The Acadian Exile in Massachusetts

Check out the on-line exhibit on Le grand derangement at the Massachusetts Archives.

Madawaska Acadian Festival

The Acadian Festival of Madawaska, Maine, is coming up; it's running June 22 to 29. I'll be in Maine at the end of the week, but I'll be in Freeport, over six hours away.

Acadians in Maine

A Maine webpage looks at Franco-Americans in the state.

250th Anniversary of Expulsion from PEI

The Acadians of Ile Saint-Jean (now known as Prince Edward Island) were expelled by the British three years after the expulsions from Nova Scotia. Locals are preparing for celebrations.

Support for CMA?

The Canadian Government has announced that it will support next year's fourth Congres Mondial Acadien.

The question is, will Acadians? I've heard nothing about a LeBlanc reunion, which has been the largest reunion at the previous CMAs. I've asked people who should know, but so far it seems no LeBlancs are picking up the ball to run with it.

A Find at Grand-Pre

Silver Cross reveals a piece of Acadian history.

Loups Marins--and a Boating Tragedy

I was taken aback when I first saw the recipe for galettes au petit-lard de loup marin in the cookbook, A Taste of Acadie, by Marielle Cormier-Boudreau and Melvin Gallant. Seal fat cookies? The description of the recipe notes that they are popular on the Magdalen Islands, as well as in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Acadians in the Maritimes have been hunting seals for centuries, having learned it from the native peoples. It's an unbroken tradition in the Magdalen Islands, whose Acadians were not dispersed in 1755. My great-great-great grandparents, Hilaire Gautrot and Domithilde LeBlanc, lived there for awhile, but that's the only family connection I know of.

Why is this on my mind? It's the peak time for the annual seal hunt--and for protests by PETA and other animal rights organizations.

And this year there has been a human tragedy--a boating accident yesterday that left four fishermen dead. A boat based in the Magdalen Islands, L'Acadien II, lost its rudder, and overturned while being towed back. The government is investigating. The families are mourning
--and are angry at the Coast Guard, and demanding explanation.

Acadian Christmas Traditions

PEI Writers' Guild has a post about the release of a book, Acadian Christmas Traditions, by Georges Arsenault.

Réveille!

Video of Zachary Richard and friends performing "Réveille" at the 1994 Congrès Mondial Acadien.

August 15--the Acadian National Day

This time each year the newspapers are filled with tales of Acadie in celebration of the Acadian National Day. Here's a sampling:

• Canada
• Acadian National Day to be celebrated at W. Pubnico museum.
• Excavation uncovers Acadian aboiteau (Amherst).
• Acadian tradition celebrated in Minudie (Blessing of the Crops).
• Acadian National Day at Grand-Pre.
• Cheticamp Ready to Celebrate.
  
• Louisiana
• Day of activities commemorates Cajun culture (St. Martinville).
• Celebrating Acadian culture (Vermilionville).
• C'est Vrai: Lawmakers asked for medal for bicentennial of Acadians' expulsion (back in 1955)
  

On Longfellow's Bicentenniel

Story of fictional Evangeline evokes emotions in Acadians.

Research on Usher Syndrome

The Sound of Hope: New research helps the fight against a rare disease that afflicts descendants of the original Acadians.

New DVD

The Story of the Acadians.

Ethnic slurs

Storm about use of the derogatory term "coonass" (a slur against Acadians) by Alabama coach Nick Saban. Saban gave a non-apology apology, saying he could "understand how some would take offense." But afterwards he claimed "It's a term of endearment down in Louisiana." Erath attorney Warren Perrin, president of CODIFIL, however, says, "It is highly offensive."

"The most insulting and derogatory term levied against Acadians is the term 'coonass,' Perrin wrote. "The use of this offensive term re-affirms negative stereotypes and its vestiges of pre-civil rights era racial discrimination. This insulting slang was never a proud or complimentary term affixed to the Acadian people. We will not tolerate the use of this racial slur which has pejorative connotations."

Perrin also cited the Roach vs. Dresser Industrial Valve and Instrument lawsuit of 1980 in which an employee was allegedly terminated for protesting his superiors' use of the term coonass.

"The case resulted in a federal judge declaring Cajuns a bona fide minority group protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and thus protection from ethnic slurs like "coonass," Perrin said.

Perrin added that in 1981 that the Louisiana Legislature condemned the use of coonass.

"Cajuns over the years have been successful in discouraging the term's use, both by non-Cajuns and fellow Cajuns alike," Perrin said. "It's just not good for people visiting Louisiana to hear that word either. You can't get away from the vulgarity of the second part of the word."

Here and here.

Talking Acadian

John Chetro-Szivos, of Fitchburg, MA, has written Talking Acadian: Communication, Work and Culture.

The book provides a look into the lives of French-Speaking American Acadians, particularly those who left eastern Canada to settle in Massachusetts in the 1960s. It begins with a description of a fall fair at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Gardner and goes on to explain the role of the church in the ethnic identity of the Acadian community.

CMA -- 2014!

Lafayette is starting its campaign to bring the Congres Mondial Acadien back to La Louisiane in 2014.

But some have been hoping for some time that we'd be going to France for a CMA.

New blog

Lucie LeBlanc Consentino has a blog: Acadian Ancestral Home.

Acadian Day in Nova Scotia

Proud to be an Acadian--on this year's celebrations in Nova Scotia.

Latest discoveries at Grand-Pre

Significant Acadian artifacts found: Archeologists believe they may point to site of deportation

Acadian children

Day of the Acadians remembers the children