Celebrate Christmas in Cajun Country with a Bonfire and Ghost Tour

For at least a few hundred years, Cajun communities in Louisiana have gathered to light huge bonfires near the levees that line the Mississippi River on Christmas Eve. No one is exactly sure how this tradition started, but most historians speculate that Catholics lit bonfires so they could find their way to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Residents of Louisiana love telling the story of how the bonfires help Papa Noel—or, Cajun Santa—navigate the swamp so that he can deliver gifts to all of the best behaved children in the Bayou.

St. James Parish—which is about 40 miles away from New Orleans—is the best place to enjoy the Christmas Eve Bonfires. Gray Line Bus Tours offers a Christmas Eve Bonfire Express bus that departs from New Orleans. The levee bonfires usually start around 7 pm and last until midnight. The Christmas Eve Bonfire Express is a fun-filled 4-hour excursion that will most likely include a free bowl of gumbo if you stumble upon a particularly festive group of Cajun revelers.

If you’re in the mood to celebrate Christmas as people did during the Victorian era with some spooky stories, consider purchasing a ticket for Santa and the Rougarou’s Creepy Christmas Cruise in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Bay St. Louis is a coastal community about an hour east of New Orleans. Cruise participants can explore the bayou and hear creepy tales about swamp creatures, Cajun werewolves, and restless spirits with a little seasonal Yuletide lore sprinkled in.

Bay St. Louis visitors can also opt for a Spirit Ghost Walking Tour which visits a graveyard where the Christmas trickster Krampus is known to make an appearance. If sleigh bells, a constant stream of Christmas music, and the incessant jolly laughter of Santa Claus is too much for you, consider decompressing with a spooky retreat in Bay St. Louis where you can get festive in your own quiet way. The Ghost of Christmas Future may or may not make an appearance.

Visiting the Christmas Eve bonfires in St. James Parish and exploring the spooky history of the bayou in Bay St. Louis will certainly create a memorable holiday season. No one knows how to celebrate quite like Cajuns do. You will forever cherish eating piping hot gumbo next to a bonfire on the levee waiting for Papa Noel to arrive or scanning the horizon for a Cajun werewolf in a Santa hat in Bay St. Louis.