Deep into her Acadian roots
Susan Surette-Draper knows her roots. The president of Les Amis de Grand-Pre has a passion for the past. In 2004, she published A Self-Guided Memory Walk of the Annapolis Valley. Her handy little guidebook, in our two official languages, looks at names and places connected to Acadian history. Listening to her Acadian history comes alive because she knows her people. Her ancestor Pierre Suret and his wife Catherine Bro have substance in the details she knows about them.
When we last chatted, Susan, her husband and son were about to depart for France and Britain. This time Susan had photos of that journey, including an image of the Arc de Triumph with the Sauret name inscribed in a pillar. While Paris is beautiful, Susan headed for La Rochelle in Normandy and found a watery, dyked landscape that was familiar for a Valley resident.
The land is like here, she recalled. In Mauze-sur-le-Mignon Susan discovered La Ligne Acadienne and ancient homes. She found the old church of St. Pierre by chance and later confirmed her ancestor was familiar with it about 1700. He even had a sister named Suzanne. These connections speak to Susan. She believes that little bits of information are part of sketching a whole family history.
“There are parallels today. What happened to the Acadians is part of human experience.” Though the Deportation was in 1755, she says, the facts are right there for the looking.
The former guide at Grand Pre National Historic Site is fascinated to see her ancestress Catherine's cross as her mark in the surviving parish registers of the village. These records are actually available on line. Susan is also spellbound by the search for the demarcation of the cemetery at Grand Pre. We know from John F. Herbin's stone cross approximately where over 180 burials took place. In fact, we walk on graves taking the path by the cross.
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler has yet to find the limits of the cemetery, but I have no doubt he will in time.
“I think it should be treated as a cemetery,” says Susan. “There are branches of every major Acadian family buried there. (Historian) Sally Ross says it's a story to be told.”
The aim of Les Amis de Grand Pre is to maintain Acadian connections and traditions in the Annapolis Valley region. For Susan that means that in February that one should celebrate Mi-careme. During the Middle Ages, she told me, common people in France were allowed a one-day respite from the rigours of Lent in order to have fun. Mi-carêmers went from home to home disguised from head to toe while each host tried to guess their identity. When the game was over, they removed their masks and were offered treats.
Susan remembers this tradition well from her youth near Pubnico. “It allowed people to let off steam during the strict time of Lent. I remember people could recognize my eyes behind the mask. It’s a tradition still kept up in Cheticamp today. George Arsenault of PEI has written a book about it.”
Susan wants all Francophones and anyone who loves the French language to come to a social next week. It will mark les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie, which is a program to highlight the richness and diversity of French-speaking Canada. The event is set for March 11 at the new Port Bistro in Port Williams. The chatting en francais gets under way at 5 p.m., and our friendly storyteller Laurent d’Entremont will be on hand.
