Notre Dame de Guadalupe

Le 11 décembre

Belle, le 10 décembre

Le 9 décembre, un lundi

Samedi en décembre

Le 5 décembre

Prairie aux Femmes Maps

La Veuve de Musicien

La balance de la vie 
Devient les restants 
C’est nous qui reste 
Quand les hommes sont gone 
Le dernier bout c’est la veuve du pain
Mais moi j’suis la veuve d’un musicien 

December 1

November 30

Comme la Femme dit

From the Egyptian Book of the Dead Chapter 94, Prairie des Femmes Journal 2-2016, Tomb of Nefertari #pdfjournalaew

Found Poetry: Carencro Coyote Sightings

Prairie Noël

Song for a Blue Roday

Items on my desk at the Academy of the Sacred Heart on a Thursday in Mid-November

11 novembre

10 novembre

November 5

Le 4 novembre

Le 3 novembre

Ville Platte Girl

"Les filles de la Ville Platte

Moi j'connais pas quoi y'a avec eux

Elles me semblent si vaillantes et si adorables

Mais y'a pas un qui veut de moi

Moi j'connais pas si c'est moi 

Si c'est moi le malchanceux de la Ville Platte"

My parents met at the Evangeline Club

My daddy said that it was instant love

He'd played all over Acadiana

Lookin for the prettiest girl in Louisiana

A Ville Platte Girl

The way you know that she a Ville Platte Girl 

She'll cut you some yeuxs canailles

Yan-yan et yon-yon après cet homme tout le temps

She in love with his soco eye.

***

 J'etais au bal at the fais-do-do

We step'd it fast and then we waltz'd it slow 

Y'avait une catin 

Who really caught my eye 

Elle 'té assis au coin avec les yeux canailles 

J'ai dit moi-même

Mais hey I like that 

But you know that girl looks like 

She's from Ville Platte

Mais je m'ai dit  moi-même 

I'm gonna give her a whirl

No matter what they say 

About the Ville Platte girl.

We some real good dancers now

Don't ya know?

Yeah we can jitterbug 

and we can zydeco

All them good ole boys 

They wanna give us a twirl

Cause there's just something bout 

A Ville Platte girl

You know I been warned time and time again

About the girls from the Parish of Evangeline 

But my paw paw said that I should give it a whirl

No matter what they say about the Ville Platte girl:

Elles ont les yeux canailles 

Tout le temps elle tchequaille

Ça aime roder la Prairie Ronde

Ça l'aime aller au Fred's

Cook on the braise

Elle peux jouer bourée et bataille

T'as jamais connue une fille comme ça

And if you think you know 

You probably connais pas 

All them good ole boys 

They wanna give her the world 

But that ain't nothin to a Ville Platte girl.

Ashlee Wilson 2016

Unrequited love’s part of being young

Maison Blanche

Maison Blanche

Moi je reste dans un mobile home
Mais tous les soirs je rêve de ma maison blanche
Moi j'ai une femme et un ti-garçon
Et j'aimerais les mettre dans ma maison blanche

Moi j'veux pas d'être president
Mais j'aimerais rester dans ma maison blanche.

Moi j'veux pas d'être le president
Mais j'aimerais rester dans ma maison blanche.

Ma Maison Blanche

 

Vinéraire

Plan A or Plan B

Octobre

Il était une fois dans la Louisiane

Il était une fois 

dans la Louisiane

une place qui s’appelle 

la prairie des femmes

Les signes de l'automne

La vinéraire blanchit 

Dans la savane 

The painted bunting's gone

The turn of the goldenrod 

Annonce l'avant automne

La fête de l'Assomption 

J'après ramasser ma sasafron

La lumière jaune me donne

L'envie du gateau sirop

La roulaison en vermillion

C'est un oxblood de trop

Beau Jocues' death anniversary

Damballah weather for Andres Esprit

Umbrelles of elder in the sureau trees

A carencro feather, Bon Dieu te bénit

The sides of the coteau are cut for hay

He likes a thin gumbo, no filé

“Be Happy”

 

Origin of Grand Coteau

 Grand Coteau, La. 

The origin of Grand Coteau dates back to 1821, when Sieur 
Charles Smith, a large land owner in this section, donated land to 
the church for a convent. The convent was founded by Mother Eugenie. 
Aude and called “Grand Coteau.” In 1837 St. Charles College was 
built. The settlement that grew up around the two schools was 
originally called “St. Charles Town,” but later became known | as 
Grand Coteau, the name it still holds today. 

Opelousas Place Name

Some origin stories I have heard about Opelousas name:

1.  It was briefly mentioned to me once a long time ago that someone said they heard it was believed it is from "la pelouse" (the lawn in French). I don't think this is a correct origin, but is an interesting view onto the French lens applied to native named things in Louisiana (think sac-a-lait). I only mention it for thoroughness, because everyone knows Opelousas is a native place. 

2. Opelousas is known to be a native place, named for the tribe of Ishak who called                 themselves or their place Opelousas (black leg).

            a. black leg because - the natives walked the tea colored swamp water (Leonard             swamp) and other bayous. The tannins in the water made their legs dark.

        b. black leg because the natives had dark skin

        c. black leg because the natives walked the burned prairies and the soot made                         their legs  black

        d. black leg referring to salt water?

        

        e. vpi lusa /black stem  (oppaloosa) - aster. This is also known as the Symphyotrichum lanceolatum /panicled aster.  The Choctaw name for it is vpi lusa (black stem).  The elder who brought the plant told me that it's where he believed the name Opelousas. Unsure if this is passed down information or based on similarity of the name. 

                                             -   information relayed from Dr. Ian Tompson of the Choctaw                                                     Nation of  Oklaholma

                                                                                    -through Dustin Fuqua

 photo Pete Gregory

INFORMATION From Some History of Saint Landry Parish from 1690's By RUTH ROBERTSON FONTENOT

*Note Attakapas-Ishak is the preferred name of the tribe today, and

 One hundred and fifty years ago April 10, 1805, St. Landry Parish was officially established by an act of legislature. In 1690 the first white man is believed to have settled in Opelousas, which is the parish seat, thus making Opelousas one of the oldest settlements in these United States, The name of the first settler has not come down to us, but he was undoubtedly a Frenchman. The Attakapas Indians were here - this was their land, They had chosen for their camping grounds the site of the city of Opelousas, because of its location on high land above the flood level. From legends comes the story of how Opelousas was named. The Attakapas were {RUMORED TO BE} a cannabalistic tribe, fierce and warlike, and they: preyed upon the neighboring tribes who dwelled along the high bluff that we call the Grand Coteau ridge. There were three tribes - the Opelousas, the Choctaws, and the Alabamans. They held a counsel and decided to try and wipe out the Attakapas, who were constantly making war with them. So together the three tribes waged war upon the Attakapas and finally succeeded in driving them from their lands, destroying almost the entire tribe of Attakapas Indians. The few who escaped with their lives flew to the south, and made their camping-grounds in the regions of what is now St, Martin parish. The three tribes then made a pact and gave the land of the Attakapas to the Opelousas Indians, and thereafter the territory was called ‘‘Opelousas”’, as the land below it was cal= led “Attakapas"’. ‘For their main campsite the Opelousas tribe chose the high land on which the present city of Opelousas is located. The exact spot has by tradition been established as the grounds of the old Academy of the Immaculate Conception, on the north end of town. Some years past there was here a small mound with a pine tree Standing on it, and this was said to be the lookout post. Many arrowheads have been turned up on lands nearby, and also fear this same spot are some very old springs. The name “‘Opelousas’ has been given many meanings, but the one most commonly accepted is ‘‘Blackleg’’ -- possibly the tribe painted their legs a dark color. Other trans- Tations are “Blackfoot’’, and ‘‘Man with black leg’’. Still another translation is ‘‘Salt Water,’’ which alludes to the fact that from here south the land lowers to the Gulf of Mex- ico and ‘‘saltwater’’,

Olivier Plantation

 OLIVIER PLANTATION HOUSE on Bayou Bourbeaux in Prairie des Femmes, as viewed here, shows it to have been a typical river plantation house that was similar to those built by most of the early French settlers in Louisiana. The view is-from.the rear and shows the carriage entrance. A pigeoniere stands oneither side of the house. The present Olivier home, which is also a very old one, is said to have been moved out to its present location from the town of Grand Coteau. All of these old photographs loaned to us by the Oliviers are of especial interest in that they are arranged for viewing with a stereoscope, which makes the pictures thus seen three-dimensional -and very sharp and clear although they are yellowed with age. 

KING COTTON Goes To J & W SIBILLE CO. In Sunset 

Prairie Des Femmes Water Corporation

 

Prairie Des Femmes Water Corporation constructs and operates a water distribution system within and for that part of the area within the confines of St. Martin Parish lying within the following area:

Beginning at a point which is the confluence of Bayou Carencro, Bayou Fuselier and the Vermilion River; said point also being the common boundary of St. Landry Parish, St. Martin Parish and Lafayette Parish; thence following the meanderings of Bayou Fuselier in a northerly direction to its intersection with Bayou Bourbeaux; thence following the meanderings of Bayou Bourbeaux in a northwesterly direction to its intersection with the centerline of Louisiana Highway 93; thence in a westerly direction along the centerline of Louisiana Highway 93, a distance of 5,400 feet; thence in a due north direction for a distance of 7,000 feet to Bayou Bourbeaux; thence following the meanderings of Bayou Bourbeaux in a northwesterly direction to its intersection with Coulee de Marks; thence following the meanderings of Coulee de Marks in an easterly than a south-easterly direction to its intersection with Bayou Fuselier; thence following the meanderings of Bayou Fuselier in a south-easterly direction to its intersection with the western corporate limits of the Town of Arnaudville; thence southerly along the western corporate limits line and a projection thereof to the intersection with the centerline of Bayou Pont Brule; thence following the meanderings of Bayou Pont Brule in a southwestern then southerly direction to its intersection with the Lafayette Parish-St. Martin Parish Line; thence westerly along said parish boundary line to its intersection with the centerline of the Vermilion River; thence following the meanderings of the Vermilion River in a north-westerly direction to its intersection with Bayou Carencro and Bayou Fuselier which is the point of beginning.

La Pointe Claire

General belief is that Pointe Claire was a clear, open grassland in the cove directly east and bordering la Prairie des Femmes. To arrive at the Pointe Claire from the Prairie des Femmes cross the Coulee des Marks at Marks Bridge, and travel north on Jules LaGrange until it intersects Hwy 347. To the west one will intersect Leonville and the Bayou Têche, and to the east toward Arnaudville is la Pointe Claire. 

Prairie des Femmes generator box by Churchgoing Mule

According to Mike Leblanc, who has a wonderfully informative blog linked below: 

To the east of La Prairie des Femmes is a place called Pointe Claire, a pasture used in the spring to herd cattle upon the grasslands. As late as the 1960’s, the cattle were driven by horseback from land laid fallow in the winter months to these nearby pastures for their spring grass. These lands were first discovered by that early band of Africans who hunted deer to extinction and were later to inter-marry with Acadians who herded cattle upon those lands. - A Place called la Prairie Basse, by Mike Leblanc

The Protection of the Academy

The Grand Coteau was high holy ground before the Jesuits settled it for Catholic formation of their religious and then the religious of the Sacred Heart. There is an oral history that says it was there native men went to fight with honor. At the westernmost ridge of the old Mississippi River, and near the tribal boundary of the Attakapas-Ishak and Opelousas, this seems plausible.  The elevation alone made this land some of the finest and safest around. Grand Coteau is found at the uppermost limits of the Prairie Carencro, on land on the Teche Ridge that was also called Prairie des Grands Coteaux.  Despite some overlap in orientation, both topographically and culturally, the Grand Coteau is singular and known as holy land in south Louisiana folklore. 

The prairies, ridges, swamps and coves of south Louisiana overlap and interplay.  The edges of the Prairie des Femmes have a liminal quality that matches her landscape and they mystery of the women's protection she provides. Grand Coteau is the high ridge directly east and adjacent to Prairie des Femmes, and the same stretch of Bayou Bourbeaux that acts as PDF's western limit also runs through the Academy of the Sacred Heart at Grand Coteau's realm, less than a half mile from the school. No place is closer to the Praire des Femmes both physically and spiritually, as Grand Coteau, as they share this history of being a mystical place of women's protection. The Academy is the second oldest institution of learning west of the Mississippi River and also the site of a shrine to Saint John Berchman, who appeared there to novice Mary Wilson and healed her through his intercession. This is the reason the Academy is the only place where a recognized miracle took place in North America.  Today as I write, the shrine sits directly above my classroom. 

The Academy served as a safe haven for women and children through the Civil War. The school was protected by the Union and instruction of the girls never ceased. Because of this protection, within the Sacred Heart, and also due to the communication of industrious women, it was not burned, and the Academy and town of Grand Coteau stand still in operation today. 

The convent of the Sacred Heart was founded in Grand Coteau in 1821 by the Religious of the Sacred Heart and had five students that year. In 1861 the Civil War's skirmishes around Bayou Bourbeaux (Battle of Buzard's Prairie at Chretien Point and east along the bayou) were audible from the school and the nuns reported seeing the battle from the third floor gallery. They began to fear for the school and the girls' safety. 

In 1862 General Nathaniel Prentice Banks became the commander of the Department of the Gulf. He and his wife Mary Theodosia Palmer Banks had a daughter in a Sacred Heart school at Manhattanville, New York.

The following is correspondence between Mother Jouve and General Banks concerning the protection of the Academy: 

Notes from Reverend Mother Jouve, July 1864

Thanks to the protection of the generals, or rather to the Heart of Jesus, our property has been respected, and guards have been sent by the officers to protect us from the marauders who infest the area. For more than two months, we heard the noise of the cannons; some of the skirmishes took place on the road which leads to the convent, and from our gallery we were able to follow the phases of a real battle between the Confederate guerillas and the Federal troops.

In these moments of crisis, prayer was constantly our recourse, the Way of the Cross, adoration all day and the Holy Hour at night, the most exact practice of the Rule. Finally, the certitude that our Mothers and Sisters were praying for us, all combined to sustain our courage, and to help us to live through this time of trial with calm and confidence."

20 April 1863

To the Superior of the Convent of the Sacred Heart-

If you desire to send letters to New York, you will please forward them to me by the bearer who is instructed to wait for them. I send a safeguard that will protect your school from the stragglers in the rear of my column and if you desire it will leave a guard. I regret that I cannot call to see you. My daughter is with Madame Hardey at New York.

Mrs. Banks who visited the school but a short time since writes that all are well there.

I am respectfully your obt servant,

N.P. Banks

*Mary Aloysia Hardy ppt compiled by Caroline Richard 2020

The Union did not only protect the Academy with stationed guards, but provided the sisters and the girls food and bolts of fabric for new clothes.  As far as oral histories of Prairie des Femmes go, the most available in the mind of the people is the one owes the name to the Civil War. Though the name is older than the war, and probably refers to some native wars also, I often wonder if reports of forts and extreme refuge found here rest in the power of the memory of the protection of the women and children of the Convent of the Sacred Heart at Grand Coteau under penalty of death.