Christmas in Canada
Canada's Christmas celebrations are drawn from a mixed cultural background - French, English, German, Ukrainian, and First Nations. This mixture brings about much diversity in the customs and traditions of Canada's Christmas festivities.
French explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founded the city of Quebec in 1608. In these early days the French Canadians began their Christmas celebration at the end of November, on the first Sunday of Advent. Great preparation was given to the food for the grand Christmas Eve meal, the whole week of parties that would follow, the many visitors that would be received and finally, the New Year's Day Celebrations.
All of this activity provided for social gatherings. One such event was the taffy pull. It was held on November 25th in honor of the patron saint of single women, Saint Catherine. While taffy was indeed pulled, single women were afforded time to meet the eligible bachelors before the Christmas parties that would soon follow.
The spiritual heart of Christmas for French Canadians was Christmas Eve. Families were off to Christmas Eve midnight mass, la messe de minuit. French Canadians introduced the creche or Nativity scene and before leaving for service family members decorated the Christmas tree and placed the creche under it. Children were then awakened and taken to mass. Some family members stayed behind to complete final preparations for reveillon or "awakening." Everyone had been preparing for this meal that followed the religious services which had lasted into Christmas Day.
The highlight of the meal, was the meat pie, la tourtiere. Side dishes such as oyster soup helped to fill the table. It was a grand display of sauces, cheeses, ketchups, pickles, relishes, chutneys and cranberry dishes. Just as tempting was the dessert table heavy laden with fruitcakes, pastries, puddings and of course the pillowcases filled with fried donuts. As the meat pie was the highlight of the main meal, the Yule log, buche de Noel, was the highlight of the dessert table. This chocolate cake shaped like a log was topped with chocolate icing made to look like bark. White icing was drizzled here and there to look like snow. The dessert was symbolic of the birch log that had been burned in the fireplace on reveillon before the French came to Canada.
The celebration lasted well into the morning. Children would receive their presents during reveillon. Pere Noel would have filled their stockings with treats. But Christmas Day for early French Canadians was a day of relaxation for grown-ups and outdoor fun for the children. A little dinner was served in the evening. For French Canadians New Year's Day was reserved for the big gift giving.
Today, Midnight Mass and reveillon remain the focus of Christmas for many French Canadians. Large crowds fill Saint Joseph's Oratory and Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal after ice skating in Mount Royal Park. Others may choose Mont Ste.-Anne.
Businesses, churches, and nonprofit organizations make great efforts to provide for the less fortunate during the Christmas season. In smaller towns around Quebec, caroling and requests for food and money donations for the poor go hand in hand.
In modern Quebec, some French-Canadian families still wait until New Year's Day for gift giving. But some have given in to children receiving gifts at Christmas as well.
Canadians of English ancestry feasted on roast goose or beef and plum pudding. They decorated with wintergreen and cranberry sprigs, and sing carols, holding firm to their British traditions and customs. England claimed Canada in 1497 and Canada remains first and foremost British.
Early English settlers arrived to harsh winters and struggled just to survive. But even in the face of much adversity, Christmas was a time of celebration. They used the greenery at hand to replace the mistletoe, twisting it into wreaths, draping their mantels with evergreen boughs and cranberries. A bowl of fruit and nuts adorned the table accented by colorful ribbons and long white candles.
Christmas trees did not come to Canada until the mid-1800's but the kissing ball- a globe of evergreen or a ring made of evergreen boughs and decorated with candles, apples, and nuts, was found in most settlers' homes. This decoration afforded gentleman a chance to kiss the single ladies if they were caught standing under the ball. As a pre-Christian symbol, it represented the return of light and life to the world following the winter solstice.
By the late 1800's, around the arrival of the Victorian era, the British influence had come full bloom at Christmas. Everything was aglow and there was a profusion of activity. Dances, parties, engagement celebrations, weddings, dinner parties and christenings were most festive during the Christmas season.
Around the 1830's and ‘40's Canadian newspapers began advertising for ‘store-bought gifts' and manufactured items became a part of gift giving. Items such as books, puzzles, and skates were selected for the children. Ladies received furs and jewelry with their handmade handkerchiefs, potpourri sachets, knitted gloves and socks, and lace dollies.
Presents were placed unwrapped on a table, maybe in the parlor, on Christmas Eve after the children had been tucked in bed. On Christmas morning gifts were exchanged in front of a warm fire. Then it was off to church and back home for a wonderful Christmas dinner.
Like the French Canadians, the English Canadians made it a practice to gather money for charities at Christmas, beginning in the late 1800's. Like the French, carolers made the rounds from house to house and were often given a little refreshment for their efforts.
Candy brings up the famous Chicken Bones and Barley Toys. These Christmas candies with the strange names have been around for more than a hundred years. Chicken bones were originally made in 1885 by the Ganong Brothers. It was combination of a cinnamon-flavored, pink, hard candy stick and chocolate filling.
The Yarmouth Candy Company in Nova Scotia still follows the same recipe to make the Barley Toys - sugar, glucose, color, and olive oil. The mixture is poured into very small old-fashioned molds shaped as chickens, rabbits, and other animals, as well as small toys and Santa Claus. Whatever the choice, these two candies are a must in Christmas stockings.
German settlers migrated to Canada from the United States in the 1700's. They brought with them many of the enchantments of Christmas we cherish today - Christmas trees, Advent calendars, gingerbread houses, cookies and much more.
Fir trees were first used in the Middle Ages in Germany as the "Paradise Tree" in a play about Adam and Eve. Paradise Trees were gradually put up on December 24th, the day on which a feast was held to honor Adam and Eve. As time passed the apples that originally decorated the tree were joined by cookies, sweets, and colorful decorations hanging from the branches.
All of this was brought to Canada when the Germans came seeking refuge. When Queen Victoria's German husband, Prince Albert, put up a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle in 1848, the Christmas tree became a tradition throughout England, the United States , and Canada.
The Advent wreath was another tradition the German settlers brought over. It would be hung from the ceiling with four candles, one being lit each Sunday in Advent. Advent calendars delighted many Canadians when introduced by the Germans as a way of counting the days until Christmas.
All the Christmas spirits of Germany arrived on Christmas Eve for German Canadians. The tradition follows that before Santa arrived, Knecht Reprecht and/or Belsnickel came to check on the children's behavior. Either of the characters was thought to be mean and they came to extract promises from the children that they would be good. He would then scatter candy about for the children and leave to report back to Santa.
"Plain Dutch" were groups of Germans that we know as the Amish and Mennonites. These groups held and still hold strong religious beliefs and did not celebrate the holidays. But their own tradition allowed the children to leave out a plate on Christmas Eve and in the morning it would be filled with nuts, oranges, candy and sometimes a small toy. Other German Canadians did not share this restrictive life style and celebrated in ways mentioned earlier.
Today, German Canadian children anxiously await the arrival of Christkindl, an early version of Santa Claus. Mothers make stollen and decorate dozens of Christmas cookies. And the Christmas tree is a must in every home.
What Americans call Native Americans or American Indians, Canadians prefer the term First Nations. These first inhabitants crossed the frozen Bering Strait at least 25,000 years ago and with the arrival of the Europeans in the late 1400's, aboriginal peoples spread into every part of Canada. French Jesuit missionaries established Christianity in several villages in the late 1600's to the mid-1700's, bringing with them Christmas.
Gift giving, feasting, singing, dancing and drumming, games of strength are all a part of the winter solstice festivals for the First Nations groups. Children of the Cree Nation visit the homes of relatives on Christmas Eve and a cloth bag is hung for each child. On Christmas morning, the children collect the bags which have been filled with toys, gifts and candy.
The tradition of Noya is observed by Mohawk children and other peoples of the Iroquois nations on the first day of the New Year. The children carry bags that are to be filled with apples, candy and doughnuts shaped like dolls as they visit the homes of all their mothers' relatives.
Potlatch celebrates giving. Traditionally given by a tribe, or by the tribe's chief, the celebration would end with the host giving his possessions to his guests. The more he gives away, the more prestige he gains. Today, Potlatch may be held to celebrate any special occasion throughout the year and especially at Christmastime.
Missionaries also brought Christianity to the Inuit and today, massive feasts mark Christmas. Traditional favorites such caribou, seal and raw fish are served along with turkey. Santa Claus comes for the children. Christmas activities include Harpoon throwing, whip cracking wrestling and igloo building, as well as rifle shooting and snowmobile racing.
The Inuit Christmas would not be complete with the traditional Drum Dance. As evening approaches, activities move inside and include the unusual art of Throat Singing. Two woman face each other and make sounds that imitate the sounds of the North by "throwing" sound into each other's open mouth. The first one to laugh or break the rhythm loses.
The Metis Nation begins its celebration on Christmas Eve with a very large family and a traditional meal. The men fire their guns to kick off the celebration. Wearing their best attire, family members and friends exchange gifts, dance to fiddle music, sing, and play games. European and native life styles make for an interesting combination.
In the late 19th century, Ukrainian immigrants arrived in Canada. They brought with a rich blend of Eastern Orthodox and age-old agrarian customs. The religious observance of Christmas for Ukrainian Canadians begins with the Feast of Saint Philip, in which homes, yards and barns are totally cleaned. Cleansing of the body and soul takes place too, with fasting . and purification.
Then comes Sviata Vechera,or Holy Supper on Christmas Eve. A huge feast ends the this traditional day of fasting. Overlapping agrarian symbols and Christian symbols, twelve dishes are served, representing the twelve disciples and the cycles of the moon. The twelve dishes also represent the most valuable products of the field, garden , and orchard. There is no meat or milk served with the meal as a sign of respect for the farm animals that are depended upon all year long.
Before the meal is served, a sheaf of wheat is ceremonially brought into the house by the father or head of the household. He walks around the inside of the house three times and then places the wheat in a corner of the kitchen or dining room near the family's holy icon. There it remains throughout the Christmas season. This sheaf represents the whole family, living and dead, and unborn. The souls of the family are thought to be in the sheaf and it represents both the Christian belief in an afterlife and the bountiful fertility of the land.
