The University’s Rural Life Museum will host its annual “Rural Life Christmas” on Sunday from noon to 6 p.m.
The annual celebration is one of the museum’s several interpretive events throughout the year, said Catherine White, coordinator with the museum.
The museum has hosted “Rural Life Christmas” for almost 10 years, White said.
Numerous native artisans and actors participate in the celebration to create “living history demonstrations,” White said.
“We are lucky to know some talented folks associated with the museum,” White said.
White added that most of the artisans and actors perform at the museum periodically throughout the year and also are affiliated with other museums.
Most of the artisans are carrying on a tradition, since most of their parents practiced the same craft, White said.
The festivities are meant to reflect events seen in the 1800s, White said. For example, people can see old-fashioned holiday cooking in the kitchen or crafts in the blacksmith shop.
Other crafts include wreaths made from grape vines, dolls from corn shucks, and most unusually, an artist who makes rosaries from the seeds of a native Louisiana plant, White said.
At one of the most popular attractions of the day, volunteers grind and cook sugar cane for syrup, which is then made available for purchase.
Visitors also can buy jambalaya for lunch at $5 per plate, White said. Complementary apple cider and cookies will be served throughout the day.
The museum also will have six storytellers telling traditional folk-tales, five magicians, musicians playing hand-bells and dulcimers, and gospel songs from several Baton Rouge church choirs.
The day’s festivities will end with a traditional bonfire around 5:30 p.m., White said. In the 1800s, people lit similar bonfires in December to light the way for “Papa Noel.”
While “A Rural Life Christmas” is a significant fundraiser for the museum, White called the event “a Christmas gift to the community.”
Admission is $7 per person and free to all children under 10.
White said there are normally around 1,000 people at “Rural Life Christmas” and the museum hopes for a similar turnout this year.