Courier de bois, (being runners,) being farmers, being culture builders, being fishers, being Voyageurs, being Religious, being land owners, being warriors, being lovers of the Lands, being family, and being lover of God, Country and family, and longing to find a home that they can call home forever is part of Acadie. The homo sapien of the Earth that is the Golden thread, that runs through the multi-coloured Tapestry of all Nations. They are the French speakers, the French culture, the French Lovers of families, and the ones who just fit in to the environment, making a home a place to live, wherever we hang our hat, but mostly we love to dance.
This is the story of the Golden thread that holds the colourful tapestry of humanity together, just by loving and building homelands, whether in Cajun, in Eastern, Western, or Middle lands, it is AKADEAN, whether Metis, Chicago, South Dakota, or California, or New Mexico, the ACADEAN moved swiftly to build lands and homes and family of All nations. The Eldest female is the Matriarch. The eldest to pass along the stories for younger to know.
Cardinals originally come from Northern Africa, but travelled over the sea to Western France and into Italy. Always spreading out to make sure we existed long term. Our group stayed on in Western France. In the years of Rideau he was given the Hat of Cardinal, and Under this Hat of trade, the young were sent to the New World by ship.
On the Eastern Shores of Canada there were “Mi’ kmaq,” meaning a member of the North American people of the Maritime provinces, and they met these young French originals and built new relationships, building families, homes, in a cold and hostile environment. The children were rejected as half breeds, and thrown out of the community of Mi’kmaq. They found a place called “A k a d e e’.”
They built Forts and gardens inside the protecting Forts, and worked together as a commune of people to keep their families safe, warm and fed with their loving God. The commune kitchens and gardens were run by all families working together to become prosperous of food in the short summer months. These people of our ancestry were very resourceful and creative in Nature and were successful in a natural way of producing Acadean lives in their communities. Many times being subjected to cruelties of the governing bodies who seemed annoyed they could not manage to integrate these people into a culture they assumed was better. They schooled their own in Religious life of the French Culture from France. It was known as the Acadean Culture.
Then another time in History were the English soldiers cruelly sent the onslaught of Acadeans into oblivion by burning down their homes, Forts, and sent them out into the Sea on ships. Many many Acadians died trying to find a homeland to build their lives. Some left by horse, some left by running, some left by going inland, some went south and some went north whether as singles or in families. Today you will find Acadians in Nova Scotia, in Newfoundland, in New Brunswick, in the southern part of Quebec, in the Northern part of the United States all the way into Chicago, and westward toward South Dakota and the Sioux, the Cree, the Ojibiway, and Annishinaabe call them Metis, but also toward the South called Cajun. These people were always running and on the move, building land and community. They searched for places of safety for family, and for gardens of plenty. They loved the soil and the land, and Church, and homeland and family. They moved into bayous, and good soiled lands that would flourish and be the land of plenty. They built farms, and farmland that are still existing today, but not easily as many turbulent times enslaved them. They married peoples of the regions, and survived the adaptations of the regional peoples. They got together socially, in Church, and daily in social gatherings of dance with human connections, along with the music, and this lasts even today in 2023. They hang on in difference , and not letting go of their right to be who they are in culture, from lands who threw them away for Loving land, Loving God, Loving family and flourishing.
Today many come back yearly to the Acadean celebrations of life in Nova Scotia. They keep in touch with people they hug because they all know the feeling of having no place to call home but where we hang our hat. Our God, our family, our lands, our culture, our children, our gardens, our food, our memories with our language. When do we learn to let go and Love? Remembrance day a day for soldiers who fought for land, fought with hate of cultures different than their own, but when do we love enough to let go.
In Canada in 2015, I still see people saying, “Go Home as you are not wanted here, as this is my land, not yours. We do not want you here on my land.” Some Acadeans saying but we Love you All. Where do you want us to go? We have hugged, we have loved, we have family, we have married, we have children, we are Acadians, we are Metis, but you say go home that we do not belong.” I say, “Where do we belong then? Please tell me?”
We are part of the World but where do we go to Have our God of Love, our Country, Our Homes, our Gardens, our language, our Family, as we do not kill. But I tire of being the Courier de bois, the runner, the Voyageur, of our Planet, never quite fitting your idea of life, and never feeling home under my feet.
We live in the mountains,
We live by the sea,
We love building gardens for you to be,
We build our Churches for quiet time,
To praise the Lord and say thank you for Life,
We pick up no guns,
We love hugs instead,
There is no way, that life can be dead.
We are “A K A D E E.”
Acadean, Acadian, “A K A D E O N” or Akadee. …A Native or inhabitant of AKadie, a descendent of the French Speaking Inhabitants expelled after the French loss of the Colony of 1755. Acadian are the descendent of ethnic group from the French who settled in New France colony of Acadia, during the late 1600’s 17th century and 18th century.
The Acadian Story begins under the Rideau Hat called Cardinal, and it began in France, the people who became Cajuns, New Mexicans, Inland gardeners, that still own the lands today. They live by bayous, they fish, they sing, they dance, and they believe in a Loving God. The Cajuns who would not let go of their beliefs as Acadians. They prosper as fishers, as gardeners, as fathers, as mothers, as children called family. They settled near Chicago, near Sioux City, in South Dakota, with the Sioux, Assiniboine, Cree Tribes, Annishinaabe, as Metis, and today are the Golden Thread of the multi-coloured tapestry of homo sapien existence.
Our bases is All French, in Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Chicago, Quebec, South Dakota, North Dakota, All down the Eastern Seaboard, and into the Cajun life in Bayous, moving inland to the great gardeners of the South. Inland to New Mexico, and into the lives of All we love. The Acadean did not just stay around the Eastern Seaboard, as they moved onward and inward to become the Golden thread to the multi coloured tapestry of homo sapien melting pots. We are still Acadie, and not what the Government defines us as, because we are Family. Homo Sapien family. We have been populated by French Speaking, French Family, French Religion, and Regional adaptations for our survival.
Written by the Runner, the Voyageur and the Acadean, of the French Region of Western France and with gratitude for Rideau and the Cardinal group. May God bless us All.
To My Matriarchs.