this region. Example: Randazzo's king cakes. On the box it says "Nonna Randazzo". Some Louisiana Creoles even have Italian ancestry.

In Louisiana Creole aka Kouri-Vini it's a slang term for genitalia. This picture is a screencap from the Dictionary of Louisiana Creole.

There's often confusion on the difference between "language" and "dialect". A dialect is a variety of a language. French-based Creole languages are separate languages each with their own dialects & sub-dialects. Mutually intelligibility can vary from dialect to dialect & language to language.

Gombo Zhebes! This is a fun little book for those interested in French based Creole languages. It has proverbs from Louisiana, Haiti, Mauritius, French Guiana, Martinique & Trinidad. The last 2 places speak 2 dialects of the same language which is Antillean Creole.
#creole
#gombosky
#kblfsky

Yes! Some people in Pointe Coupée parish speak that way. The Creole of Pointe Coupée is an interesting dialect of Louisiana Creole!

Louisiana is connected to other places more than just linguistically. In Louisiana Voodoo, Haitian Vodou & Brazilian Candomblé Bantu/Candomblé Angola they share a Kongo spirit named Limba/Lemba. Kongo people and their culture connects so many of us.

I'd like to clear up a common misunderstanding. Louisiana Creole & Louisiana French are 2 separate languages & they're both spoken by Louisiana Creole people. LF is a local dialect of French, LC is a language & not a dialect of French. "Cajun French" is also a bad name for our dialect of French.

Hello & bye in Louisiana Creole aka Kouri-Vini!

In many dialects of Louisiana Creole "kouri" means "go" hence the name "KOURI-vini". Dialects with "alé" are a minority.