batonrougecajundance

Cajun Heritage

// February 13th, 2010 // Uncategorized

SUGAR CANE HARVEST OF YESTERYEAR
A far-away rooster tries to kindle daylight….As smoke and fires quell the chill…Of a morning fog that wets like rain….Travailleurs shuffle into rows of cane….That bend this way and that….yet none escape the knife….A chain strikes hard against a wagon….Grating and clinking-links tumble to the bottom….Midst shouts of men and sounds of metal….A cart comes out of the dark…”Pay attention, the mule seems not yet awake….Turn the derrick and hoist that bundle….Hurry, you! The boss man watches”.
Rain, mud and cold delayed the cane harvest this year, some farmers just finished at the end of January. With today’s modern equipment the harvest is usually finished by Christmas.

Maurice