The French Table and the Courir

 In Eunice, we visited the Eunice Depot Museum. 

When we walked in, a lady immediately greeted us, not by saying "Welcome" or "Hello" or anything like that. Instead she said "Y'all here for the French Table?" It took me by surprise and I think I just mumbled, in response, "I don't know what a French Table is." I immediately thought it had something to do with food (for my Pittsburgh readers, like a cookie table.) I'm thinking different types of French bread and other French foods. But it has nothing to do with food. Apparently a group of people meet once a week in the back of the museum and sit around a table speaking French. They do this in an effort to preserve the French language in Louisiana that is sadly dying out. Anyone is welcome to join the French table, and when we made our way to the back of the museum, they were intrigued that we were visiting from Pennsylvania. They invited us to join them and though we didn't sit at the table with them, we did have an interesting chat for a few minutes.

The French Table

The lady who runs the museum is Judy. The museum has a lot of artifacts depicting the history of Eunice, but at this time of year, there are also a lot of displays about Mardi Gras. The tradition of Mardi Gras differs greatly in this part of Louisiana from the typical Mardi Gras parades in the New Orleans area. Apparently years ago, Mardi Gras consisted of local people on horseback riding through the countryside, stopping at houses to ask for ingredients for a gumbo, the most common of which was chicken. Today this tradition has been revived in places like Eunice and Mamou and some of the surrounding towns. Today, some of the participants are on horseback, but since not as many people own horses as in the past, the rest of the participants ride on the back of pick up trucks, or they just walk or run. The French name for the event is Courir, which means run. Anyone can participate, but you are required to wear a costume - and not just any costume. The costume has to be approved by a committee. You must be adorned from head to toe so that no one can recognize you. They sell these costumes in the local stores, complete with tall pointy hats. Here are a couple of examples of the costumes typically worn.

Judy told us that she absolutely hates Mardi Gras, and after relating a couple of stories from her past, it is clear why. When she was four years old, a man who was dressed from head to toe in one of the required costumes, while riding on horseback swung by her family, scooped her up, and began to ride off. Her mother ran after the horse yelling at him. In those days, there was no police security, but the Captain of the parade usually kept watch. When the Captain noticed the mother frantically running and yelling after the horseman riding off with her child, he intervened and rescued the child. Judy told us that this event scared her so much, that she didn't go to Mardi Gras for a long time after that. 

Years later, when Judy had married and had a couple of children, she decided one day that she would chance going to Mardi Gras in order to allow her children to experience this tradition. She decided to go to an early morning Courir, before people would have had too much to drink, and parked in what she thought was a safe spot - a parking lot separated from the parade route by a large ditch. As the parade was taking place, a lady rider came along on horseback, obviously drunk. She steered the horse off course, where the horse fell into the ditch right in front of the van that Judy and her kids were watching from, with the lady being thrown directly onto the windshield of the van. Judy said she vividly remembers the lady's pained expression and outstretched arms as she slowly slid off her windshield. 

So after not going back to Mardi Gras for a long time due to the near kidnapping trauma, and then experiencing the lady sliding off her windshield when she did go back, it is understandable why Judy hates Mardi Gras. Then she told us that she hates Mardi Gras, but part of her job working at the museum is to promote Mardi Gras. She shrugged. 

Judy at the Eunice Depot Museum