Our Mardi Gras season, which stretches from the Twelfth Night of Christmas or Jan. 6 to Mardi Gras day, the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday and the advent of Lent, is filled with extravagant balls and pageantry like no other. Organizations that host Carnival parades, balls, and pageants are known in…
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Most people think of Mardi Gras as our season of merriment before Lent, but many of our traditions, such as the sweet and decorative king cake, begin with Christmas. The season of Carnival begins on Jan. 6, known as the Epiphany or Twelfth Night, the day the three kings visited the Christ Child. In…
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South Louisiana is home to the greatest free party on earth, a colorful celebration known as Mardi Gras. But what most people see on television the weekend before Lent starts much earlier. The entire Mardi Gras season runs several winter weeks in Lafayette and throughout the Acadiana region and…
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The frottoir — sometimes spelled froittoir — is a percussive, rhythmic instrument omnipresent in zydeco music, and played, to a much lesser extent, in Cajun music. Also called the rubboard, washboard, and scrubboard, the frottoir takes its name from the standard French verb frotter , meaning ‘to…
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Most people recognize Mardi Gras as parades, masked balls, and other urban events, but in Cajun Country, a unique side of Mardi Gras takes place in the countryside and dates back centuries. In Acadiana, a region surrounding Lafayette, many towns celebrate the ancient Carnival tradition of courirs…
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Most people think of Mardi Gras as our season of merriment before Lent. Still, many of our traditions, such as the sweet and decorative king cake, actually begin with Christmas. King cakes date back to 12th century France when a cake was baked on the eve of Jan. 6 with a small token hidden inside…
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Zydeco is a continuously evolving Louisiana music genre that blends elements of many Black American folk and pop styles, including blues, rhythm and blues, gospel, jazz, rock and roll, soul, funk, hip-hop, and rap. Though scholars surmise that zydeco contains deeper historical roots in West African…
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For more than four decades, muralist Robert Dafford has been transforming blank walls into stories that line city blocks. His work spans continents, but much of his heart and brushstrokes remain rooted in Lafayette and the culture of Acadiana. “I’ve always been drawn to big scale,” he says. “When…
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Fall is one of the best times to experience Lafayette, Louisiana, when cooler temperatures and a lively events calendar highlight the city's Cajun and Creole culture. Known as the “Happiest City in America,” Lafayette offers an authentic mix of food, music, art, and outdoor adventure that captures…
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By this point, even a cursory description of what goes into and what comes out of a traditional or modified boucherie can be overwhelming. By and large, what we're talking here about are foodstuffs that, even accounting for only the most popular in Acadiana, are unknown to foreigners. And, to be…
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