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Bonne St-Jean Baptiste à tous les Québécois!
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Today, June 24th, is Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. It is celebrated in certain parts of French Canada, particularly in the province of Québec. It is the feast day honoring St. John the Baptist. He was the Jewish preacher who baptized Jesus.
It is know as La fête nationale in Québec province, having been given a nationalistic flavor. For pro-independent nationalists, it is almost equivalent to Independence Day (the 4th of July) in the United States. It has become an expression of francophone pride, often taking the form of flag waving, much like in the United States. For many Québecois, it is essentially their answer to the Canada Day festivities a week later, on July 1st. For other French Canadians who want to remain part of greater Canada, it is still a holiday to be enjoyed. Businesses are closed and people are off from work, much like the rest of Canada on Canada Day, or like Americans on Independence Day. It is a day of barbecue and parades and public shows of patriotism, perhaps concerts or other festivities, all ending with a grand fireworks show at night.
The origins of this becoming a truly significant and uniquely Québecois holiday date back to the founding of the St-Jean-Baptiste Society in 1834 by journalist Ludger Duvernay. It came at a time when Francophones in Canada - and especially in Lower Canada (which was dominated by the majority French-speaking territory of Québec - were feeling a sense of urgency to protect their Francophone identity and culture against British rule. It happened to come out just months after the Ninety-Two Resolutions, which were partially authored and championed by Louis-Joseph Papineau, the leader of the Patriotes movement in Canada. He went to London to officially submit it, but the British ignored it for three years before basically officially rejecting it and sending their counter proposals, known as the Russel Resolutions. This in turn sparked a revolt by those in favor of the cause of the Patriotes, which came to be known (in English) as the Lower Canada Rebellion, but which I have seen referenced in French language history book of Québec as an outright Revolution. Anyway, Duvernay had set up the St-Jean-Baptiste Society in hopes of fostering a sense of nationalist spirit and linguistic and cultural pride among Francophones in Canada, and particularly in Québec. Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day had been recognized and celebrated in Québec since the earliest days of French rule there, but it took a decided turn following Duvernay's efforts for that day to be a de facto holiday celebrating Francophone identity and pride.
I was blessed to be in Québec City once for this holiday, and it was very exciting! This was back in 2008, when that city was celebrating it's 400th anniversary. It was incredibly crowded, and we had our very young son with us. He was not yet three years old, and the crowds were a bit too much (which was the main reason that I would not fight hard to get a good spot at the Paul McCartney concert that he gave in Québec City to honor it's 400th anniversary a little less than a month later.
To any Québecois and other French Canadians out there who celebrate the holiday, enjoy this Saint-Jean Baptiste Day/ Fête de la St Jean-Baptiste/ bonne fête nationale!
Sources:
Wikipedia Pages:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninety-Two_Resolutions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis-Joseph_Papineau
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parti_canadien
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebellions_of_1837%E2%80%931838
The Canadian Encyclopedia: TIMELINE Rebellion in Lower Canada
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/rebellion-in-lower-canada
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