ROOTS OF LIFE

The Roots of Life statue, found in the grotto of the Notre-Dame-De-Lourdes Church in rural New Brunswick Canada is small in size but powerful in message. It captures the essence of the Acadian people and their history.

Acadians were 17th century French settlers who populated what is now New Brunswick, Eastern Maine and parts of Nova Scotia. Tossed and scattered by the winds of history they were ex-pulsed after the British conquest of North America in 1760 and again by the American Revolution. With stubborn determination they gradually returned and today are the defining people in this region straddling the United States and Canada.

"The practical durability and the symbolic strength of hot-dip galvanizing are found together in this intricate statue."

The statue; that of a stubby tree like form made of roots symbolizes the turbulent Acadian experience. The roots are the tree, representing the return after the expulsion, history driving the future. The repeated presence of threes represents the role of the Church through the Holy Trinity. The double meaning of galvanizing is also implied; how a people galvanized together can weather any storm just as galvanizing makes steel weather the effects of time.

The practical durability and the symbolic strength of hot-dip galvanizing are found together in this intricate statue which stretched the art of steel workmanship to honor those who have passed the test of time against all odds.

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