196 THEISLAND ACADIANS

was preceded by lessons on the catechism given in the church by the priest during the summer holidays. Children would walk to church every day for several weeks to learn about the mysteries of their religion and the precepts of the Church. If finally, after these classes, the children’s religious instruction was deemed sufficient, they would be allowed to take communion. The long-awaited day was the scene of an imposing religious ceremony for which the young girls were clad in white from head to toe, while the young boys, also in their Sunday best, wore a white ribbon on their left arm.

Confirmation was another even more imposing ceremony with a similar setting. It was particularly noteworthy, however, since it only took place every three or four years and it was the bishop himself who administered the sacrament. As they had done before their First Communion, the children went to church for several weeks to attend catechism lessons given by the priest.

The very simple marriage ceremony took place in front of several witnesses early in the day at morning Mass. Normally several couples exchanged vows at the same time. The wedding festivities, on the other hand, were on a much larger scale and might even last more than one day since nothing was spared for what was considered to be a memorable event. In some families the wedding would be ended by saying the rosary and the evening prayer.

Normally it was not long after marriage before children were born; the children were many in Acadian homes. Large families were, in fact, blessed by the Church, whereas couples were disapproved of if they tried to limit the number of births. Therefore any couple who, for any reason except illness, decided not to have any more children was committing a grave sin in the eyes of the Church. The clergy used diverse ways of getting the message across. An example is the mission- ary who told women that all the children they prevented from being born would tug on their skirts and make it harder to fly to heaven®!

When they were elderly, parents still remained in their own home with the family of the son who was to inherit the family estate. It was there that they would die, surrounded by their loved ones. The priest was called to the deathbed to administer the Last Rites at the appropriate time. In those days the wake would be held at home in a death chamber improvised for the occasion. The devotional objects in the house, such as crucifixes and holy statues and pictures, were