Guest Author - Lana R. Mixon
“Stereotypical Faith Healer”…… these few words probably have the ability and power to mentally produce an image for most of us. Is it a negative or positive image for most? It’s definitely negative for me and probably the same for most of the general public.
I have lived in Cajun Country for about 40 years, but I consider myself a “transplant”. I was born in Texas and lived numerous places before arriving in Lafayette, LA in 1969 as an 8 year old. My father and mother weren’t from Cajun Country, so I didn’t grow up with Cajun Legends. I grew to know them through the course of living here (of being planted here) for so many years.
One Cajun legend explores the Traiteur (Treater) – or faith healer. These faith healers have existed since the 1700s when the Acadians migrated to south Louisiana from France but traiteurs are slowing dying out. Traiteurs define themselves as general practioners or specialists, much like current physicians define themselves today. A traiteur uses a "laying on of the hands", Catholic prayers and medicine as their method of treatment. But, they rarely accept payment for services because they claim the "healing comes from God" not by any supernatural powers of their own.
Does this somewhat sound familiar to anything in our current culture?? Personally, I immediately equate the legend of traiteurs to those televangelists who touch people with their hands then say a few words after which instantaneous healing miraculously occurs during the allotted time of the TV show. It seems that televangelists found a way to evolve legends of faith healers into multi-million dollar enterprises through the power of the media. Why are so many of us eager to believe these stories? Why do so many of us continue to finance these televangelists? Is it that our society wants someone or some entity to instantly fix or cure our every physical or emotional problem? They have creatively marketed themselves and used our weakness of believing the stuff that legends are made of to financially benefit themselves.
The legend of faith healers appears to be firmly planted in America’s culture as well as Cajun Country’s culture!
