Vermilionville Creole Culture Day will be a great opportunity to see plants that have been included in this book. The medicinal garden or le Jardin du Traiteur will have Master Gardeners who can take visitors through the garden and answer questions about these wonderful healing plants. The books will be available for purchase at the Vermilionville Cajun/Creole Historic Village giftshop. This event is being held on June 10, 2023. Visit Vermilionville’s website for more information.
Healing Traditions of South Louisiana: Now Available at Select Retailers!
We are excited to announce that Healing Traditions of South Louisiana is now available for purchase. This book can now be found at the following locations:
- 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
- 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 commuLnities. 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.
Healing Traditions of South Louisiana: Prayers, Plants, and poultices 