Do you have Acadian ancestry? If so, you might want to mark August 8 through 24, 2014, on your calendar. While the date is still three years away, this promises to be a huge heritage and family history event that will attract more than 50,000 visitors. It also promises to be the site of many family reunions. More than 80 families hosted reunions during the 2009 World Acadian Congress. The 2014 organizers are looking to beat that.
The World Acadian Congress is held every five years in different regions populated by Acadians.
NOTE: Acadia was an area ruled by France from 1604 until the British conquest of 1710. While the borders of Acadia were never officially defined, it encompassed what is now New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Magdalen Islands, and Prince Edward Island, as well as part of Maine. In the summer of 1755, 6,000–7,000 Acadians were expelled from Nova Scotia by the British. Many others fled deeper into the Atlantic Canadian wilderness or into French-controlled Canada (primarily what is now Quebec Province). Many others settled in what is now northern Maine. A few Acadians, or their descendants, settled in Louisiana where they became known as Cajuns. Today, the majority of Acadian descendants live in New Brunswick but their distant cousins live all over the world.
The World Acadian Congress is held every five years in different regions populated by Acadians. The congress typically features more than 300 events, including family reunions, regional celebrations and sporting and cultural events. The 2014 gathering will be staged in northern Maine, northwestern New Brunswick, and the Temiscouata region of Quebec on Aug. 8-24. This will be the first time in the event’s history that it will span two countries.
In the past, the World Acadian Congress has attracted more than 50,000 visitors for two weeks, including to past events held in Louisiana and the Acadian Peninsula in New Brunswick.
You can read more in an article by Jen Lynds in the Bangor (Maine) Daily News at http://goo.gl/sZoI0 and at the University of Maine at Fort Kent's web site at http://goo.gl/7xB1f.
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