The Winds of Tradition

You knock on the door to your sister’s room. She opens it with an irritated look on her face and asks you what you want. Sensing her mood, you decide to take the diplomatic route and ask her what she’s listening to.

It turns out to be a group called Le Rêve du diable (The Devil’s Dream). It’s a new Québécois folk group that got together in 1974. You recklessly tell her it sounds like something from the olden days. Without missing a beat, she answers:

Obviously. That’s the point!

A photograph, edited to look like a comic strip, of a man with a beard and long brown hair. He is wearing a coat, a burgundy scarf, and small round glasses. He is examining a roll of film.

Christian Giraldeau, one of the organizers of the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache, 1976

Discovering a cultural heritage by Christian Giraldeau. Listen to the audio excerpt in French, the written transcription is available in English.

At the top of the poster is the title of the documentary in cursive letters and the subtitle: “Si l’Acadie, la Bretagne, l’Irlande, la Louisiane et le Québec m’étaient contés...” (“If I were told the stories of Acadie, Brittany, Ireland, Louisiana and Québec…”) At the bottom of the poster, a black and white illustration of a seated fiddler has been reproduced five times. The fifth copy has a rainbow over it. The background of the image is a gradient from white to grey.

A poster for the documentary La veillée des veillées, 1976

In Québec in the late 1960s, there was a revival of interest in heritage in all its forms. With the rise of the nationalist movement that culminated in the election of the Parti Québécois in 1976 came a strong desire to rediscover Québec’s history. Young people took up crafts like arrow sash making, got interested in antiques, experimented with traditional dances and listened to traditional music.

A black and white photograph of a man standing and a woman sitting under a stepladder having their photo taken with a person dressed up as a smiling apple. In front of them are three baskets full of apples.

The Saint-Joseph-du-Lac Apple Festival, 1970s

A black and white photograph of seven young women and two men posing behind a huge apple pie on which the words “Festival de la pomme” (“Apple Festival”) are written.

The duchesses of the Saint-Joseph-du-Lac Apple Festival, 1980s

People’s excitement about Québécois culture at the time gave rise to numerous public celebrations and festivals that highlighted Québécois culture and local traditions throughout the Belle Province. From Québec City’s summer festival to the Apple Festival, there was something for everyone. In 1975, there were an estimated 1,000 plus celebrations and festivals in Québec. As Pierre-Paul Leduc, an officer of the Société des festivals populaires du Québec, puts it:

The main thing is to find a good reason to celebrate and if necessary, to invent one.

Your sister enthusiastically tells you that Le Rêve du diable will be coming to perform at the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache this year, then she cranks up the volume. Clearly, the conversation is over.

So, you decide to ask your neighbour, who has lived in the city her whole life, about the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache.

Celebrating in the Old Days The Beginnings of the Fêtes du Vieux Saint-Eustache