St. Anne's Feast Day - July 26

New apartment, new altar!!!! I found a handmade kitchen hutch beautifully made by a carpenter in the 1970s. It reminded me of my grandpa's wood skills. My old one is still loved and cherished but at my girlfriend's place for us both. This one has a lot more space than my old one, storage and surface wise. I just finished painting Cap Éternité in Saguenay (bottom reference photo) on the altar backsplash area. The next project is designing stained glass windows for the doors on the cabinet hutch and installing lights at the top to illuminate the art. The one after that would be mythological creatures of French Canadian and Acadian folklore on the door medallions. I also plan to put in two sconces to hold vases of flowers on either end of the hutch, and paint more folk art designs on the hutch sides and drawers. The beginning of many a cherished moment painting this piece to make it come alive within my practice.

Folk Ways for an Acadian or French Canadian folk practitioner

I want to start an ongoing list of Acadian and French Canadian religious and popular folk ways that I've been learning about for the last two years. My references will be at the end for further reading!

Blessing a candle on Candlemas (Feb. 2) with holy water will allow you to have a light whenever there is sickness and storms hitting your home. Traditionally on Candlemas, the light is lit and guided through every room in the house to bless all its corners for the year. It was even paraded in the farmer's fields. (Dupont)

The 25th April, on St. Mark's Day, is the ideal day to bless your fields or garden before putting in the first seeds. This ensures the growing food to be blessed by this saint. (Maillet)

Animals have been known to speak in human tongues on Christmas Eve. (Maillet)

If you feel that nothing is going right in your day, your homemade bread sours, or general bad luck assails you, simply boil some holy medals. (Dupont)

The first three days of the month of August, the ocean waters are known to have healing properties, and it wouldn't hurt to dip your feet in it. (Chiasson)

It was customary to trace crosses on windows using holy water when a storm would hit. (Lacroix)

To find a lost object, simply toss a rosary or a pocket metal rosary over your shoulder. The foot of the cross will point in the direction where your lost object might be located. (Dupont)

To have good weather on your wedding day, be sure to hang your rosary on your clothes line the day before. (Dupont)

Maillet, Antonine. Rabelais et les traditions populaires en Acadie. Les presses de l'université laval, quebec. 1980.

Lacroix, Benoit. Folklore de la mer et religion. Editions Leméac, 1980.

Dupont, Jean-Claude. Héritage d'Acadie. Collection Connaissance, editions Leméac, 1977.

Chiasson, Père Anselme. Chéticamp: histoire et traditions acadiennes. Editions des Aboiteaux, 1972.

A reminder to fellow folk practitioners that include catholic elements and anyone practicing a form of folk Catholicism that it’s perfectly fine to rewrite prayers to fit YOU. Modify the Our Father prayer to be Marian focused or have different wording! change the wording in the Hail Mary if you’re uncomfortable with the phrasing! Diy your own saint cards with modified prayers you’re comfortable praying! Rewrite chaplet prayers! You’re the one saying the prayers, make it meaningful to you however you see fit. Yes, the prayers do hold significance and power, and if you need to change them then go for it!

Every action we take is fundamental to a better world that is kinder. I also recognize he had his mistakes and issues but he learned and he strove to do better. And for a Pope, that’s monumental. Rest in peace Pope Francis 🕊️

Pope Francis has died.

I know to a lot of people on the left and in the LGBTQ+ community, he wasn’t exactly seen as a holy herald of progressive values. That said I think he was more helpful to our community than we have ever really given credit.

The Catholic Church is hugely entrenched in the past. They may not ever accept gay marriage within our lifetime. But if you compare Pope Francis to any other Pope that came before him, he did more to progress the Catholic Church than anyone else ever has. He constantly spoke out saying that the church needed to accept LGBTQ+ members. He has denounced laws that criminalise homosexuality. He supported same sex civil unions—which I was literally taught was evil and dangerous when I was in Catholic high school. Transgender people can be baptized and same sex couples can be blessed because of him.

He was never enough, of course. He has affirmed the teaching that gay marriage is not spiritually possible and prior to becoming pope he opposed the legalization of same sex marriage. He has said gay children should seek psychiatric care. He has also been even less accepting of transgender people than same sex couples.

But at the same time he was the most empathetic Pope to have existed in the past several hundred years. I have left the church because I no longer believe in God, but I do recognize that the Catholic Church has power over huge swaths of the world. My mother still believes in her Catholic faith and has always stood by this idea: it’s impossible to move a behemoth organisation like the Church overnight. She stays in the community because she wants it to become better. She pushes, in her own small way, a little bit every day towards what she thinks is right. In this conversation, that is the acceptance of LGBTQ+ youths. Pope Francis was helpful in moving the Church away from a stance of hate. Now I hope that whoever the cardinals choose next for pope is someone who joins her in pushing that ball forward.

I decorated a Huckleberry compass this week! The shape is reminiscent of a planchette and it held the perfect opportunity for some stained glass painting.

La Saint François d'Assise

October 4th marks St. Francis of Assisi's feast day! St. Francis if Assisi (1181-1226) was an Italian mystic, poet and Catholic friar who founded the religious order of the Franciscans. Venerated across multiple Christian denominations and traditions, he has patronage over the environment and animals.

For today, I blessed all four of my cats with a little cross of holy water on their foreheads, and said a prayer over my cat Moonshadow's collar. She wears a St. Francis of Assisi medal on her tags.

Cherish your animals today, and love them, pray for a long companionship.

Really Gorgeous Playing Card Decks from Bicycle Cards! An appreciation

Since I've been reading normal playing cards in my folk practice, I didn't want to limit myself to any ordinary deck I'd find in Dollarama or in a cupboard. Like Tarot cards, I want my deck to be gorgeous and evocative! So, here are my favourites, and you all might love looking at these!

Aviary (I own this one and use it for my practice)

Marquis

Jubilee

The Sea King (I lost my ace of spades in this one)

Odyssey

Stargazer New Moon

Stargazer

Stargazer Sunspot

Stargazer Observatory

Voyager

Honorable mention: A Ducale Game. I have no idea how to play it, but the cards evoke really old art styles! Not from Bicycle.

Holy Saturday’s vigil was lovely, even as I was visiting my in-laws and I didn’t have my altar cabinet or a church nearby who offered the service.

My paschal candle was prepared with my pocket knife with the Cross, Alpha and Omega and the year’s numbers, blessed with holy water and the ashes from the cut up bits of palm frond. I read from the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke 24:1-12 (since in 2025, we are in Year C of the Lectionnary), read out the Litany of Saints, and played the Excelsis Deo with the ringing bells at around midnight. It was a simple and moving rite, and one that I love to take, since it has a section in the scripts used to undertake a renewal of baptism and vows.

My mom went to a church in St. Ambroise, in Saguenay for her vigil. She brought back a vigil candle, and Lillie was intrigued!

A Happy Easter to all the faithful, and I hope your day is filled with joy and love among your families and friends!

🌲 Familiar trees and their leaves New York D. Appleton 1911

La Toussaint et le Jour des fidèles défunts - All Saints Day and All Souls Day

All Saints Day (La Toussaint) takes place on November 1st.

Liturgical colour: white

On this day, I celebrate the lives and stories of Saints known in the church, and those not canonized officially. It's a day to speak with your patron saint, look for your patron saint, or to simply just let their stories touch you for their example and lessons.

I bring out my statuettes of all my favorite saints, and put out the attributes they are associated with. Roses being associated with most saints and especially with the Virgin Mary, it is a fitting offering to put on an altar, if you have cats like I do who get into everything.

It's a great day to ask for your special requests, and ask for intercession with the help of a saint specific to your query. Any book on the saints can give you the attributes you're looking for.

All Souls Day (Le Jour des fidèles défunts) takes place on November 2nd.

Liturgical colour: purple

On this day, I commemorate my dearly departed, my known ancestors, and those I do not yet know about. In Quebec on this day, back in the 20th century and before, it was traditional to have a mass for the souls of the departed of that year, culminating in a cemetery visit. You weren't allowed to work the fields or cut wood that day, for fear of harming the roaming dead. It was a day to say prayers for the souls in purgatory, hoping they can find their way to everlasting rest.

Nowadays, communities in Quebec and francophone areas don't really do anything communally on this day. I for one, want to commemorate it! So, I made a list of all the names in my ancestors' lineages that I could find, and voiced them out loud one by one. I offered them pieces of poetry evoking the ocean, Acadian communities, and remembrances written by my great-aunt, and read to them a passage from the Bible. Then I offered some tea, sugar fudge and galettes, and told them about what was going on in my life this year.

I'm lucky to have biographies of my great-grandmothers to read again and again, and a great-aunt who writes of her Acadian culture so beautifully. It's turned into quite a personal day for me.

So, Happy Toussaint and Jour des fidèles défunts!