BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State government employees are getting a long Thanksgiving weekend, with offices closed Friday in a holiday that commemorates Louisiana's Cajun heritage.

Gov. Bobby Jindal has continued the annual tradition of designating Friday as Acadian Day, which remembers the arrival in Louisiana of the Acadians, many of whom settled in large southern areas of the state after being deported from Nova Scotia in 1755.

Acadian Day is an optional holiday for Louisiana governors to call each year on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

In his proclamation declaring the legal holiday, Jindal called Acadian Day additional time for families to gather "to remember their blessings and promote family values."

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