Fishing boats are decorated for the World Acadian Congress. (CBC)The small communities that dot the Acadian Peninsula in northeastern New Brunswick are starting to welcome more than 40,000 visitors during the World Acadian Congress that started on Friday.

The three-week cultural celebration is held every five years and is the largest gathering of Acadians in the world.

The event kicked off Friday morning at 5 a.m. on Miscou Island, the farthest point on the peninsula, as Acadians gathered to watch the sun rise over the Atlantic Ocean.

A few hours later, thousands of people gathered in Lamèque to walk across the bridge to Miscou Island. Many of those visitors were waving Acadian flags and wearing the bright colours of red, white, blue and yellow.

Meanwhile, about 200 fishing boats from around Acadian peninsula met under the bridge to symbolize the meeting of Acadians at the congress.

Residents prepare for congress

Sylvio Rioux, who lives on the main road that runs through Shippagan, has his house and yard decorated with more than 300 Acadian flags.

Rioux said it's his family's way of displaying Acadian pride, while at the same time welcoming the tens of thousands of visitors who are expected in the region.

"I think they're going to be proud that they're being Acadian, proud that they did survive," Rioux said.

Survival is an important part of the Acadian identity.

Almost 300 years later, the great deportation of 1755, which is known in the Acadian community as the Grand Dérangement, is still a significant point in Acadian culture. At that time, the British government ordered the Acadians to take an oath of allegiance and fight against the French.

When most refused, the British government ordered that their houses be destroyed by the military and they be forcibly removed from the colony. It is estimated that nearly 20,000 Acadians were deported and thousands were killed.

Acadians were scattered across North America and Europe after the deportation. Many Acadians moved back to what is now Atlantic Canada in the years after the deportation. Since that time, a rich francophone cultural community has grown in the area.

Congress important to culture

Flags line the coast of the Acadian Peninsula as tens of thousands of people descend on northeastern New Brunswick for the World Acadian Congress. (CBC)Standing in a gift shop in Shippagan, Andre Pelletier, a Fredericton resident, said it's important for Acadians from around the world to gather in events like the congress.

"That's the only way that you can exchange ideas and grow together. For anybody who wants to succeed in life, they have to grow and not necessarily to stay at the same place," he said.

It's that kind of exchange of ideas that Jean-Marie Nadeau, the president of the Acadian Society of New Brunswick, said Acadians need.

The longtime advocate for Acadian rights said the idea for the congress is something he came up with more than 20 years ago.

More than 90 family reunions make up the backbone of the gathering. They will be complemented by hundreds of events in the many towns and villages along the peninsula.

Robert Frenette, the executive director of the congress, said he is looking forward to seeing the event unfold over the next three weeks.

"I think it will be happiness, I hope that all the people will be smiling. I think the feeling is they are proud to receive people from other parts of the world," he said.

The congress is so important to the New Brunswick Acadian community that many successfully petitioned Prime Minister Stephen Harper to extend Lt.-Gov. Herménégilde Chiasson's term one year.

The lieutenant-governor's appointment in New Brunswick typically alternates between anglophones and francophones so it was felt strongly that Chiasson, an Acadian, should continue his role until the end of the congress.

Harper extended Chiasson's term until Sept. 30.