Acadian Day

Enter your search terms Submit search form

Web www.whichday.com

The US state of Louisiana celebrates its own Acadian Day on the Friday after Thanksgiving, as decreed annually by the Governor. The date selected commemorates the arrival of the Acadians after their settlement lands were taken over by the British in 1713 (although most of them did not arrive until the ethnic cleansing of the Great Upheaval from 1755 to 1763 forced them to flee).

National Acadian Day is celebrated throughout Canada every year on 15th August. It celebrates the Acadians, whose culture, language, and traditions have strongly contributed to the development of Canadian culture for more than four hundred years.

Acadian Day has been celebrated since 1881, having been chosen by the first National Acadian Convention in Memramcook, New Brunswick. It was only officially recognised in June 2003 by Act of Parliament, and the following year was proclaimed as Provincial Acadian Day in Nova Scotia.

The Acadians are also known as Cajuns (originally a corruption of the word Acadian), and even today many hold strongly to their language, French, which they hold in common with the Quebecois. The Acadian culture is especially strong in New Brunswick, which is the only officially bilingual province in Canada.

The original Acadians were French colonists who built settlements in North America in 1604. Acadia covered Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands, as well as parts of Quebec.