In Canada, August 15th is officially designated as National Acadian Day and in New Brunswick, Canada's only officially bilingual province, the date is celebrated widely and with enthusiasm.

The revelry manifests itself in the "tintamarre" (pronounced tantamar) purportedly an Acadian word to describe a great loud noise. Today, there is a geographic feature in old Acadie known as the Tantramar marshes. The great lowland marshes are a bottleneck on the migratory flyway for all kinds waterfowl including ducks and geese. Speculation is that the noise of thousands of geese stopping to feed on the marshes every spring and fall was the reason for the name given to the great marshes.

You may lean more about the Acadians on these web sites:

• The Commission du tourisme acadien du Canada atlantique
• Village Historique Acadien
• Musée Acadien and Research Center
• Université Sainte-Anne