Brayon

Brayons are a francophone people inhabiting the area in and around Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. In French, they are called les Brayons or feminine les Brayonnes, and both terms are also used as adjectives, as in Brayon culture, or la culture brayonne.) Given their location in New Brunswick, a Canadian Maritime province, they are considered by many to be Acadians. Conversely, given their proximity to Quebec, many Acadians consider them to be non-resident Québécois.

The Brayons view themselves as neither Acadian nor Québécois, affirming that they are a distinctive culture with a history and heritage linked to farming and forestry in the Madawaska area, unlike both the primarily maritime heritage of the Acadians and the ancestral St. Lawrence Valley history of the Québécois. The Brayon dialect of French is essentially Quebec French pronounced with a more characteristically Acadian French accent.

This view of uniqueness led (at least jokingly) to the founding of the République du Madawaska during the Aroostook War, wherein some Brayons, disgusted with the actions of both British and American interlopers on their ancestral lands, declared themselves allied with neither, and independent. Of course, the “république” was never formally recognized, and was ultimately split by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty into American and Canadian parts.

The spirit of the République du Madawaska lives on, at least in the hearts and minds of local residents. The république has its own flag (designed in 1938), which flies in and around Edmundston. ^[1] The honorary Président de la République (President of the Republic) is the sitting Mayor of Edmundston, and there is a small Musée de la République (Museum of the Republic) in Edmundston dedicated to Brayon history. The heritage of les Brayons is celebrated annually in the Foire Brayonne, a music and cultural festival.

Notes

1. ^ In a curious historical note, the flag of the "republic" apparently resembles an "American" flag raised by John Baker during the Aroostook War. See "Under his own flag".

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