HISTORIAN TO DISCUSS THE HISTORY OF REVEILLON DINNERS AT EAST BANK REGIONAL LIBRARY

JEFFERSON, LA – Karen Trahan Leathem, PhD, historian at the Louisiana State Museum, will discuss the history of Reveillon dinners at 7 p.m., Wednesday, November 29, 2023 at the East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie, LA 70001).

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

Derived from the French word for ‘awakening,’ Reveillon originally was a meal served after midnight mass on Christmas Eve. Early New Orleans was almost entirely Catholic, and virtually the entire community would participate in these ceremonies. Families would return from the late-night service famished and set upon a feast prepared in advance and laid out on the table or sideboard. A typical early Reveillon menu looked very much like breakfast, with egg dishes, breads and puddings, but could also include turtle soup, oysters and grillades of veal. The meals were accompanied with wines, cordials and other fortified drinks. The dinners could last for many hours.

Through the 19th century, American holiday conventions such as Christmas trees, gifts for children and shopping frenzies began to establish themselves in New Orleans and supplant many of the Creole traditions. By the turn of the century, Reveillon dinners could be found only in traditional homes, and by the 1940s, the custom was all but extinct.

In the 1990s, however, the Reveillon tradition was ‘reawakened’ and transformed. The organization French Quarter Festivals Inc., interested in attracting travelers to New Orleans during the holiday lull in convention bookings, approached local restaurants with an idea to offer and promote special holiday menus. Restaurants embraced the idea and soon so did their local regulars and out of town visitors.

Leathem has served as a historian at the Louisiana State Museum for more than twenty years. Her essay on the New Orleans réveillon tradition will appear in Interpreting Christmas and Winter Holidays at History Museums and Historic Sites (Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming). A native of southwest Louisiana, she holds a doctoral degree in American history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Ave., Metairie, LA 70001) serves as library headquarters. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at 504-838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

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Jefferson Parish Public Information Office

1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002

Jefferson, LA 70123

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Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO