On a sunny December day last year, Reginald Fluence and Derrick Woodly were busy building a small cabin like the ones so common in the Louisiana bayous.
High atop a levee beside the Mississippi River, the men used a chain saw to size their oak and willow logs. Reeds of sugar cane lined the roof.
Fluence and Woodly were diligent in their work; they had to complete the cabin by Christmas Eve. That’s when they would burn it down.
Theirs was one of more than 120 structures, many of intricate designs, to be doused in fuel and then torched. The cane, a commonly used material, pops loudly as flames from the bonfires reflect off the water.
The unique, cheery event has taken place since the 1730s. Legend has it that the fires light the way for Santa Claus, known as Papa Noel around here. And the jolly old man doesn’t arrive in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
Outside Bulldog’s Corner bar in Paulina, a holiday display explained the local tradition. Papa Noel sat astride a gift-laden rowboat being towed by alligators. His tale is shared in a children’s book, “Cajun Night Before Christmas.”
“He jump in his skiff
An’ crack his big whip.
De’ gator move down
An’ don’ make one slip.”
From the sleepy river parishes dotted with historic plantations to bustling New Orleans, folks celebrate the season in ways so unique that they beckon others to enjoy Christmas Louisiana-style. And the welcome mat is clearly out.
“On Christmas Eve, we open our homes to any stranger, any local person. Anyone is welcome,” said Denise Hymel of Gramercy, a town about 50 miles upriver from the Big Easy. She and her family spend the month of December preparing vast amounts of food for her open house, which is just one of many.
“We cook 60 quarts of alligator sauce piquant, 60 quarts of red bean gumbo, 60 quarts of chicken andouille gumbo and 40 quarts of jambalaya,” she noted.
On average, Hymel and husband George welcome 500 to 600 people each year.
“They say, ‘This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world, this hospitality. No one opens their homes to perfect strangers.'”
In New Orleans, the entire month is full of feasts. About 50 restaurants keep alive a centuries-old French custom called reveillon. Part of “Christmas New Orleans Style,” (holiday.neworleansonline.com), a reveillon is a celebratory dinner, often with Creole influences.
“It started as a way of having a party right after midnight mass (on Christmas Eve),” explained Liz Williams, president of the city’s Southern Food and Beverage Museum (www.sofabinstitute.org). “Midnight mass was a very social thing. … They would continue that revelry by going out to eat.”
Williams explained the history during a five-course reveillon at Criollo (www.criollonola.com), an upscale eatery inside the Hotel Monteleone (www.hotelmonteleone.com). This year the seasonal menu includes offerings such as cured lamb belly and scallops with beet puree, Muscovy duck breast with caramelized clementines and, for dessert, buche de Noel, a French yule log.
A four-course reveillon is available a short stroll away inside The Roosevelt (www.therooseveltneworleans.com), the grande dame of New Orleans hotels. The dinner at Domenica (www.domenicarestaurant.com) includes delights such as wood-roasted octopus and panettone French toast with candy cane gelato.
This time of year, the hotel is a must-see — even for nondiners. The block-long lobby is transformed into a jaw-dropping winter wonderland. Straight out of a fairy tale, the foyer is lined with scores of ornately decorated Christmas trees. Forty-four birch trees strung with more than 20,000 twinkling lights form a sort of archway beneath which visitors continuously snap photos.
During Advent, the French Quarter’s St. Louis Cathedral (www.stlouiscathedral.org) swings open its doors for a series of early-evening concerts featuring everything from Cajun to classical to jazz. The early evening performances inside the country’s oldest cathedral are free. Arriving in a horse-drawn carriage adds to the festive feel.
Just across Decatur Street, Aunt Sally’s (www.auntsallys.com) confectionary bustles as locals stop in to buy traditional Creole pralines, a common treat at holiday parties. While waiting in line, customers can see the rich candies being made in large copper pots.
“We tell people who come in the main ingredients are sugar, sugar and more sugar,” manager Christina Prather joked. Sugar is, in fact, the main ingredient, but others include pecans, evaporated milk and butter.
The unique flavor of a Louisiana Christmas continues at Celebrations in the Oaks, a holiday lights festival that draws more than 165,000 visitors to City Park (www.neworleanscitypark.com). The sprawling park, full of oak groves and moss-draped cypress, is transformed by hundreds of thousands of colorful lights and whimsical displays. One features Papa Noel and his team of gators being greeted by a couple of hound dogs as they arrive at a cabin in the bayou — not unlike the one intentionally set on fire last year.
As uniquely Louisiana visions dance in their heads, some young believers will nod off this Christmas Eve to the final words of the Cajun version of a holiday classic.
“An’ I hear him shout loud
As a splashin’ he go
‘Merry Christmas to all
Til I saw you some mo’!'”
Jay Jones is a freelance writer.
If you go
Possibly the most convenient way to witness the bonfires along the levee is aboard a special Grey Line New Orleans (www.greylineneworleans.com) Bonfire Adventure Tour. A so-called “sleigh of coaches” gets a police escort to an excellent vantage point for both the bonfires and the accompanying fireworks. The tour is priced at $113 for adults and $76 for children.
Driving a rental car will mean more walking, but it will allow visitors time to savor the Southern hospitality — and food — at the various open houses. Denise and George Hymel’s home is at 111 Jefferson Highway (locals call it River Road) in Gramercy.
River parishes tourism: www.neworleansplantationcountry.com
New Orleans tourism: www.neworleanscvb.com
