February 26, 2006

February 26, 2006 ( Dimanche Gras )

La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns, St. Martinville, Louisiana

YEAR 2 DAY 254

 

Today was sunny and mild. The recent rains made the Magnolias bloom. The creek behind our trailer is swollen from yesterday's heavy rains. I wonder if it's big enough now to be called a bayou ?

The good news is that Teddy and Bo are both back to good health, after having some sort of flu like virus. Teddy was sick for 2 days, and Bo for 9 days. The bad news is that now I have a cold, and feel awful.

I got a late, slow start to the day. I was feeling really poorly, until I had a hot breakfast and a shower. I did today's preventive maintenance, and some chores. I sat down at the computer with a cup of tea while Joanne prepared lunch. We phoned our sisters.

We left for La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns at St. Martinville. A boucherie is a community slaughtering and roasting of a pig, a Mardi Gras traditional. Okay ! We drove a short distance south on Hwy. 182, turned east on Hwy. 96, then turned north on Hwy. 31 to St. Martinville. We found our way to Magnolia City Park, a lovely, large park, filled with huge, stately, old Live Oaks, on the banks of the Bayou Teche. We parked, and walked around the park, checking out the vendors. We arrived a bit too late to see the “squeal like a pig” contest. We walked by the boucherie, where the pig had just been slaughtered. Not a particularly pretty sight. It was lying on a butchering table, blood coming out of its sliced open throat, mouth, and nose. The butchers were pouring boiling water on the skin, and scraping it with sharp knives. We had seen enough. We walked over to the band stand main stage. The performer on stage was Hunter Hayes, a 14 year old Cajun, Zydeco, and Country singer and songwriter, playing guitar and diatonic accordion. One of the songs he performed was an original, written by him when he was 6 years old, recorded when he was 7, and released on his first CD when he was 8 ! We went back to the truck, got our lawn chairs, and set up to the side of the stage, in the bright sunshine, on the banks of the Bayou Teche, for a couple of hours of listening to Cajun and Zydeco music. I was feeling quite ill, and was happy to just sit in the sunshine. Next performer was Damon Troy & Louisiana Beat.

Late in the afternoon, I went over to see the exhibition of rooster fighting. Sheesh ! Louisiana is the last state that permits this "sport". As stunning, and appalling as this exhibition was, I was even more stunned and appalled at the audience. Most of the audience were young girls, ages 3 to 10, who found the fighting roosters' antics very amusing. There were quite a few young women, huge smiles on their faces, with their pre-school age daughters, introducing their little daughters to this "sport". I have a very hard time envisioning my sister-in-law taking Madeleine and Amelia to a cock fight. "Look, girls, watch the pretty roosters kill each other" ! ! !

As I walked back to the main stage area where Joanne was waiting, I walked by the boucherie to see what was going on. There was nothing left of the pig except a few small bags of cracklins ( English ) / gratons ( French ), strips of deep fried pork skin, a popular local "delicacy".

We drove back to Lafayette, and over to Wal-Mart. I needed some cold medication. We returned to Maxie's Campground, and had supper. We watched the Olympics closing ceremonies. I did today's accounting and journal entry.

DSK