Foire Brayonne - Origins of The Name Foire Brayonne

Origins of The Name Foire Brayonne

The name "Foire Brayonne" stems from the word "Foire" which is French for fair. "Brayonne" is the feminine form of the French word "Brayon" which is the name given to residents of Edmundston and the surrounding Madawaska County area. There has been many disputes as to why this term is used. The word is defined as someone who mixes (such as pancakes or laundry). However some other historians dispute the terms as something else when it comes to the people of Edmundston. They refer to their ancestors' harvesting of reeds from the St.John river valley. These were known as "braye" which they used to weave baskets and make brooms. Therefore the term "brayon"; harvester of braye. Some also believe the name may refer to the Pays de Bray region in Normandy (North-western France). Having left this region for Quebec, the descendants made their way over generations to the St. John river valley. The name perhaps provides a link to their native homeland.

Read more about this topic:  Foire Brayonne

Famous quotes containing the words origins of and/or origins:

    The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?”
    Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)

    Grown onto every inch of plate, except
    Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
    Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
    Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
    The origins of art.
    Howard Moss (b. 1922)