Upcoming Events

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Look for the Louisiana Book Festival this coming October where Mary Perrin and Beverly Fuselier will be featured authors. This event will be held in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. More information coming soon.

Beverly and Mary will be guest speakers at the Vermilion Historical Society’s quarterly meeting on Wednesday, July 26 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Vermilion Parish Library in Abbeville and the public is invited. What an honor for us to speak to this group. This book is all about preserving the history of our ancestors who took care of the people of their communities, with both prayers and plant-based medicine

Healing Traditions of South Louisiana: Now Available at Select Retailers!

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We are excited to announce that Healing Traditions of South Louisiana is now available for purchase. This book can now be found at several locations around South Louisiana.

  • Beausoleil Books, located in downtown Lafayette, Louisiana
  • Vermilionville Living History and Folklife Park, in Lafayette, Louisiana
  • The Acadian Museum of Erath in Erath Louisiana
  • Local offices in Lafayette, LA. These two sites can only accept checks or cash and are open during normal business hours on weekdays:
    • Law office of Warren Perrin, 225 La Rue France, Lafayette, Louisiana
    • Office of Master Builders and Spec., Inc, 106 Board Road, Lafayette, Louisiana
  • Books Along The Teche, in New Iberia, Louisiana
  • Longfellow-Evangeline State Historic Site, in St. Martinville, Louisiana
  • Coffeeweed Cottage, in Lafayette, Louisiana
  • Louisiana Marketshops at the 115 in Henderson, Louisiana
  • Alliance Francaise of New Orleans, in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Frenchman Art & Books, in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Octavia Books, in New Orleans, Louisiana
  • Southdown Plantation Gift Shop in Houma, Louisiana
  • This book can be ordered for shipping at acadianmuseum.com. The book price is $35.00 plus $6.00 shipping cost.

This book invites you to connect with Acadians, Creoles, and Native Americans as they strive to maintain and restore good health within their families and communities. Many of the remedies and healthful practices included in Healing Traditions of South Louisiana are decades and even hundreds of years old, and, as you will discover, some are still in use today. This book has two distinct parts that eventually overlap in the stories and remedies that come forth. The beginning starts at “the beginning” of recorded medicine when long ago practices emerged. Advancing to the more recent past you will be swept up in the local tradition of the South Louisiana “Traiteur” or healer, who administered to the restorative health needs of the community with secret prayers passed from one traiteur to another, knowledge of medicinal plants, or the use of both. Yes, traiteurs exist today and still offer prayers and comfort when they are asked and several have been interviewed for this book. The second part of the book introduces you to medicinal plants that contain a myriad of healing properties that are still relieving symptoms and discomfort today. All of the plants are identified by their common and Latin names. Additionally, their descriptions, growing practices, and interesting folklore bring them to life.

Both authors, Mary Broussard Perrin and Beverly Constantine Fuselier are from the area of South Louisiana known as Acadiana. They are traiteurs and also work with healing plants, occasionally “making medicine” when the need arises.

Book Launch Press Release