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travel / great places / explorer / ma04
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Acadia continues:
Contributor: Jessa Sinclair
Read an excerpt of the March/April '04 Exploration.
The roaring wind off the bay evokes a history of suffering and endurance. In a solemn pilgrimage, Acadians
from around the world retrace their ancestors' steps in reverse, converging on Canada's East coast.
Here Acadian Culture
is kept alive through song and literature, art and cuisine.
More than three centuries ago, Acadians in Atlantic Canada were caught between feuding French and British colonies.
In a series of expulsions, their descendants were deported from Acadia to France, England and colonies
on the east coast
of the United States. Many families were torn apart and remained separated for generations.
This summer, Nova Scotia will see the largest cultural event in its history: the World Acadian
Congress 2004. Two hundred fifty thousand of the world's ten million Acadian descendants are
expected to participate. Hundreds of family reunions are scheduled during the celebration, which takes
place during Mi-Careme (mid-Lent) and culminates in High Mass on the Feast of the Assumption,
August 15th, the official Acadian National Holiday.
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Cultural insight:
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More Acadian explorations:
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Acadian homecoming
As "Je reviens au berceau de l'Acadie" rings out from centre stage
at the Université Sainte-Anne in Church Point, N.S., on July 31, the Congrès mondial acadien
2004 will be officially open. The theme song for the World Acadian Congress, which means
"I'm returning to the cradle of Acadia,"
reflects the fact that some 250,000 visitors are expected to descend on Nova Scotia to celebrate
400 years of the Acadian culture in North America.
The congress is rooted in a series of Acadian National Conventions, which began in 1881 to help
foster a strong ethnic identity for the group and to rekindle family bonds. To bring the global Acadian
community together, the first international congress took place in New Brunswick in 1994, followed by
Louisiana in 1999.
This year's event will offer all that is Acadian: food, dance, music, theatre and more. The celebration
culminates on August 15 with High Mass in Grand Pré and a concert at Halifax's Citadel Hill.
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We are family
At the heart of the Congrès mondial acadien are family reunions, or retrouvailles, where clans, from
the Allains to the Vacons, gather to get reacquainted with close relatives or to meet long-lost
family branches for the first time. In the past, some participants have found cousins, or brothers
and sisters they didn't even know they had. Close to 100 reunions, ranging in size from a couple of
hundred family members to more than 7,000, are scheduled during the two-week congress this summer.
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L'Acadie 101: Symbols
- Flag: French tricolour with a yellow star in the blue stripe to guide Acadians
- Slogan: L'union fait la force (Together we are strong)
- National anthem: Ave Maris Stella
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L'Acadie 101: Music
Blou, a popular Nova Scotian band, offers fast-paced, Acadian folk music. For a more modern sound, Grand Dérangement mixes traditional Acadian music with rock, Celtic, Irish and world beat rhythms. Another Acadian, Natasha St-Pier, sings soulful pop.
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L'Acadie 101: Literature
Antonine Maillet is likely the best-known Acadian writer. Pélagie-la-Charette won her
France's prestigious Prix Goncourt for its engaging account of deportees returning to Acadia 20
years after the expulsion. Acadian poet Serge Patrice Thibodeau won the 1996 Governor General's
Award for French-Language Poetry for Le Quatuor de l'errance, followed by La Traversée du désert.
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L'Acadie 101: Art
Artists Nelson Surette from Nova Scotia and Claude Picard from New Brunswick
are known for depictions of Acadian life before and during deportation. Herménégilde
Chiasson is not only an artist, but also a writer of books, plays and poetry, and a filmmaker.
Flags courtesy of ITA's
Flags of All Countries used with permission.
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