Papa Noel with Papa Frank

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Another South Louisiana tradition is the bonfires that are set up along the Mississippi River.  These fires are lit on Christmas Eve to guide Papa Noel into Cajun children's homes.











The Rural Life Museum is on part of the old Burden Plantation.  Click on the words to see their website.  The land is a working agricultural research station.  For example, the pointsettias you buy every year are researched, varieties tested and chosen for the next year's production.

Steel Burden,    whose family owned the land, worked as a landscape architect in Baton Rouge.  He created the city park system plantings, and was involved in the plantings at McIllhenny Plantation, which is the hot pepper sauce people.

If you come to Baton Rouge we can go tour the Hot Sauce factory in New Iberia and then check out the Windrush Gardens and Rural Life Museum in Baton Rouge.  

The Rural Life Museum here in Baton Rouge has Heritage Christmas Day ever December.  The museum consists of multiple buildings from homesteads, plantations and farms in the area that were part of the daily life .  They have a large museum of items from the period both agricultural implements and household items.

At the Heritage Days there are artisans doing things like chopping wood and quill pen writing.  Making candles and shoeing horses and mules.  Making cane syrup and frying chitlings.  Bagpipers and fiddlers.  Singers and dancers.

The end of the day at dusk they lit the bonfire built of logs and kindling.  And sure enough, Papa Noel showed up!  He distributed satsumas grown on the property to everyone.

We had Sawyer in his wagon.  He ran around for a while gathering sticks

with the other kids.  Then he found the bell.

That was it.  He wanted to ring the bell over and over.  It was heavy to pull and very loud.  I had to hold him and pull the bell with some considerable force.  I guess we will go back there every year and see if he is big and strong enough to pull that bell yet!

 Keep scrolling down and see the bonfire and Papa Noel as he was seen in the 1700s and 1800s here in Cajun Louisiana.