Although the main idea of disguising yourself to visit neighbors has remained the same, a few changes have been observed in the Chéticamp, St. Joseph-du-Moine and Margaree region.

The first major change is the length of this event. Originally, the Mi-Carême was celebrated on the third Thursday of Lent (the middle of Lent). Eventually, after the tradition had become more and more popular, this was extended to include Wednesday and Friday. Today, due to high popularity, the people of this area start celebrating on Sunday evening with "Laissons Entrer les Mi-Carêmes" at the Acadian Center in Cheticamp and continue running the Mi-Carême until Friday. On Saturday evening, the festivities come to an end with "Gala de la Mi-Carême" at the parish hall in St Joseph-du-Moine.

Traditionally, when a group disguised themselves as Mi-Carêmes, they would go from house to house, visiting all neighbors within walking distance. However, since the invention of the automobile, the distance covered by the "Mi-Carêmes" has grown so overwhelmingly that they are now able to visit all of the Acadian region.

The houses built today are much higher in value than those of the early days and the older homes have all been renovated, and have more expensive furniture. Therefore, the owners of these houses have become understandably reluctant to welcome into their homes, these strangers who quite innocently dirty and damage their floor and furniture. This has resulted in the remaining houses, as well as those who elected to use their garages instead of homes, to be the "regular stops" in which some can see up to 200-300 Mi-Carêmes in one night. These houses/garages often have music playing and some of them even have signs on their front lawns to attract the "Mi-Carêmes".

In the early days of "Mi-Carême", masks and costumes were made by hand in the simplest ways possible. Old clothes were always sufficient to make Mi-Carême costumes. Nowadays, masks and costumes are bought at the stores or more commonly rented at various places in the area who have made a small business of it. These costumes often represent people of various professions and different levels of society. Some people start running the Mi-Carême early in the day and go until the wee hours of the morning. One can see the same person wearing as many as five to six costumes in one day, to try and trick the same people as many times as possible.

Over the past two years, the community, with the help of the FANE (Fédération acadienne de la Nouvelle-Écosse) in co-operation with the LeMoine Development Association, has established projects to promote the making and selling of the Mi-Carême masks. These works of art are available at prices ranging from $50 - $300, and include such personalities as Elmo, Santa Claus, Évangeline, etc... which can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.