Backfill Blogging Acadia

I mentioned in comments that I was trying out something I call "backfill blogging". I posted a photo a day while we were on vacation on the east coast of the province - near le coeur d'Acadie - with the intention of going back and filling in details of each location or activity. If you scroll down, you'll see that I've already filled in several of my earlier posts.

I've created a map to try to put the vacation into context; hope it does so.

One thing I wanted to share was the tradition of Acadians in this province of putting l'étoile d'Acadie - the star of Acadia - on their homes, to proudly proclaim their Acadian heritage. The Acadian flag features the colours of France with l'etoile added in the upper left-hand corner, and displaying a star on one's home has become a way of announcing the family's inclusion in that proud clan.

Here's a small collection of photos that demonstrate the variety of homes that show l'étoile.

You'll see these stars on homes throughout the province, which is neat; but they're particularly prevalent on the east and north borders of the province, where the Acadian culture is particularly strong.

The story of Acadians in New Brunswick is long and complicated. For too many years, they were second-class citizens in their own provinces - after they returned from their expulsion. That all began to change in New Brunswick with the passage of the Official Languages Act in 1969. Premier Louis Robichaud's legislation put French on an equal footing with English in NB and opened the gates to civil and public sector jobs wide open to francophones for the first time.

The result today of this and other social reforms is a thriving Acadian culture and a thriving French language across the province, but nowhere so much as the north and east of the province, le coeur d'Acadie.

ronnie