The beloved Louisiana children’s book, “The Cajun Night Before Christmas,” celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.
It tells the story of a muskrat-clad St. Nick visiting the bayou. Instead of a sleigh, he has a skiff pulled by eight alligators with names like Gaston, Pierre, Suzette and Renee.
The tale, which is a riff on Clement Clarke Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” is by J.B. Kling Jr., writing as Trosclair, and illustrated by James Rice.
Watch Papa Noel read the story in his delightful Cajun accent during a swamp tour earlier this month:
If you’ve never heard a real Cajun accent, I consider this formal Cajun. A thick flat Cajun accent can be so flat and slurred I even struggle to understand it. #Cajun #LouisianaLove pic.twitter.com/oKseNDVoes
— Jenny Barber Valois (@Inspiredlawyer) December 10, 2022
Can’t see the video? Watch here.
The Papa Noel in the video is Sandy Bernice of Lafayette, according to Jenny Barber Valois, who posted the interaction on Twitter.
Here’s the read-along version of the book:
The Christmas story is featured prominently in the light show at Celebration in the Oaks in New Orleans City Park. Read more about the origins of “The Cajun Night Before Christmas.”
Cajun Night Before Christmas story is told with lights at City Park’s Celebration in the Oaks in New Orleans, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. The holiday spirit spectacle opens to the public the day after Thanksgiving with lights, rides and marshmallow roasting.
Carlie Kollath Wells is a breaking news reporter at NOLA.com and The Times-Picayune.
