Where: St. James Parish, Louisiana
When: winter
If you like: history, arts and culture
Why you should go: Forget leaving cookies by the fireplace. Cajun Country welcomes Santa Claus with actual fire—specifically, some two hundred twenty-foot-tall bonfires lined up along the levees of the Mississippi River. “As children we were taught it was to light the way for Papa Noël to find his way into the swamplands,” says John Folse, the chef and author of The Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine, who grew up in St. James Parish, the epicenter of the tradition likely started by early German and French settlers. As a child Folse gathered wood and helped construct tepee-shaped towers; nowadays, designs range from classic to creative—think bonfires shaped like a rocket ship or a giant largemouth bass. On Christmas Eve, families congregate and cook in the glow of roaring flames. “When I was a kid, everyone around each bonfire made a different gumbo,” Folse says. “My family’s was wild game—smoked rabbit, duck, or whatever came off the swamp floor ‘pantry.’”
To view the spectacle and partake in a bonfire feast of your own, jump on Gray Line New Orleans’ eggnog-fueled Christmas Eve Bonfire Express, or cruise on your own along Highway 44 in and around Gramercy, Lutcher, and Paulina to watch the fires blaze across the skyline.
G&G tip: Bonfire revelers have traditionally sipped ratafia, a concoction of brandy and local muscadines, blackberries, and sugar that had macerated since the summer in ten-gallon crocks. Mulled wine or spiked cider, though, also does the trick.
