A New England Acadian Flag
What's wrong with this picture?
This image, while moving, only recognizes Acadians as
existing in the Maritimes and Louisiana. In fact, Acadians are found in
many places and one of the largest concentrations,
often forgotten, is in New England. Most of our ancestors came from
Canada in the late 19th century, driven by harsh economic conditions at
home and lured by promises of steady work in the mills. For more, see Acadians in
New England.
 It's time
for a new flag. The Acadian tricolor was adopted in 1884 at the
National Congress in Miscouche; the flag of "Acadiana" in
Louisiana was created in
1965 by Prof. Thomas J. Arceneaux. My
design for a New England Acadian flag combines the
Acadian flag with the 17th/18th century
flag of New England (click on image to the right for a larger version in PNG format).
During the 2004 Congrès Mondial Acadian I wore a home-made
t-shirt featuring all three flags, as in the example below
(again, click for PNG file).
The New England Acadians who saw me wearing it at
Grand-Pré
on August 13 were quite
enthusiastic. Before a talk by Lucie LeBlanc Consentino on our New England
Acadian Heritage we convened an impromptu Society of New England
Acadians and officially adopted
it.
I've done something a little different with the graphics
for this webpage, both in the banner at the top of the page and on the
main page: I've made both the Acadiana and the New England Acadian flag
smaller. I'd like to see these as regional flags flying alongside and
under the national banner of 1884.
Please feel free to use these designs on your webpage or
on any t-shirts. You may also
purchase
Acadians of New
England merchandise with this design at my on-line store.
I've also included a couple of other flags associated
with Quebec. The
Flag of Quebec was only adopted in its present form in 1948. A
banner displayed in 1848 was said to have been carried by Montcalm at
Carillon (Ticonderoga); it featured Our Lady surrounded by four angled
fleur-de-lis. A variation of the Carillon design appeared in 1902, and
the following year a version with the Sacred Heart in the center was
adopted as the flag of French Canadians by several assemblies.
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