Fais do-do

A fais do-do is a Cajun dance party; the term originated before World War II.

According to Mark Humphrey, the parties were named for "the gentle command ('go to sleep') young mothers offered bawling infants."[1] He quotes early Cajun musician Edwin Duhon of the Hackberry Ramblers:

"She'd go to the cry room, give the baby a nipple and say, 'Fais do-do.' She'd want the baby to go to sleep fast, 'cause she's worried about her husband dancing with somebody else out there."

"Do-do" itself is a hypocoristic shortening of the French verb dormir (to sleep), used primarily in speaking to small children. The phrase is comparable to the American English "beddy-bye",, and is embodied in an old French lullaby, a song sung to children when putting them down for the night. Its existence in Cajun culture as a source for dances, or bands, comes from an affection for the term itself.

Joshua Caffery, however suggests the true derivation is more plausibly the dance call dos à dos (back to back), the do si do call of Anglo-American folk dance; and that sources such as Duhon are merely "repeating the same apocryphal explanation known by almost anyone who lives in Southern Louisiana."[2]

Occurrences include the following:

• An annual bash held by Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, raising money for his reelection campaigns and for charity
• The November 28, 2006 broadcast of NPR's All Things Considered
• In Aaron Neville's 1993 "Louisiana Christmas Day"
• In the 1986 film Belizaire the Cajun (set in 1859)
• A mention in Brenda Lee's 1958 song "Papa Noel", on the B-side of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"
• In the lyrics of Bayou Jubilee, by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, on the album, Dream. "Nothing in this world such a pure delight, as a fais-do-do on a Saturday night."
• In the lyrics of "Diggy Liggy Lo" song and lyrics written by Terry J. Clement.
• In the 1989 film J'ai Été Au Bal/I Went to the Dance by Les Blank, Chris Strachwitz, Maureen Gosling.
• In the 1944 film Dark Waters starring Merle Oberon.