Acadians Days in Grand-Pré 2005

July 06, 2005

As part of the commemorations of the 250th anniversary of the Great Upheaval, the Société Promotion Grand-Pré invites you to celebrate Acadian heritage and culture. Various activities will take place from July 28 to 31 at the Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada.

Thursday, July 28, is the official day of commemoration of the Great Upheaval. The Société Promotion Grand-Pré will be unveiling a copy of the original parish registers of Grand-Pré, on loan from the diocese of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These registers chronicle the baptisms, marriages and funerals that took place between 1707 and 1748 in Saint-Charles-des-Mines Church. Advancements in technology have made it possible to produce high-quality reproductions, which will be on display along with the original leather covers. N.B. The Société nationale de l'Acadie (SNA) is organizing a number of commemorative activities that will also take place at Grand-Pré on Thursday, July 28. For more information, please visit their website www.snacadie.org.

July 29 will be a day of reflection on the Deportation. The day will begin with a roundtable on the theme of "La Déportation: boulet ou phare?". As we commemorate the 250th anniversary of this tragedy, the speakers will reflect on the symbolic presence of the deportation in the life of today's Acadians. Is the Deportation a weight that drags Acadians back to their past, or is rather a source of light that illuminates the future? To debate this matter, distinguished guests will be present: Chedly Belkhodja, professor at the political science department at the Université de Moncton and editor-in-chief of Égalité, revue acadienne d'analyse politique; Barbara Leblanc, ethnologist and professor at the l'Université Ste-Anne; Marguerite Maillet, author, publisher and former literature professor at the Université de Moncton; as well as Warren Perrin, lawyer, activist for the culture and rights of Louisiana Cajuns. This activity will be followed in the afternoon with the launch the book Du Grand Dérangement à la Déportation., a collective work edited by Ronnie-Gilles LeBlanc, as well as a series of conferences. Stephen A. White, genealogiste at the Université de Moncton, will make a Commentaire à propose de la liste de Winslow (in French). Dean Jobb, instructor at King's College in Halifax, will tell us about A Battle of Wills: The Deportation Order Revisited (in English). Ronnie-Gilles Leblanc, archivist at the Centre d'études acadiennes of the Université de Moncton, will conclude the session (in French). Visitors will also be able to attend presentations about the Grand-Pré parish registers. Those presentations will be made by Ms. Emilie Leumas, from the Archives of the Diocese of Baton-Rouge.

Saturday, July 30, will be about the more playful theme of Acadian tales and legends. Different storytellers will take the stage to entertain us with some of the gems from their repertoire: Georges Arsenault, Clara Dugas, Laurent d'Entremont and Barry Ancelet. This activity will be followed, in the late afternoon, by the opening of the exhibition "Collection: Les légendes acadiennes" , presented by Les Caisses Populaires Acadiennes. The artist Michel Duguay will be there to talk about his work, which depict ten of the most well-known Acadian legends.

Sunday, July 31 will be a day of both remembrance and celebration. It will start early with a pilgrimage from the Deportation Cross at Horton Landing to the memorial church at Grand-Pré National Historic Site. The pilgrimage thus retraces, in the opposite order, the steps of the Acadians who were deported from Grand-Pré in 1755. The pilgrimage will be followed by mass, celebrated in French by Père Maurice LeBlanc. After the mass, everyone will be able to taste some typical Acadian dishes and to admire Acadian arts and crafts which will be on sale throughout the afternoon. There will also be demonstrations of Cajun cuisine featuring roux and shrimp etouffe. During the afternoon, there will be live music. The dance group Dixacadie will tell the story of the Deportation in a show that combines dance and music, and that was conceived especially for the 250th anniversary of the Deportation. This group will be followed by Delorès Boudreau, a singer from Isle Madame, Cape Breton, who performs both traditional Acadian songs and her own songs, in a style that combines folk, bluegrass and Acadian energy. Kenneth Saulnier, the well-know multi-instrumentalist and songwriter and former member of the groups 1755 and Surroît, will bring new traditional music to Grand-Pré. The afternoon will end with the New Pine Grove Boys, a group from Louisiana that will make you dance to the traditional sounds and rhythms of the bayous.

The entrance fees for the Acadian Days at Grand-Pré are posted on our web site.

This year, as usual, the Société Promotion Grand-Pré will also be hosting events for Acadian National Feast Day on August 15, and for the commemoration of the beginning of the Deportation on September 5. The archaeological digs, directed by Jonathan Fowler of Saint Mary's University, will take place daily from July 18 to August 3.

The Société Promotion Grand-Pré is a non-profit organization that represents the Acadian community and that works in partnership with Parks Canada to ensure the development and integrity of Grand-Pré National Historic Site of Canada.

Contact: Micheline Bujold
Acting Director, Société Promotion Grand-Pré
Phone: (902) 542-3631
Fax: (902) 542-1691
WebSite: www.grand-pre.com