Kompær Lapin

Kan mo té in ti fiy mô popa té dí nouzòt kont-yé apré Lapin ki çé byin smat é byin kanay.  In fwa mo té dí li, “To volé kont-çála en Bugs Bunny.” Li té dí mò, “Non, Bugs Bunny volé ça en mò.”  Mo té pa komprenn ça’k li t’apé di.  Astœr mo komprenn. 

Moun-yé en Lamèrik Nòr é Lamèrik Sid té viní konné kont-çálayé paske lèsklav.  Yé rakont kont-layé yé té aprenn en Lafrik.  Shak plas di diféren kont-layé apré Lapin.  En Lalwizyan, yé pèl li Kompær Lapin.

Kouvèt ròz-çila to wa Kompær Lapin apé soté é apé galopé.  Li probab té fé lembara ou paré pou fé lembara.  Bòr-la çé minm kom zérons-la ayou Lapin té né.  Mé toukèkin ja konné li té né lá eksèp pétèt Bouki.

When I was a little girl, my father told us stories about the smart, slick rabbit.  One time, I told him that he stole a particular story from Bugs Bunny.  He told me that Bugs Bunny stole that story from him.  I did not understand what he was saying.  Today, I know.

The stories of the smart, slick rabbit are stories that have been told orally in the New World for generations.  These stories came to the Americas by way of enslaved people from Africa.  The tales vary in different regions.  In Louisiana, the rabbit is known as Kompær Lapin/Compère Lapin. 

This pink blanket shows Kompær Lapin hopping along probably running from or headed towards some kind of mischief.  The border of the blanket is a thick ruffle which depicts the brier patch where, as everyone except probably Bouki knows, Lapin was born.

Louisiana Creole Flag Blanket

Kouvèt-çila çé kom Drapo Kréyol Lalwizyan-la ki çé pou lèritaj Kréyol Lalwizyan.   Prémiyé Drapo Kréyol Lalwizyan-la té kréyé par Pyær Bergeron en 1987. 

Mañær mo kroshé drapo-la çé diféran.  Mo kroshé flœr de li é shato-la pli gran paske kouvèt-la pou in bébe.  Çé kofær kouvèt di « ti Kréyol. » Çé in tap pou in krèsh.

Drapo-la gin : in flœr de li pou lèritaj Frans; drapo o Sénégal; drapo o Mali; drapo o Castille pou léritaj Spañòl; lakrwa blan pou léritaj shovaj (kat diréksyon) é pou tradisyon Katolik-la.

Plin moun té viní ensemb en Koloni Fransé, é Koloni Spañòl pou kréyé in nouvo lakilchi, Lakichi Kréyol Lalwizyan : Atakapa, Bambara, Fransé, Fulani, Shakta, Shitimatcha, Spañòl, Wolof, é plis.

Nouzòt toujou isit.

This blanket is like the Louisiana Creole Heritage Flag.  The original Louisiana Creole Flag was designed by Peter Bergeron in 1987.

I made the fleur-dê-lis and the castle a little larger because the blanket is for a baby. That is why it says ti Kréyol. It is made as a cover for a baby crib.

The flag has:  a fleur-de-lis for our French heritage; the Flag of Senegal; the Flag of Mali; the Flag of Castile for our Spanish heritage; a white cross which represents both our Native American heritage (the four winds) and our Catholic traditions.

The Attakapas, the Bambara, the Chitimacha, the Choctaw, the French, the Fulani, the Spanish, the Wolof, and others in French and Colonial Louisiana formed a new unique culture, the Louisiana Creole culture.

We are still here.

Fé dodo mô bébé

Mo té kroshé kouvèt-çila pou in zami ki çé Kréyol Lalwizyan kom mò.  Kan li té dí mò li té gin in gro vent, m’olé kroshé kishòj Kréyol pou sô bébé.  Kouvèt-la di, “Fé dodo.”  Fé dodo çé mañær pou di va dromi a piti-yé.  Mô zami té dí mò sô granmomanm mèt sôchènn momanm a lî avèk fé dodo itou. 

Astœr mô zami pe envèlopé sochènn bébé vèk lakilchi Kréyol.  Astœr, l’apé di fé dodo a piti-yé minm kom nô vyé paren-yé.

(Fé dodo çé in dans Kréyol lakompañ mé çe in kont pou in nòt kouvèt)

I crocheted this blanket for a friend who is also a Louisiana Creole.  When she told me she was pregnant, I knew I wanted to make something which expressed our shared culture.  The blanket says fé dodo ti bébé.  Fé dodo is a way to tell little children to go to sleep.  My friend told me that her grandmother tucked her own mother to sleep with the words fé dodo.

Now, my friend can wrap her own baby in the Creole culture and say “fé dodo” to her children just like our ancestors.

(Fé dodo is also a country Creole dance but that is a story for another blanket)