Gumbo Ya-Ya: Folk Tales of Louisiana

by Lyle Saxon, Edward Dreyer, Robert Tallant

Long considered the finest collection of Louisiana folktales and customs, this anthology of short stories from Lyle Saxon, Edward Dreyer, and Robert Tallant, chronicles the tales and legends that emerged from the bayou country more than seventy years ago. This anniversary edition contains the complete transcript of the original 1945 printing. On every page are new delights: garlic hangs from the rafters, the Loup Garou holds a convention on Bayou Goula, spiders dwell in haunted houses, and images of St. Rosalia are carried from church to church. All aspects of the bayou state's society are detailed in this wonderful album of Louisiana tradition. Even ghosts haunt the pages including the headless horseman of Natchitoches, and the whimsical apparition who startled citizens of Monroe.

Gumbo Ya-Ya is a charming look at the legends and practices of Louisiana. Originally written as part of the WPA's Louisiana Writers' Program, it has endured as a classic of its genre.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Folklore, Historical, Short Stories, Folk Tales, Mythology

640 pages, Paperback

First published January 18, 1984

About the author

Lyle Saxon was a journalist and author best known for his work with The Times-Picayune and his leadership of the Louisiana WPA Writers' Project during the 1930s. Born in 1891, likely in either Baton Rouge or Washington State, Saxon was raised in Baton Rouge and later became a central literary figure in New Orleans. He lived in the French Quarter, where his home became a gathering place for writers like William Faulkner and Sherwood Anderson. His grandmother, Elizabeth Lyle Saxon, was a noted suffragette and poet.
Saxon authored several notable books exploring Louisiana's culture and history. Among these are Fabulous New Orleans, Old Louisiana, and Gumbo Ya-Ya, a celebrated collection of Louisiana folktales. He also wrote novels including Lafitte the Pirate, which inspired Cecil B. DeMille's film The Buccaneer, and Children of Strangers, set among Creole communities along the Cane River. His book The Friends of Joe Gilmore reflects his personal relationship with his Black valet.
Saxon embraced New Orleans traditions, especially Mardi Gras, participating with theatrical flair. Openly gay within artistic circles, he led a vibrant social life that intertwined with his literary pursuits. He died in 1946 and is buried in Baton Rouge.

Reviews

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

my feelings toward this anthology are as complex as my feelings toward the deep south.



upon reading it, there were various chapters that inspired feelings of a nostalgic homecoming -- the voices in the tales are rich and true and sing out history in tones that are completely unique to louisiana: shared mischief, shared community, shared passion for life. through these chapters i felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude...moments where i was struck with a sharp awareness that the authors did a very fine job. here is a clear recording of lives from the civil war through depression-era jim crow. this is the south before my experience. this is a time and place i will never be able to fully understand in my own life. in this collection (published in the 1940's) the voices of history feel alive and precious.



but intermixed is such abominable racism that the collection is as heartbreaking as it is dear, and perhaps that is why it is still important after all these decades. Many chapters (i.e., "plantations") find the writers abdicating the authenticity of their positions as observers of society and instead taking political positions. the reader is assured that the "vast majority" of slave owners treated their slaves like kings. there is also the strong assertion that the indentured servant system that followed slavery (i.e., sharecropping) was "just" and "democratic" and only unfortunate to the extent that black people in the south were allowed free of rein to destroy themselves -- because, of course, they were little better than animals. ugh -- i could not make it far through these chapters, and they filled me with rage.



it also should be mentioned that subtle racism exists throughout the book, in every chapter, even the "good" ones. black americans are referred to in derogatory terms, while white americans are mostly left with clean descriptors. in addition, there is room to question the integrity of the writers in the people they chose to interview for their collection. without a doubt, black people are lampooned as being animalistic, stupid, over-sexed -- and to the extent these interviews are accurate recordings, one most wonder about the agenda of the writers in choosing their subjects, or the creative license they employed in editing their dialogues. although, an important follow-up point: poor white people are depicted in the same manner. as the writers focus on the folklore of low income communities in the south, they apply equal weight to the "absurdity" of poor whites and poor blacks.



so, why is it so highly ranked? this hearkens to my point in the first paragraph. above all else, we are reading many (many) interviews of people who lived and struggled in a time that we have no real concept of -- culture that has, nonetheless, fundamentally shaped who we are as a people at this very moment in time. and they have a certain joie de vivre that is so unique, so louisiana. with all the good and the bad -- it's the deep south, homecoming and also horror.



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[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

First off, if you're eyeing this book as a collection of folk tales you'll most likely be dissapointed. I'd classify it as closer to a sociology text as it contains history, vignettes, interviews, and some tall tales.

That being said I did enjoy it after the initial surprise wore off. I appreciated all of the history I learned. Particularly the history surrounding the Italian population of New Orleans that I had been previously unaware of. If you choose to read Gumbo Ya-Ya I think you'll enjoy it and I encourage you to read the appendices.

Warning: if you are offended by racial slurs please be aware that there are plenty in this book. It was written 75+ years ago so at the time there were different views on appropriate language and no slurs are used for pure shock value as you might expect today. I also noticed a few sweeping generalizations concerning different races that would be considered offensive today. I feel like none of the above ruins the book personally; but, it may deter some

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as an introduction to Louisiana folklore, not really knowing much beyond the rougaroux or loup-garou (werewolves), and that's pretty much it. Although the book gets off to a bit of a slow start, and it's a pretty big honkin' doorstopper of a collection of folk tales, it's not exactly a book of folk tales--that part of the title is a tad misleading. It starts off with descriptions of Mardi Gras and then launches into a description of the Irish Channel and contains great examples of the New Orleans dialect, although quite dated and bordering on what seems like stereotyping for the African-Americans, but eventually the book turns into more of a 'ghosts and urban legends' type of text, with stories of a bride waiting for a taxi near St Louis Cemetery, a husband who finds out the true (and disturbing) source of the meat his wife finds to feed the family with all of a sudden, people who have lost loved ones, haunted bridges, and some minor discussion of voodoo.
For someone looking more specifically for actual folk tales, I would probably recommend "Louisiana Folktales" by Alcee Fortier, which features Creole and English side-by-side translations.
You have to dig around a bit for the gems in "Gumbo Ya-Ya" but they're there if you look hard enough.

[Julie H. Ernstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edited volume was produced from snippets of lore, wisdom, folk practices and other customs recorded by Lyle Saxon and others are part of the Federal Writers project in Louisiana. It's a great starting point for research into local customs--including north Louisiana ghost stories--and is quite readable. While by no means a formal textbook, I couldn't readily determine whether to call it fiction (not really, because the stories and shared information is more local lore) or non-fiction (but, again, no one is saying the stuff is true/accurate--just that these things are "in circulation"). For that reason alone, I'm thankful for the Other box. Read and enjoy, this makes a great jumping off point.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales by Lyle Saxon, Robert Tallant (1945), 1st edition, hardcover (no jacket), 581 pages.

I was able to find this rare first edition (1945) for my Louisiana book collection for $50 on eBay from the Catholic Charities of NE Kansas in Overland, KS. All proceeds went to charity.

A very unique read! The extended title is a little deceiving. This was mostly centered around Creole folklore and many religious superstitions in, specifically, New Orleans in early 1940’s. But, there were many odd stories presented by way of real life interviews with a few elders of the city of New Orleans describing their memories of certain events that actually took place and some photos included to go along with the stories. Not all of the stories in this book are folklore; some are actually true. You can also Google some of the other people he writes about and actually find old photos of them online. These stories you may never hear or read about anywhere else. It seems they were gathered just in time, as some of the interviewees were in their 80’s and 90’s in the early 1940’s when these interviews were taking place. They would have been born between about 1850 and 1860 and would have seen a lot of changes over their lifetime. If you are Creole, or have Creole blood, you will find this book extremely interesting. Who knows, you might even find your ancestor’s name mentioned. I looked forward to each chapter because it was a completely different story on something that happened in New Orleans. Some stories were very intriguing, while others, I yawned my way through.

[Eyes Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read folktales to taste the flavor of the cultures and societies they are born from, to feel the textures of stories that chronicled history doesn't quite catch in its net. So, when I picked up Gumbo Ya-Ya, I braced myself given the date of its publication. This was going to be an anthropological dig much like the National Geographic of old and I wasn't off.

To anyone looking to dive deep into Louisiana's past, I recommend this book. It is a central train station, with routes that will whisk the reader to destinations unknown for the price of a used book or a library card. They will meet the phantoms of days long gone, sit a spell, and feel both elated at the conversations had, but uncomfortable. Dreadfully uncomfortable. That is the magic of this book.

A last note, more for myself and maybe as a warning for others, this work has power with it. That power is to flay the reader open, force their eyes towards the mirror that is the society they live in and let the examination begin. The sense of otherness applied to any person or group that is either non-American or non-White, sometimes both, is so garish and normalized, that it takes little imagination to see why it still lingers today. Hell, lingers. Permeates is a better word. This book not only shows how it was propagated but wholly accepted even by those victimized by it.

Maybe it takes a gumbo ya-ya to have the quietest voices heard.

[Nancy]

The copy I read is actually the original 1945 edition. It's a project of the Works Progress Administration, collecting what we now call oral history from black and white people in New Orleans and elsewhere in LA.

It's the copy my mother bought in 1946 as a gift for my father, and I had always meant to read it, because 1) my grandmother was a Cajun from Breaux Bridge and 2) I lived in NOLA for 10 years.

It's an interesting read and I think quite authentic--for instance, the first chapter is about the mardi gras indians and the "baby dolls" and there's a chapter on St. Joseph's altars.

BUT: the whole reading experience for me was colored by the fact that the frontispiece of the book--the actual inside cover and facing page--which are a "Ghost Map of Louisiana" showing various ghosts scattered on the map of Louisiana--features a horrible, large grisly drawing of four black men who have been lynched, hanging from a tree! This frontispiece drawing appears to have been excised from all future editions, though other photos and drawings remain. It is horrifying to say the least.

Also, although the tone of the book is generally sympathetic to the people who are described and quoted, there is an unavoidable taint of condescension toward many of them, which is quite disagreeable.

All in all, this was a surprise.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because, as some of you know, I have become obsessed with the story of the Axman of New Orleans. This book was cited over and over as source material and I just couldn't go another day without reading it. I liked with the Axman's story in it, but it has a lot more to offer. The source of the book is a pretty cool story in itself. During the Great Depression out of work authors were paid to go around Louisiana to gather folk stories, ghost stories, and stories with local color. The content ranges from entertaining to haunting to bizarre but overall I really enjoyed the read.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing collection of Louisiana folk tales put together WPA writers during the Depression. It came my way while I was in a French Quarter bookstore, recommended by the proprieter when I asked for a copy of John Chase's Frenchmen Desire Good Children. Although it covers the entire state of Louisiana and includes Cajun folklore, the majority of the book is devoted to New Orleans. The first chapter on the Zulu krewe and baby doll girls is great. This book is a gem!

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the facts in chapters about historical events are wobbly, but taken as folk tales they're still great reading.

[Devin McLaughlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how to rate this book. It is a product of its time to a degree; written during the depression in the US (and collecting older stories besides), it naturally reflects many of the racist attitudes and beliefs of the time. This can't be enough to throw out the book entirely as a piece of history, but boyyy is it ever racist. My god, is it racist. The author's chapter on plantation life underscores a deplorable theme present throughout the book, that being that black people were better off during slavery than otherwise. Which, holy hell. Yikes. The authors rarely say it outright, but they do spend a lot of time pointing out the worst qualities of black people and blowing them up as largely as possible.
So yes, there is a golden collection of folk tales and beliefs and little songs etc. that have clearly been painstakingly collected and preserved when they may otherwise have been lost to time. It also preserves the worst beliefs and thoughts of that time, and I personally have a hard time stepping away from my own feelings on the matter. This book is legitimately useful for a person interested in folklore, just know what you're getting into. I struggled to finish this one.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

After several years of reading, or more like spending time with, this book, I have actually finished! This is an amazing collection of tales and anecdotes and traditions and observations from Louisiana but mostly New Orleans from about a century ago. It's a blend of modern thoughts and lingering legends; it's infused with ghosts (or haints) and religion but also with tangible matters like housework; it is essentially a lot of people telling how it is in their own words, meaning depending on the person, the most pressing concern might be an altar, or a parade, or a wayward spouse, or a curse, or the etqiuette of a party, or lottery gambling numbers. The mish mash of cultures is here in all its glory.

It is so interesting.

Really, and I've felt this way since I was 11 years old, if you don't like New Orleans there's something wrong with you.

[Samantha Matherne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tales found within these pages are for anyone who, rather from Louisiana or not, enjoys learning the unique state’s history and culture. While Louisiana history is taught in middle schools of Louisiana and as a college course some students take, the great part about Gumbo Ya-Ya is that it contains stories of Louisiana told by its people. Much of the book does center around New Orleans and surrounding areas, but that is understand, what with New Orleans being such a cultural and historical epicenter of the state since its founding. I really enjoyed the book, although some of it reads nearly like a textbook and took longer to get through. The appendices, however, provided a treasure trove of exciting superstitions, local sayings, and customs.

[candylambs · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Every night is like Saturday night in Perdido Street, wild and fast and hot with sin.” – opener

My heart pounded, pulse raced, and pupils dilated as I read the opening sentence of Gumbo Ya-Ya. I expected to be lead giddily into an enchanting and hedonistic world of forbidden and extreme debauchery – Louisiana-style. Unfortunately, Gumbo Ya-Ya disappoints in the most flagrant and egregious fashion.

The torturous tales, padded with feckless details, dragged. I broke my 50-page rule, and stopped at 57. Desperate to right this incongruent script, I skimmed the book, and even the tale Creoles left me in literary physical pain.

How dare the badly written narratives of Gumbo Ya-Ya mar the legendary perfection of Louisiana folklore! 1 star

[Nicole Sackin · Rating 2 out of 5]

It may have been a misunderstanding on my part but I expected this to be a collect of stories, common folk tales from Louisiana. It is not.

It is a very dated (1940s I believe) collection of observations about different types of people based on race and ethnicity. Some of the language was uncomfortable reading in the 21st century.

Mostly though I just felt it lacked narrative flow. Each chapter reads stream of consciousness style from the perspective of interviewer and interviewed person without warning.

[Betsy Hagestedt · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had some interesting facts and stories in it, but I found the explicit racism excruciatingly hard to read. I also expected something different than what this book was - a collection of actual folktales, rather than the hodge podge of stories and history that it was. Annie's review from November 2011 describes much of my own reaction as well, so I won't spend much time detailing.

[Gretchen Paris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Did not read the entire book, skipped around, therefore I have no strong opinion. It was packed with details of folk dialects and old stories about life in the bayous, cities. Cajun, Spanish and French areas of the state.

[Leah Weyandt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an incredible oral history of NOLA and Louisiana ghost tales, customs, and cultural origins. It doesn't need to be read in one sitting, but offers digestible, theme-based chapters. If you're a lover of NOLA, I highly recommend it.

[Angela Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting storytelling and insights into the culture of old Louisiana from the stories that I read, but so horrifically racist and misogynistic that I literally threw it in the bin.

Annie does a much better review of this book so if you want to know more I’d read her review.

[Coki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informativ men lite omständligt berättad. Läste inte alla kapitel, använde den lite som en uppslagsbok och läste delar.

[Kristin Bonilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an anthropological record, it reflects both the culture recorded and those who did the recording. I wished it was a bit more focused and edited, but there is interesting information here.

[Carolyn Payne · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone interested in the history of Lousiana this is a fascinating look inside. Thoroughly enjoyed reading about the people of New Orleans and the rest of this interesting state.

[Nora Justice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth tracking down if this tradition interests you even a little

[R Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read and enough telling to make the head spin.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mess of stories and anecdotes with little coherency. I often moved forward through multiple pages in an effort to find something coherently readable.

[Patti Tindal · Rating 4 out of 5]

mostly a good read

I found myself skimming through the book some but I particularly enjoyed the Irish Channel and Cajun People chapters. Worth the read.

[Anje Litle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

[Adriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is proof that the US and other governments should fund writer’s programs.

[Doctor Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really wasn't what I expected. I thought "Folk Tales of Louisiana" would be just that -- tall folk tales, maybe of ghosts, the loup garou, voodoo, etc. But it's much better. It's as if you dropped a listening device into Louisiana in the 1940s and asked everyone to just start talking . . . . about anything. The result is a fascinating mixture of personal memories, stories, myths, historical accounts, and just about everything you could imagine, to give a flavor of life in the Louisiana (more New Orleans than other parts of the state) from the late 1800s to 1945.

One of the great things about the WPA Writer's Project was the opportunity it gave writers to capture the life of their time in the first person. This may be the best example I've read. It has an authentic feel to it, owing to the liberal use of direct quotes, and even the sometimes cringe-worthy capture of dialect and attitudes. We learn from first-hand sources about the celebrations, life on the street, gangs, crime, ethnic and racial divides and hierarchies, poverty, pirates, and all the rest. It's not always easy to listen to.

The writers capture what they hear faithfully, relaying what they hear with a raw directness that conveys, for the greatest part, a respect for those they hear it from. The one exception I have to mention is the chapter on "Songs" where I have to imagine a different author (there are three co-authors for the book) takes over, and the voice becomes that of an anthropologist talking about "the Negro", as well as Creole and Cajun life, looking from the outside in, instead of letting the people themselves do the talking. That the chapter stands in such stark contrast to the rest of the book speaks to the authenticity of the remainder, though.

I enjoyed the book immensely, and I learned from it.

[Bill Zodanga · Rating 2 out of 5]

In some regards this book could be worth 3 to 3.5 stars however it is such a mismatch of stories, styles and just plain on quotes that it is hard to rate it. If you are a fan of folk tales, history of the late 1800's/early 1900's eras, or southern (cajun/creole) culture then you should give this book a read.

I must warn any potential readers, particularly those with an aversion or sensitivity to the "N" word, which is used in abundance throughout this book - in various forms and on practically ever other page. Many of the stories are "from" people of color and even they used the "N" word routinely to describe themselves. This isn't so much a book telling a single story, rather it is a collection of historical memories and tales passed down through the generations - mostly from give / take 40 years around the 1860's American Civil War period. Some of these stories are good, some bad, some just plain boring - however they all add up to form a rather fascinating historical perspective of how people lived around Louisiana in that time period.