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| Adopted | Aug. 15, 1984 |
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| Design | Three equal vertical stripes of blue, white, and red with a yellow star in the upper-left canton |
| Designed by | Marcel-Francois Richard |
The flag of Acadia is a flag of the Acadians, an ethnic group descending from the French settlers of Acadia (now part of Canada) in the 16th and 17th Century. It is a French tricolor with a yellow star in the upper-left canton.
The flag was adopted on August 15, 1884, at the Second Acadian National Convention held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island, by nearly 5,000 Acadian delegates from across the Maritimes. It was designed by Father Marcel-Francois Richard, a priest from Saint-Louis-de-Kent, New Brunswick.
The Musée Acadien at the Université de Moncton has the original flag presented by Father William to the 1884 Convention. It was sewn by Marie Babineau.
Description and Symbolism
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Name
editThe official name of the flag is "national flag of Acadia"[1], but "flag of Acadia" and "Acadian flag" are more commonly used. It is nicknamed le tricolore étoilé (English: the starry tricolor). Other nicknames have already been used, such as "flag national des Acadiens-Français" after the Miscouche convention . The expression “flag of the ancestors” was used by Henri P. Leblanc during the convention of1910.
The name given to the star is Stella Maris, which means star of the sea inLatin . According toPascal Poirier, it is the star of theAssumption. Some sources also speak of the papal star, the crest or the star of Acadia . The latter is theheraldicname of the star.
Father Richard selected the French flag as the basis of the Acadian one to underline the adherence of the Acadians to the French civilization. The star represents the adherence of the Acadians to the Roman Catholic Church and the role of the Church in the history of Acadia. It is a Stella Maris in reference to Our Lady, Star of the Sea, one of the ancient titles for the Virgin Mary, and patron saint of the mariners. The star is set on the blue stripe because blue represents Mary, while the yellow represents the Papacy.[2]
The flag's creation was an important part of the Acadian Renaissance, and its final design reflects the political and religious considerations of that period.[3]
Design
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Dimensions
editThe delegates of the National Convention of Miscouche did not choose official dimensions nor colors . The ratio 2:3, that of the French flag, is commonly used thereafter, as well as the division into three bands of equal width . Since the dimensions and position of the star often left something to be desired, and with the aim of having uniform flags, official dimensions were proposed in 1953 , during a presentation prepared by the Association acadienne d'enseignement (AAE ) chaired by Doctor Théo Godin . Thousands of flags were distributed over the following years, helping to popularize this version . The dimensions of the flag however vary from one manufacturer to another, the smaller flags often having a ratio of 3:4 . However, the 1:2 ratio, based on theflag of Canada, remains the most common .
According to the official dimensions, the three vertical bands are of equal width, denoted "A" . The five-pointed star is constructed in an imaginary circle , with a diameter of ¾ A , the center of which is located 1⅜ A from the bottom of the flag, on an imaginary vertical line dividing the blue stripe in two .
Color
editCouleurs officielles du drapeau de l'Acadie :
History
editSee also
editSources
edit- ^ General, Office of the Secretary to the Governor (2020-11-12). "The Public Register of Arms, Flags, and Badges of Canada". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2023-01-01.
- ^ Perry Biddiscombe (1990). "Le tricolore et l'étoile; The Origin of the Acadian National Flag, 1867–1912". Acadiensis. 20 (1): 120–147.
- ^ Biddiscombe, Perry. “Le tricolour et l’étoile: The Origin of the Acadian National Flag, 1867-1912,” Acadiensis 20, no. 1 (1990). Republished in P.A. Buckner, Gail Campbell, David Frank, eds., The Acadiensis Reader: Atlantic Canada after Confederation (1999).[PDF https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/Acadiensis/article/download/12343/13190/