It’s all about the Maple
A history of the Festival du Voyageur
Melissa Hiebert Staff
It’s that time of year again. Whenever I see beautifully crafted snow sculptures dotting downtown Winnipeg, I know it’s just about time for the Festival du Voyageur. Held every year at Voyageur Park over a 10-day period in February, the mission of the Festival du Voyageur (as stated on their website) is “to highlight and promote the Franco-Manitoban heritage and culture of the whole community by reflecting the era of the voyageurs and joie de vivre.”
Wow! To me it has always been about getting those delicious maple syrup-covered popsicle sticks.
Well, maybe not all about the maple-covered popsicle sticks. The snow sculptures are always incredible, and I love touring the museum-like Fort Gibraltar, complete with a blacksmith and a general store. Combine that with some amazing music and the wonderful aromas of maple, bonfire and bannock (truly Canadian smells), and the Festival du Voyageur can be a pretty fun time.
The Fort Gibraltar that lies at the Festival grounds is a re-creation of the original fort, which was situated right in the middle of Main Street near the Forks (only one wall of the original fort remains there today). It was built as a North West Company (NWC) trading post in 1810. The Fort was later captured and destroyed in 1816 by the NWC’s rival, the Hudson’s Bay Company. It was rebuilt a year later, after British authorities deemed the take-over illegal. The post was taken over by the HBC in 1821, when the two companies merged, and the fort was renamed “Fort Garry” in honour of the new deputy governor of the HBC, Nicholas Garry.
“Voyageur” means “traveller” in French. Originally it referred to all explorers and traders, but it came to signify traders and canoe paddlers, and pretty much any labourer of the fur trade. They were hard workers, working 14 hours a day or more, all of which was spent portaging, paddling (50 strokes a minute) and carrying out various other laborious tasks.
Most of the Voyageurs contracted by the North West Company were French-Canadians. They also wore those colourful sashes that you see people wearing around the festival, called ceintures fléchées. Apparently they wore the hand-woven sashes for warmth and back support, but they look pretty cool, too.
So there’s a bit of history for those of you who had a hard time recalling grade six French class. After actually paying attention, though, I think I want to be a voyageur. It would be pretty sweet, canoeing and camping and backpacking throughout all of Canada and actually getting paid! Though I’m not sure I’d like to trudge through the snow carrying a canoe and a hundred pounds of furs in the middle of November. Maybe I’ll settle for attending the festival instead.
This will be the 37th year of the festival. It attracts over 100,000 people. This year it will run from February 10 to 19, and I promise there will be enough maple popsicles and beer for all. Ahh, the joys of being Canadian.
