• Congrés Mondial Acadien Calendar
• Congrès '99 to open with a flourish
• Priest prepares for French Mass at Southdown
• Bienvenue, y'all: CMA under way
• Acadians honor enduring culture
• Acadian descendents converge on La.
• Bourgeois clan to recognize its historical land 
• Canadian Acadians trek to La.
• Acadian history rescued
• Petition by Warren Perrin
• Genealogy program set at Nicholls
• Congres Mondial is summer gathering for Acadians 

The words will be repeated over and over again the next two weeks, in whateverlanguage or whatever dialect.

To the French, they're "Bienvenue, vous autres."

To their Cajun cousins, they're the similar "Bienvenue, vous aut'es."

To Southerners of all origins, they're simply "Welcome, y'all."

As thousands of people from across North America, and even around the globe, converge on Terrebonne Parish beginning today, local organizers of the two weeks celebrating south Louisiana's Acadian roots say the visitors will receive a heaping dose of Cajun fun and equal parts of Southern hospitality.

"We're going to give them a taste of Louisiana," said Sheryl Collins, who is leading the organization of six family reunions, including her own, designed to bring distant cousins from the United States, Canada and France together for only the second time.

The family reunions are the cornerstone of the event known as Congrès Mondial Acadien, or in English, the World Acadian Congress. The reunions begin Saturday, with four families of Acadian ancestry gathering in spots across Terrebonne Parish. The highlight of the weekend will be Sunday's opening ceremonies at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center. The opening ceremonies will feature Cajun and
Canadian musicians, parachuting acrobats and a meeting of American and Canadian Indian tribes.

Sharon Alford, executive director of the Houma Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Canadian tourists will number in the thousands, but she expects the bulk of the event's visitors to be homegrown.

"We're expecting 1,000 to 2,000 Canadians, and the Congrès is going to draw thousands more people from Louisiana," Alford said. "This is a celebration of our heritage, and the people of Louisiana are the guests of honor."

Audrey Babineaux George, who runs a local bed and breakfast and often has French guests, said Terrebonne Parish has a chance to extend international goodwill and see a tourism boom from it.

"We do not feel our Canadian cousins really know us," George said. "The music, the cooking, the language, all of it will have them coming back. Our visitors are always extremely impressed by the welcome they get. They'll leave with a long-lasting impression, and they'll go back with plenty of stories."

Robert Bourque, a teacher from New Brunswick, Canada, who arrived in the area early, already has a story to tell.

Bourque and his wife, Angele, are staying with Collins' family in Houma. Their host's grandmother was a Bourg, and Collins is leading the Bourg/Bourque/Belliveau reunion scheduled for Saturday in - where else? -- Bourg. On Wednesday night, the Collins family treated their visitors to boiled crab, Cajun style, of course.

"We have crab back home, but it's not the same," Robert Bourque said, then added with a laugh, "It's very spicy."

On top of good eating, the distant relatives have had a chance to talk and discuss their common ancestry. Their families bonded in 1994, in Canada for the first Congrès Mondial Acadien, when Collins met Robert Bourque's father, Joseph. He wasn't able to make the trip to Louisiana, but Angele Bourque contacted Collins via the Internet. They formed a fast friendship, and Collins invited them to stay in her home on Park Avenue.

"They want to know what it's like to be Cajuns," Collins said.

Collins said everybody in Terrebonne Parish can play a part in the gathering by simply talking to the visitors.

"They're coming for our food and music, but it's the people they've come to see, to talk to them," Collins said. She then thought of one other thing that might help those from the North who came to Louisiana just in time for the sweltering part of the year. "Other than air conditioning the outdoors, talking is the best thing we can do to welcome them."