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Maman Christine
Way down in South Louisiana along the bayous
you will find a special group of people whose ancestors came from France (and
some from Spain). Some people call them Cajuns, some call them Coon A??¦but the
group I am most familiar with is a group who lives along the edge of Lake Ponchatrain in St. Tammany
Parish.
It??™s New Year??™s Eve and everyone is getting
ready to go out and party or have friends in to party at home. But the children
are all excited because tonight Maman Christine will be coming to their house to
visit and leave a surprise. Who is Maman Christine you ask. Well, many years ago
when my husband and I were first married, I decorated our tree for the holiday
and put stockings out for Christmas Eve. Then he told me, "stockings are
supposed to be put out for New Year??™s Eve." Well, maybe his stockings are for
New Year??™s but mine were always for Christmas Eve so what is the difference?
He explained to me that Maman Christine is
Santa??™s wife and she always comes to the homes of South Louisiana French
children to leave special goodies because New Year??™s Eve is her special day to
be out and about. Hmm, I thought??¦that sounds like a great idea to me but let??™s
combine our cultures and do both. And so we did combine our cultures. I put out
the stockings for Christmas Eve and left them out for New Year??™s Eve. We only
had one small son that year for her visit but we happened to be visiting in his
parent??™s home and his young sister and brother anxiously waited for their
surprises. They were not disappointed either??¦.Maman Christine left candy in
their stockings and I think a pacifier for Denise who was not quite 3 years old.
Then along came our own children, 1, 2, 3 and
then 4 of them and each year Maman Christine came to call. She usually left a
bit of candy and a small game or book and they were always so excited. Then as
they got older, the neighbor children started wondering what was going on at the
Fandal house. Maman Christine was not coming to visit them and even if they left
their stockings out, they were empty on the first day of January.
The Fandal children were happy to explain.
"You see," they said, "you have to have a South Louisiana French ancestor if you
expect a visit from Maman Christine and because our mother is not French, we
also get a stocking full of goodies from Santa Claus." Of course the other
children all told their parents about our children??™s good luck and each of them
wished they had just one ancestor who was South Louisiana French.
This week my two oldest granddaughters were
talking about what Maman Christine had brought them this year and the youngest,
Molly said, "well Hannah??™s daddy is French (He??™s not but she thought he was.)
and Maman Christine did not bring her anything. Shelby??™s reply was "well, you
have to also be Catholic." I hadn??™t thought of that aspect of it but I guess she
was probably correct in that thought. The descendants of the children who are
visited by Maman Christine were French and they were Catholic.
How nice it is to have such a nice family
tradition and how nice it is to know that our two cultures have combined to give
our children the best of both worlds for their Christmas/New Year??™s surprises.
Our children were always excited by Maman Christine??™s New Year??™s Eve visit and
now our grandchildren are having the same fun experience.
?© Doris B. Fandal
January 6, 2004 |
