Acadian Day

On August the 15th, 1755 the British ordered the Acadians (French in New Brunswick) to get out of the province. Many went deeper into the forests. Many went to Louisiana swamps where they became known as Cajuns. Others spread out across the continent. When they sensed a weakness in the British force in Canada most came back to the coast of NB. So today is like the Acadians 4th of July with music, parades and parties. “Viva Acadia” is to be heard hundreds of times today.

We love the Acadian music; French country western is what it sounds like to me. Today we heard six different Acadian bands, two at the morning’s farmers market, two at the afternoon festival at the Acadian center in Bouctouche and two more tonight at our RV park’s Acadian celebration, which is still going outside my window as I write this. Rick said to expect it to wind down around 1 AM (it actually ended at 3 AM). When I got up the next day at 6 there were still a few guys keeping the party embers alive.

It’s been a busy day and we have enjoyed being honorary Acadians. The people here in New Brunswick are some of the friendliest we have encountered in our travels. They love to talk and sing and talk and sing and talk and sing. I have spent hours around the group tent area here discussing life in the states and Canada. The New Brunswickians like to poke fun at the Newfoundlunders, or Newfies. A bit like we may poke fun at people from different parts of our country. Lots of good jokes about this, and many of them we learned didn’t work in English, only French. Quite disappointing for me but the Acadians thought it was funny.