La chasse-galerie – a tale of Christmas

 

Back in the late 19th century, many French-Canadian men spent long winters in remote logging camps to support their families back in the cities and towns. In those days before modern travels, coming back every week or even month for a visit was out of the question. So the men would spend the whole season, including the holidays, far from their loved ones.

One Christmas (or New Year’s) Eve, a group of such men in a lonely camp were feeling homesick and wanted to spend the réveillon with their wives and girlfriends. So they made a deal with the devil: the Prince of Darkness would make their canoe fly over the forests and hills so they could go back to their homes for the night. Old Scratch gave three conditions to respect: they could not swear, they could not touch a church steeple with their canoe while in flight, and they had to be back at camp before 6 o’clock in the morning. If they broke any one of those rules, their souls would be damned to hell forever. Despite the risk, the homesick men agreed and off they flew!

The reunion with their beloveds are joyous indeed and they spend the night drinking and dancing. When they realize the late hour, they hurry back to the canoe to get back to camp before the devilish deadline. Of course, in their inebriated states they are much more prone to swearing or accidentally ramming the craft into a church. And one of them invariably begins to get agitated and comes close to swearing, so his panicked companions gag and tie him up, but he eventually breaks free and swears. The canoe crashes into a tall tree and the passengers are knocked out when they hit the ground.

In the most famous version, by Honoré-Beaugrand, the men wake up the next morning and never speak of the adventure again. However, in other versions they are doomed to fly forever across the sky, their souls never getting to their eternal rest. And they say if you look out on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, you can sometimes get a glimpse of the bewitched canoe.

While a deal with the devil might be an odd choice of theme for a Christmas story, it’s really indicative of the loneliness that develops when hardworking and honest men are forced to spend the holidays on their own, far from their kin.

While the most famous element of the chasse-galerie, the flying canoe, came about in 19th century Québec, it’s actually a newer version of an even older story from France. It is told that a nobleman named the Sieur de Galerie was such an avid hunter that he even skipped church in order to enjoy his favourite sport. The Lord did not take kindly to this and condemned his soul to forever run across the sky pursued by celestial hunters and wolves.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Buche de Noel

 

 

Buche de Noel is one of many traditional cakes baked at Christmas. As the name suggests, it is of French origin. The name of this recipe literally translates as "Christmas log," referring to the traditional Yule log burned centuries past. The ingedients suggest the cake is most likely a 19th century creation. That's when thinly rolled sponge cakes filled with jam or cream and covered with buttercream icing begin to show up in European cook books. Marzipan and meringue, typically employed for decorative purposes, date to the Medieval Ages and the 17th century respectively. We find no person/place/company credited for having *invented* this particular confection.

"[In France] where the buche de Noel, a roll of light sponge cake, is covered in chocolate or coffee buttercream textured to resemble bark. The conceit is carried further by mounding the cream over small pieces of cake stuck to the main roll, to represent trimmed branches. The ends of the roll and the cut faces of the branches are finished with vanilla cream, imitating pale newly cut wood, and the whole is decorated with leaves made from icing, or meringue mushrooms."

---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 184)

 

The yule log cake is served at the midnight feast that follows Mass on Christmas Eve. Although it does not take the place of our flaming Christmas pudding, it makes a nice dessert to serve at any time during the Christmas season.

Buche de Noel

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 egg whites
Chocolate Butter Cream 1
1 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon hot water
2 or 3 blanched almonds
angelica
candied cherries
green sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Rinse the mixing bowl with hot water and wrap a hot wet towel around the base. Combine the egg yolks and sugar and beat for 5 minutes or until the mixture has doubled in volume. Fold in the flour and then the butter, which should be cooled. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently but thoroughly.

Butter a small, rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan (10X14) and dust it with flour. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth it evenly with a knife. Bake 10 minutes. Spread a damp towel on a marble slab or table. Run a knife around the edge of the baked cake and turn the pan upside down on the towel, leaving the pan on top of the cake until it is cool. Make the butter cream, using 5 egg yolks, and add to it the dissolved instant coffee. Spread the cake with the butter cream and roll it up lenghthwise like a jelly roll. Place seam side down on a long serving tray and cut off both ends diagonally. Put the remaining butter cream in a pastry bag fitted with a flat cannellated tip. Force the cream lengthwise over the surface of the cake to give the appearance of bark. Place a 'knot' here and there. Decorate the cake with almonds and a sprig of holly made with strips of angelica and little rounds of candied cherries. Sprinkle very lightly with green sugar."

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Peter McAuslan

 

Peter McAuslan's family originated from Glasgow, Scotland. His father grew up in NDG and worked for CN. His mother was from Lachine, where he grew up. He attended John Grant High School, after which he studied at Sir George Williams University, graduating with a BA in 1972.

He was employed by the YMCA for several years as a community organizer before taking a position at Dawson College (where he later became the Secretary General).

Peter began experimenting with home brewing and took a trip with his wife to Europe to learn more about independent breweries. He put together a business plan for opening his own brewery, and began to seek out investors (many of which were his colleagues at Dawson).

While still working at Dawson, Peter and Ellen visited a friend's brewery in Portland. This friend, Allan Pugsey, showed Ellen, a biologist, how to brew beer. In 1988, at the age of forty, Peter quit his job and went about setting up his brewery.

They built their brewery slowly. They began by producing one type of beer (St. Ambroise Pale Ale) and working with a staff of four. By 2000, they had employed 40-50 people. That same year, they struck a deal with Moosehead to distribute locally. They then invested in a new brewing space, new equipment and a bigger payroll.

Peter's sons Todd and Taylor are also involved with the company. Todd distributes in the Plateau while Taylor focuses on the maritimes. The company as a whole distributes in six canadian provinces.

Peter was at one time the President of the Quebec Microbrewery Association, and a director of the Brewer's Association of Canada and the Association of Brewers in the U.S.

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Tradition!

 

Traditional Christmas celebrations in the predominantly Catholic province of Quebec include attending midnight Mass. Just as in the United States, some families open their gifts on Christmas Eve, others on Christmas morning.
            To add a French Canadian touch to your holiday celebrations, try this traditional recipe.

 

  TOURTIERE DU SAGUENAY
            1 pound lean pork shoulder
            1 pound beef, venison or boned wild fowl meat
            1 pound veal shoulder or boned chicken
            6 medium onions, chopped
            1 teaspoon salt
            1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
            4 large potatoes, peeled
            Enough pastry for three 9-inch pie crusts (your favorite recipe or refrigerated storebought pastry)
            Egg wash (1 egg, beaten, mixed with 1 to teaspoons milk or water)

            Chop the meats into 1/2-inch cubes. Coming meat cubes with onions, salt and pepper in large bowl; mix thoroughly with your hands. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
            Dice potatoes into 1/4-inch cubes. Put in large bowl. Add 4 to 6 cups cold water. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

            The next morning, roll out pastry. (Use two-thirds of the pastry for the bottom crust, and the remaining one-third of the pastry and trimmings for the top crust.) Use bottom-crust pastry to line a baking dish (preferably a cast-iron Dutch oven) at least 4 inches deep that will hold about 12 to 14 cups of filling. Drain potatoes, reserving water. Add potatoes to meat mixture. Transfer mixture to pastry-lined baking dish. Add enough of the reserved potato water (about 3 cups) to bring it up to the top of the meat; add additional cold water if needed.

            Brush outer edge of pastry with eggwash. Cover with top crust; seal edges. In the center, cut a 2-inch hole and insert a small “chimney” of foil. Seal the base of the chimney with eggwash and a bit of the pastry trimmings. Brush surface of pastry with eggwash. Bake in preheated 350-degree oven one hour; reduce temperature to 250 degrees and bake 6 to 8 hours, or until richly golden brown. Check from time to time during baking to make sure the meat is not too dry and the juices can be seen in the foil chimney. If not, add a little hot water through the hole.

            Serve piping hot with beet pickles and a variety of relishes.

 
            Yield: 10 to 12 servings.
            Note: Traditionally, lard pastry is used. 

            

© 2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Origins of Celtic Christmas

 

Christmas has been marked in Ireland since St Patrick brought Christianity to the island in the fifth century. Over the centuries pagan Celtic customs merged with Christianity to produce some uniquely Celtic Christmas traditions for the winter festival. While not all are practiced today, some can still be seen – customs which date back to earlier, less commercial times.

Before the coming of Christianity the people of Ireland practiced a pagan druidic religion which gave them a keen sense of their connection with the natural world. Like many earlier peoples around the world, the winter solstice of 21^st December was particularly important to the Gaelic Irish. The winter solstice is the shortest day / longest night of the year. However for the Celts it marked the turning point in the year. In the dark and cold of winter, at solstice the sun begins the long journey back towards its midsummer peak.

The Celts celebrated the turning point of the sun with fires in sacred places such as the Hill of Tara. The use of fire to mark the winter solstice may have contributed to the more recent Irish tradition of placing a candle in the window of your house during the twelve days of the Christmas season. It is the time of year when the Celts, just like people all across the world want to rekindle the light of love and hope in their lives.

A candle in the window: As well as a throw-back to the ancient Celtic custom of using fire to celebrate the turning point of the year, this tradition is said to be aimed at welcoming travellers to your home. The candle in the window marks the way to warmth and hospitality to anyone who finds themselves, like Mary and Joseph in the New Testament, without a place to stay at Christmas time.

Greenery: The druids of the ancient Celtic world used evergreen to branches to symbolize the eternal nature of the human soul. In Christian times the tradition of bringing evergreen branches into an Irish home has continued, as a symbol of the eternal life brought about by Christ’s resurrection. In Celtic countries evergreen branches such as holly and yew are more traditional than the German custom of bringing an entire tree into the home.

In Irish (Gaelic) Nollaig Shona Duit means Happy Christmas to you. It is pronounced no-leg show-na ditch.

A traditional Irish Christmas blessing in English is: 'May peace and plenty be the first to lift the latch on your door, and happiness be guided to your home by the candle of Christmas.'

At new years it is traditional in Ireland to say 'Go mbeire muid beo ar an am seo arís.'In English - May we be alive at this time next year...

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Canadian Pacific Holiday Train

 

Now in its 18th year, Canadian Pacific's annual Holiday Train will travel across Canada and the northern United States to raise money, food and awareness for food banks and hunger issues while hosting free concerts along the way.
Since its launch in 1999, the program has raised more than C$12 million and nearly 4 million pounds of food for communities along CP's routes.

There will be two trains under the Holiday Train banner, each approximately 1,000 feet in length with 14 rail cars decorated with thousands of LED lights and a boxcar that has been converted into a traveling stage.

 

"For nearly 20 years, CP has watched communities turn out to enjoy a wonderful event while taking a stand against hunger," E. Hunter Harrison, CP's CEO, said. "We are proud of the role the Holiday Train plays, but more importantly, we're proud of the people and families that come out year after year to help their neighbors. They're the reason we keep bringing the train back."

One train will launch on Nov. 25 and the other launches a day later - both out of Montreal. The final shows of the U.S. train will be in Saskatchewan on Dec. 15 and the final show of the tour will be in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, on Dec. 17.
Every pound of food and dollar raised at each stop stays with the local food back to help those in need in that community.

The Canadian train will feature musical guests Dallas Smith and Odds, while the U.S. train will feature Kelly Prescott and Doc Walker between Montreal and Windsor, Ontario and Colin James covering the Midwest and Great Plains shows. Jonathan Roy will perform at the Quebec locations.

"We are very excited about this year's CP Holiday Train and are encouraging all event attendees to bring healthy, nutritious food items to the shows," Pam Jolliffee, interim executive director for Food Banks Canada, said.

Fans of the Holiday Train are encouraged to take photos capturing the train in various cities and landscapes and entering the "Capture the Spirit" photo contest on Facebook for a chance to win an exclusive ride on next year's train.

The train will make stops in Quebec, New York, Ontario, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Saskatchewan. For a full schedule, click here.

For those not in the area of the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train, there are various holiday-based excursions around the country. Here is a state-by-state list we've put together.

Chasing the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train

Holiday Train – 2015

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved

Éva Circé-Côté

 

She was the daughter of Ezilda Décarie (1846-1926) and Narcissus Circe (1842-1911), Montreal merchant  .She studied at the Convent of the Sisters of St. Anne in Lachine.

 

In 1900, when already known as a poet and speaker, she began her journalistic career in the Debates .Her essays and poems earned her rave reviews. From 1900 to 1942, she worked for newspapers L'Avenir ,The Illustrated World , The Future of the North , the Nationalist, The Country and The World worker.In 1902, with other young writers, she founded The Spark , a literary journal. She signed some 1,100 columns in various newspapers of opinion, under the pseudonyms of Columbine, Musette, John Nay, Fantasio, Arthur Maheu, Julien Saint-Michel, Paul S. Bédard. Francophile, she called his collection of poems and essays Blue, White, Red .

In 1903, she was appointed first librarian of the Technical Library, the first public library in Montreal. It will have the title of assistant librarian of the Library of the City of Montreal from 1915 to 1932.

In 1905, she married Dr. Pierre Côté-Salomon, who was known as the doctor of the poor of Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood. They had a daughter, Eve. After the death of her husband in 1909, according to his last wishes, he was cremated. She attended the progressive circles and Freemasons in Montreal.

From the end of xix ^th  century, it gives lectures on education for girls. In 1908, with journalist Georgina Belanger , it opens in Montreal a secular school for girls, however firm in 1910 . In January 1910 she began her collaboration with the radical liberal weekly The Nation led by Godfroy Langlois . From the foundation of worker World by Gustave Francq , she joins her team and published in the union newspaper until 1942. From 1937, she also published in the French Protestant newspaper L'Aurore .

Four plays, historical dramas or comic satires, each is worth a price. In 1922, she was elected vice-president of the French section of the Society of Canadian authors of which she is a founding member.

Liberal and progressive, she denounces the imperialism , the anti-Semitism and religious power of the time in Quebec. The struggle for free thought , the separation of church and state, free education, compulsory and secular. Women, she says, "The time evolution of a people sound when the woman ceases to be a slave. "It defends workers' rights and calls for reform of the provisions Civil Code on the status of married women.

Admirer of the Patriots and Louis-Joseph Papineau , in 1924 she published Papineau. His influence on Canadian thinking. Historical psychology test .

 

©2016 Linda Sullivan-Simpson
The Past Whispers
All Rights Reserved