Tag: parades

Super Dimanche.. Super Sunday.. Dimanche Magnifique?

March 22, 2015 / Josh / 0 Comments

Louisiana presents an interesting problem when it comes to neologisms. There are cultural events that are well known with titles in English, but what does one refer to these as in French when everyone already understands English? For example, Super Sunday just passed in New Orleans. This festival is one of Mardi Gras Indians’, where they parade through the Central City neighborhood, but what does one call this? “Le Super Sunday” is clear, yet it’s English. “Le Super Dimanche” is pretty much French, but it’s the French of France. “Le Dimanche Magnifique” could work, it’s local, but the signification isn’t completely the same. In a country where English is a foreign language, this problem would be fixed by considering whether the name is so strong that it’ll be recognized without being translated or whether the name requires a translation in order to be understood. In Louisiana, every single person will recognize it without translating because English is the dominant language.

Maybe an example that’s even more difficult is “le second line,” or “la deuxième affilée.” This is a traditional parade in New Orleans and, at the same time, a the title is a compound noun that doesn’t clearly denote what it means, but nearly every that lives in the city will understand it in English. So, should it be left in English or changed into French? How would this change ever happen if no one truly needs to find a French version of the word in order to understand it? I don’t have the answers to these questions but I suppose that this is one of the reasons that words like “drive,” “peanut-beurre,” and “gone” came about in Louisiana French.

In any case, I’d like to leave y’all with these videos of Super Sunday.. or Dimanche Magnifique.. whatever.

Purim, New Orleans style.

March 8, 2015 / Josh / 0 Comments

. . . the Sages of the Talmud stated that one should drink on Purim until he can “no longer distinguish between the phrases arur Haman (‘Cursed is Haman’) and baruch Mordechai (‘Blessed is Mordecai’).” – Wikipedia

It’s not clear if they were drunk enough for that, but they were having a good time nonetheless. I’m not Jewish and I’ve never even heard of Purim, but I enjoyed a glass a wine myself.

Purim is a holiday when Jews celebrate that fact that they survived Haman’s plot, that which would have killed off each and every one of them. During the holiday, it’s common to read the megillah, donate to the poor, eat, and drink (as already described). I did find one video of a parade, including costumes, be I believe that this is not the norm. But, in New Orleans, would there ever be another way a day like this? Of course not.

The culture of New Orleans, the requirement to parade, makes all that would be private, public. It creates the opportunity to express our differences in a way that is a part of the culture of everyone. That is what convinces me that this place is special. We rejoice in our differences, but we do it together, creating a unique gumbo, as they say.