Chapter 2

Qui sont les Acadiens/Who are the Acadians?

Who are the Acadians?

I’ve learned a little bit about France, the country of my ancestors, in French class. At the time my ancestors came to Acadia, the regions and provinces of France had their own dialects, customs and traditions. People in each province had different ways of using tools, of cooking, of making clothing, of working wood and the land, etc. I wondered what part of France the Acadians came from.

“Mémère, were the Acadians all from the same place in France?” I asked one day after lunch.

“Non, non, Josephine,” replied Mémère. She was at the sink, just finishing up the dishes. “People from many different parts of France came to live in Acadia. Ma famille, les Martin, came from Normandie in the north of France.” She wiped her hands and came to sit down at the table with me.

“Et les Comeau came from Saintonge in western France,” added Pépère from his chair in the living room.

“C’est vrai,” continued Mémère, nodding her head. “Many families came from Saintonge. But they came from other places, too. You know the Martels down the street?” Mémère asked.

“Oui. Their daughter Marguerite is in my class. They own the gas station, n’est-ce pas?” I replied.

Mémère shook her head. “Oui, oui. They’re also Acadian. Their family originally came from Poitou, in the west of France, just north of Saintonge.” She smiled.

“Et you know Monsieur Poitier who used to work with me at the mill?” Pépère asked. I nodded. “His family came from Poitou, itou!” he said excitedly.

I giggled. I wondered if Pépère had meant to make his little rhyme. I couldn’t see his face, as he was reading the newspaper.

“Madame Cellier from church is Acadian, too,” Mémère continued. “Her family came from Normandie like mine.”

“Les Angou, the family we visit when we’re up north,” Pépère said as he closed his newspaper and got up from his chair, “they came from the province of Anjou, near Saintonge.” He came over to the table and sat down with Mémère et moi. “Et l’amie de Mémère, Tante Diane, her famille originally came from Savoie, in the west of France.”

I grinned as Mémère et Pépère continued to name so many Acadian families we knew and discuss where their families originated. It was fun to see them so lively. What I learned as they talked was that the Acadians largely came from the provinces of Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, Anjou, Normandie, Brie, Champagne and Flandres. But since the Acadians were from all these different places in France, I wondered why they became so attached to each other in Acadia and proudly called themselves Acadian.

Mémère et Pépère were still discussing different people when I interrupted with my question.

“Eh bien,” Mémère began. “C’est une bonne question, mon chou. Even though they were from different places in France, these people all lived together in the New World, in Acadia. The settlement of Acadia was very isolated in many ways, and the people were bound together by this isolation. Geographically, they were cut off from the rest of the world for part of the year, as the rivières and even the Bay of Fundy, as it is called now, froze in winter. Though they could travel by land, the main means of transportation and communication with the outside world was over the water. So despite their differences, the Acadians were united through their use of the French language and their common belief in the Catholic religion.” Mémère glanced at the crucifix on the wall and made the sign of the cross.

“Et because of their geographic isolation, the Acadians were also economically isolated,” Pépère continued. “Unlike New France (Quebec), Acadia did not provide France with many riches. Donc, France did not support the Acadian colony much. But the Acadians were largely self-sufficient, living off the land. The land they chose to live and farm on was near the sea. Their use of the aboîteaux and dyking system created scattered settlement patterns. Families lived and worked together to build the dykes and to cultivate the land. Working the land side by side helped to bind the people together.” I knew Pépère was very proud of our strong farming background.

“Astheur, en politiques, the Acadians were also isolated,” added Mémère. “France was in the middle of wars with other countries in Europe. Acadia was a border land between New France and New England, comme j’ai dit avant. The lines between French and English territory were vague and often disputed. Political control in the area changed 8 times in a very short time period. The Acadians did not feel especially obligated to fight on the side of France, and though they were largely self-sufficient, they needed their trade with the British, especially Boston. They often exchanged surplus grain, fish and furs for knives, needles, sugar and molasses. Alors, the Acadians remained politically neutral, not choosing sides. They became known as the French Neutrals,” Mémère explained.

“Enfin, the Acadians were also culturally isolated,” continued Pépère. “There was very little interaction with France or the outside world. For over 150 years, there were very few new families moving into the area, so there were lots of marriages between Acadian families and with French Canadians. These family ties continued to solidify the bond between the Acadian people and the land. Many people could not read or write, so they relied on oral traditions, discussing the news of the day, and passing down stories and music from their homelands,” concluded Pépère. By creating their lives together in the New World, no wonder the Acadians felt so close to each other! After talking with Mémère et Pépère and listening to them rattle off names of Acadians, I wondered how many people considered themselves Acadian.

On the internet, I found a list of approximately 300 family names that are considered Acadian taken from historical records. I looked through the list and found Maman’s family names, Comeau pour Pépère, and Martin pour Mémère, but I couldn’t find my last name, Papa’s family name, on the list. Picard wasn’t there! How could this be? I knew that Mémé and Pépé’s families lived in northern Maine, and I was sure that they said they were Acadian. I also remembered that this summer, the Picard family reunion will be celebrated during the Acadian Festival in Madawaska. How come it wasn’t there?

The next time I visited Mémé et Pépé, I told them about what I had been learning about Acadia and the Acadians. Then I told them about the list of names and asked, “Mémé, why isn’t Picard on the list of Acadian names? Aren’t you Acadian?”

Mémé looked surprised, but replied, “Oui, Josephine, je suis acadienne. But my family name is Cyr. The Cyrs came from France and lived in Acadia.” Pépé answered, “But my family, les Picard, are Québecois, not Acadian.”

“Really? But I thought your families all lived in Northern Maine. I thought that was part of the area known as Acadia.” I scowled. I didn’t get it. How could this be?

“Ecoute,” said Mémé, as she sat down in her rocking chair next to the woodstove in the kitchen, “our families did live in northern Maine and that was once part of the area known as Acadia. But, it was different after the deportation. Do you know about Le Grand Dérangement?” she asked.

“Oui! That’s when the British took over Acadia and sent the Acadians away,” I quickly blurted out.

“Correcte!” said Mémé, slapping her knee. “And years after the deportation, in the 1780s, some Acadians were trying to move back to the area they knew as Acadia. Some, like my family, the Cyrs, settled in the St. John River Valley. At the same time, settlers from Quebec, from the St. Lawrence River Valley, were also moving into this area. C’est la famille de Pépé, the Picards,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Vraiment?” I turned to Pépé. “Your family is from Canada?” I couldn’t believe it. I never knew that!

“Oui, oui,” Pépé explained. “My family came to New France from the region of Picardie in northern France. They settled in the area of Trois-Rivières et Rivière-du-Loup in Québec. Later, they moved to the Valley.”

“Oh,” I sighed. “I thought everyone in the Valley was Acadian?”

“Non, non. The only people who are Acadian are those who have ancestors who lived in the settlement of Acadia. There are lots of families in the Valley who have this heritage, but not everyone in the Valley is Acadian,” said Mémé, clearing up that question.

Incroyable! So Acadians are people whose families lived in the land once known as Acadia. These families were bound together by their common experiences, their language, and their ties to each other and the land. Even though the deportation removed them from their land, these strong ties continued to bind these people’s spirits together. They never forgot their heritage and continued to call themselves Acadian. I couldn’t wait to learn more…