So Can We Start Hunting Down White Liberals Now Or What

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

I love how my community groups together to learn together! Keep sharing resources, and someday we may have a book on the shelves for our practice :)

Hello! i just discovered your account. I read the same chapter in the North American Folk Magic book and felt connected to it through my french canadian ancestors. I’m having trouble locating books or really anything about these folk traditions. Do you have any to recommend? thank you so much <3

Hello! :)

I’m so sorry this has taken me months to reply to—I’ve had a reply half-written in my drafts for ages, but the end of the year was crazy so I wasn’t able to finish writing it until now. Hopefully this is still helpful!

I’m going to start off by saying that I’m by no means an expert on this topic (I’m fairly new to reconnecting to these practices), so I’m probably missing some key sources. My French is very poor, so I’m unable to read a lot of the sources that are out there—especially Quebec-specific sources, which are often written in French.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any French Canadian folk magic 101 books (at least not that I know of!) out there, so we have to get a bit creative when it comes to sources.

First, I highly recommend checking out the website Courir le loup-garou (link)! They have a lot of articles about different aspects of Acadian and French Canadian witchcraft (sorcellerie). All of their articles are bilingual, and it’s an excellent, accessible resource to get you started. They also have a page on there with sources they’ve used (books, articles, etc.), so it might be helpful to take a look at those.

I’ll also direct you to @lesorciercanadien, who is a practitioner with excellent informational posts, as well as sources cited that you can comb through.

There is a podcast episode of Three Witches and a Druid, interviewing Laurence Cote, who is a French Canadian folk practitioner, about the subject. Link (goes to the Apple podcast app) here.

Another thing to do is to look at the living culture of your family members or people you know. Personally, my Acadian side of the family are very Christian and have no ties to any sort of magic or animistic beliefs—they don’t even pray to saints, which is a common aspect of French folk practices. But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing for me to work with! Just means I have to be creative. For example, my Acadian family members use summer savoury in a lot of traditional recipes (meat pies, chicken fricot, stuffing on Christmas), so that’s an herb that I incorporate into my craft a lot of the time.

Food is an excellent and accessible form of culture that you can utilize in your own practice. By looking at common ingredients and working with the spirits of those plants and herbs, for example, or by practicing kitchen witchcraft as you try different recipes. I’ve found this a great way of connecting with my ancestors—following family recipes or even looking up Acadian recipes online and devoting that time spent cooking to those ancestors. It always makes me feel closer to them.

Similarly, I find that listening to traditional music is a great way of connecting to these ancestors. I’m unsure if it’s the same for general French Canadians, but I grew up listening to my Acadian family from New Brunswick playing folk music—specifically fiddles and mandolins and banjos. Sometimes I listen to this music as a way of reconnecting to that side of the family.

Another way to find sources is academic journals, and these will usually be articles about folklore, history, or religion. Use Google Scholar/JSTOR/etc. and search terms like the following ones: "province name"/"quebec"/“acadian”/“french canadian”/"city name" AND "witchcraft"/"folklore"/"magic"/"folk healer." Etc. These aren't always exciting reads, and sometimes the research goes nowhere, but I've found some amazing info this way.

Another type of source to look out for is folklore books—specifically ones related to French Canadian folklore. I was going to insert the name of an old one I read a while ago here, but unfortunately I’ve misplaced the name. I’ll include it here if I find it.

The story of Evangeline is one that is incredibly important in Acadian folklore, and the epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow is worth a read. Evangeline is a folk hero to many, and is honoured by some folk practitioners.

I’ll also note that there tend to be a lot of awful racist stereotypes related to Indigenous people in some of the older articles and books about witchcraft in Canada, so that’s something to keep in mind as you do research.

Many of the mentions of Indigenous peoples within the particular papers I have read are due to the close ties some Acadian and Mi’kmaq peoples had with each other historically, which led to cross-cultural communication, trade, kinship, and the sharing of beliefs and knowledge. For example, the northern lights have shared folkloric beliefs for both cultures, which shows the cross-cultural communication that took place between them.

Until someone writes a comprehensive French Canadian or Acadian folk magic book, this is what we’ve got—unless there is a wonderful source out there that I haven’t come across yet! It’s a lot of work to dig through all of these sources to piece together your own folk practice, but I find it very rewarding. Putting in all that work just makes you feel all the more connected to the practices you’re doing, and it’s very worthwhile, at least to me!

Again, sorry this took so long, and I hope it helps! Happy new year :)

Getting ready to celebrate La Quinzou in Halifax 🌟 And I'll be acquiring a bigger altar by September, so I'm quite excited to paint folk art all over it and show the results. It will be so lovely to have more space for my practice. St. Anne's Day was relaxing and mindful, Saint Brigid also got her own altar cabinet recently, and I found an Acadian cookbook from which to reconnect with my family's dishes on special days.

French Canadian and Acadian culture resources, music, retailers and media

I want to share where I usually find resources regarding my culture, what I tend to trust, and what music, movies and literature informs my spiritual practice! Many of them are in French, with options to switch to English within the website parameters.

Cultural, historical societies and archive centres

Centre Marius Barbeau: The Center specializes in the area of immaterial culture. Its mission is to preserve, promote and encourage recognition, conservation, passing on and spreading of Quebec folk arts and traditions including those of the First Nations and other ethnic communities. The centre owns more than 10,000 documentary pieces of which a very large part is already catalogued and indexed! Costumes, songs, recordings, visual art, and so so much more! https://www.cdmb.ca

Centre de recherche Père Clarence d'Entremont, Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos, Société Historique Acadienne de Pubnico-Ouest: The Archives « Centre de recherche Père Clarence-J. d’Entremont» is located on the second floor of the Museum and Centre de recherche annex. The archives house many collections including the private collection of historian Father Clarence-J. d’Entremont. Amongst the collections found in the research center are over 5000 library books and periodicals (historical and genealogical), genealogies, land grants, deeds, microfilms, photos, maps, photographs, church records, etc. https://www.museeacadien.ca/research-center

Acadian Research Center of Prince Edward Island: Part of the Acadian Museum in PEI. They have more than 4,000 Acadian family records, including information on birth, marriage and death dates, as well as various censuses. This is in addition to the 30,000 genealogical records that their volunteers have transcribed over the years, as well as the 160 Acadian family files, binders and booklets given to them by independent researchers. They also have 340 thematic files covering various topics related to Acadian history and a library of more than 1,500 books on Acadian history as well as rare books. The Acadian Research Center of Prince Edward Island has more than 230 fonds in its collection, belonging to individuals or organizations.To view some archival fonds and photos, please visit: http://acadieipe.ca The Acadian Research Center follows the same opening hours as the Acadian Museum. To view the documents mentioned above or for more information, please contact the Acadian Museum at (902) 432-2880.

Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson, University of Moncton, New Brunswick: The Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson, established in 1968, collects and preserves all relevant documentary material concerning the Acadians and Acadian Society in various fields (history, genealogy, ethnology, sociology, archeology, folklore, demography, geography, economics, language) and offers inventories and tools to facilitate access to this material to interested researchers and members of the public. It has the largest collection of private and institutional records on Acadia in the world. It is located next to the Acadian Museum, which features a permanent exhibition and temporary exhibits, as well as guided tours and screenings of historical films and documentaries. https://www.umoncton.ca/umcm-ceaac/

Scholars and authors

Georges Arsenault (1952- still alive): historian and folklorist, born in Abram's Village, Prince Edward Island. He has published extensively on the folklore and history of the Acadians of his home island, many of these books I have in my collection for the traditions and holiday celebrations of my culture. Favorite book: Contes, légendes et chansons de l'Île-du-Prince-Édouard. Grande Marée. 2018.

Père Anselme Chiasson (1911-2004): a Catholic priest, educator and writer, born in Chéticamp, Nova Scotia. He has made significant contributions to the recording of Acadian history and folklore and folktales. He also published several volumes of Chansons d'Acadie, collections of Acadian songs. Favorite book: Chéticamp : Histoire et Traditions acadiennes. Préface de Luc Lacourcière. 3e édition. Moncton : Éditions des Aboiteaux, 1972.

Marius Barbeau (1883-1969): A monumental figure in folklore studies in Canada, he was born in Ste-Marie-de-Beauce, Quebec. Ethnographer, folklorist, a founder of Canadian anthropology. He is known for his early championing of Quebecois folk culture and his exhaustive cataloguing of the social organization, narrative and musical traditions and plastic arts of Quebecois and many First Nations oral traditions for a mass audience. He worked from 1916 to 1950 as editor on the Journal of American Folklore, in that time focusing a lot on Canadian folklore. TW: this researcher may present biases towards First Nations people and their cultures, using terms that are not considered okay today. So please, support more recent scholars and preferably First Nations authors to know more. Favorite book: Ceinture Flechée. Montréal: Paysana. 1945.

Pierre DesRuisseaux (1945-2016): Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, he was a novelist, essayist, poet, and journalist. He wrote many works on the expressions, proverbs, sayings, and folkloric tales of Quebec. Favorite book: Croyances et pratiques populaires au Canada français, Montréal, Éditions du Jour, 1973.

Jean-Claude Dupont (1934-2016): Born in Saint-Antonin, Quebec, he was an ethnographer and researcher at University of Laval. His ethnological thesis, Héritage d'Acadie, documented the spiritual traditions of Acadians, and I use it heavily in my practice. He was a pioneer of material cultures research, using this in his ethnological research. Favorite book: Heritage d’Acadie. Collection Connaissance, éditions Lemeac. 1977. 

Carolyn Podruchny (still active in academia!): PhD, is a Professor of History at York University. Her research focuses on the relationships forged between Indigenous peoples and French colonists in northern North America. Her first monograph, Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade (2006), examines French Canadian voyageurs who worked in the North American fur trade based out of Montreal, and ranging to the Great Lakes, the Great Plains, northern woodlands, and the subarctic. She focuses a lot on Indigenous Peoples , History, The meeting of Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the North American fur trade. The cultural, social, gender, labour, and environmental questions, Early Canadian history, Metis history, fur trade history, colonialism. She is an amazing resource! Favorite book: Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press. 2006.

Benoît Lacroix (1915-2016): Born in Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse, Quebec. A Quebec theologian, philosopher, Dominican priest, professor of medieval studies and historian of the Medieval period, and author of almost 50 works and a great number of articles. His collection is extensive in terms of religious life in Quebec, and a high recommendation for spiritual inspiration! Even just the list of publications on Wikipedia is a wealth of possibility, I recommend it! Favorite book: Folklore de la mer et religion. Editions Lemeac, 1980.

Antonine Maillet (1929- 2025): This lesbian queen of the letters in Acadie! She is an Acadian novelist, playwright and scholar. She was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. It's impossible to note down which of her books are the best, they're all such authentic works! For my favorite book, it's for my research into the folklore of course! I first read her for her novel, Pélagie-la-Charette, published in 1974. It's about an Acadian woman who guides her fellow Acadians out of Georgia back to their homeland, enmeshing folklore and history together in her narrative. Favorite book: Rabelais et les traditions populaires en Acadie. Les Archives de Folklore, 13. Les Presses de l’Université Laval, Québec, 1971.

Fred Pellerin (1976- still alive): a legend of traditional Quebec storytelling, Fred is from Saint-Élie-de-Caxton. He is a storyteller, author, and screenwriter. He's especially known for his double-entendre turns of phrases, clever verbal acrobatics, rhythm of speaking, and his amazing imagination of the Quebecois landscape and villages of the 19th century into the 20th. He has many books with accompanying CDs with his many stories of his village and the colourful characters inhabiting it. He also collaborated on the film adaptations of his folktales Babine (2008), Ésimésac (2012), and L'arracheuse de temps (2021). Favorite book: Dans mon village, il y a belle Lurette…, livre et CD, Planète rebelle, collection « Paroles », 2001, 142 p. (ISBN 2-9225-2855-3)

Musical heritage and modern bands

Le Vent du Nord: Favorite album: Territoires (2019) a mainstay in the Canadian folk landscape, Le Vent du Nord specializes in traditional French-Canadian folk music. Fiddle, mandolin, accordion, guitar, bouzouki, hurdy-gurdy, and rich vocal harmonies and podorythmie beats. Their Shrewsbury music festival shows on Youtube are absolutely riveting to watch! One of my all-time favorite bands for my magical musical needs! "La Turlutte a bassinette" is one of my main grounding songs.

Luc Arbogast: Favorite album: Oreflam (2014). This man. Where to begin with this amazing individual!? He's from Larochelle, France, and was a contestant on season 2 of the Voice. He is a troubadour who plays traditional instruments like the Irish bouzouki, lute, bells. He is known for his unique countertenor voice and medieval songs inspired by artists like Hildegard of Bingen, Walther von der Vogelweide, and Guillaume de Machaut. He sings in old dialects, French and English. If I ever cross his path on the streets of Strasbourg one day, I will fanboy scream.

Vishtèn: Favorite album: Terre Rouge (2015). They are a folk music group from Prince Edward Island and the Magdalen Islands, whose style is rooted in Acadian music. They performed for the Library of Congress, available on Youtube "Vishtèn: Acadian music from Prince Edward Island". They fuse French, Acadian and Irish tunes. Quite beautiful harmonies too!

Les Tireux d'Roches: Favorite album: Tapiskwan sipi (2021). They're from St-Élie-de-Caxton, Mauricie, Quebec. They are considered storytellers-musicians-troubadours of Quebecois folklore and music. Using the cello, bouzouki, guitar, banjo, saxophone, clarinet, accordion, flute, harmonica. Folklorist and storyteller Fred Pellerin used to play with them!

La Bottine Souriante: favorite album: La mistrine (1994). From the Lanaudière region of Québec, La Bottine Souriante formed in 1976 during the Québec renaissance of traditional music. They use accordion, fiddle, guitar, piano, double-bass, which gives them a jazzier sound. They are known far and wide in Québec for their New Year's Eve anthems resounding in our homes, and they really go deep into the old tunes of the logging camps and voyageur trails, with some new compositions guaranteed for foot-tapping.

Les Charbonniers de L'enfer: Favorite album: La traverse miraculeuse (2008). Hailing from Quebec, they concentrate especially on vocal harmonies and acapellas, the jaw harp, and foot rhythm. They focus especially on traditional songs from the archival repertoire of French music imported with the settlers into New France, and voyageur call and response songs.

La Croisée d'Antan: Favorite album: L'antre Des Loups (2017). A trio of multi-talented musicians, La Croisée d'Antan features the violin, banjo, podorythmie, harmonica, accordion, guitar, and beautiful vocal harmonies. They have lots of traditional tunes, and new compositions with inspirations from yesteryear.

Le Diable a Cinq: favorite album: Sorti de l'enfer (2017). Five instrumentalists from the Ripon region of Outaouais, they aim to bring back the kitchen parties so fondly remembered in French Canadian households with their music. They're all from the same family: three brothers, one cousin and a friend. They use guitar, piano, vocal harmonies, accordion, podorythmie, violin, mandolin.

Movies (this list is always in progress as I discover more!)

Hochelaga: Land of Souls (2017): I watch this one every year on All Souls' Day. A Canadian historical drama film directed and written by François Girard and starring Gilles Renaud, Samian and Tanaya Beatty. Dramatizing several centuries of Quebec history and the local history of Montreal in particular, the story depicts Quebec archaeology revealing the past of indigenous peoples, explorers and 1837 rebels. I won't give away the many emotional gut punches this movie delivers. I adored seeing artifacts and then the flashback scenes of what this artifact went through in the hands of the various peoples that create today's Québec.

Babine (2008): Adapted from Fred Pellerin's book Il faut prendre le taureau par les contes, the film stars Vincent-Guillaume Otis as Babine, the village idiot of Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, Quebec. A lifelong outcast because his mother (Isabel Richer) was believed to be the town witch, he becomes the immediate suspect when the town's church catches fire, killing the parish priest (Julien Poulin). However, he will receive the support of the village's merchant, Toussaint Brodeur (Luc Picard), as he attempts to prove his innocence.

Ésimésac (2012): Although an unofficial sequel to the 2008 film Babine, unlike the earlier film Ésimésac was not directly based on Fred Pellerin's previously published stories; instead, the film's screenplay placed some of Pellerin's established characters in a new original story. The film stars Nicola-Frank Vachon as Ésimésac Gélinas, a young but physically strong man whose distinguishing trait is that he does not cast a shadow. He convinces the village of Saint-Élie-de-Caxton to plant and maintain a community garden after an economic crisis has left many of the townspeople hungry, but finds himself in conflict with village blacksmith Riopel's (Gildor Roy) plan to focus on building tracks for a railroad.

L'arracheuse de Temps (2021): Based on the 2009 story by Fred Pellerin of the same name. It stars Jade Charbonneau, Marc Messier, Céline Bonnier, Guillaume Cyr, Émile Proulx-Cloutier, Marie-Ève Beauregard, Pier-Luc Funk, Sonia Cordeau, and Geneviève Schmidt. An illness-worn grandmother tries to convince her 11-year-old grandson that death does not exist. She tells him about the adventures of her youth in Saint-Élie-de-Caxton, in 1927, when she had tried to eliminate death in the village.

Visual Artists

Clarence Alphonse Gagnon (1881-1942): One of my all-time favourite artists, and a really distant relative of mine! He was born in Montréal, Quebec. a painter, draughtsman, engraver and illustrator. He is known for his landscape paintings of the Laurentians and the Charlevoix region of eastern Quebec, where my family lived. It enchants me to no end, seeing my familiar landscapes with his brushstrokes! Favorite painting: Dans la clairière, Charlevoix. Huile sur panneau de bois, 1915. 15.7 x 22.8cm. no. 1988.113. 

Claude Langevin (1942-2024): A quick painter of landscapes, self-taught! His use of the brush is reminiscent of the Impressionists. He wished to express his affection for his people and his land. His depiction of the Laurentian landscape allows the viewer to feel a strong unfailing connection between the artist and the region he calls home. His use of light in his works reminds me so much of how the sun illuminates the Saguenay region, much to my fond memories. Favorite painting: Au but de champs.

Tom Roberts (1909-1998): Born in Toronto Ontario. He drew inspiration from the Group of Seven and French Impressionism. His paintings, characterized by vivid colours and dynamic compositions, captured the diverse landscapes of Canada, from Northern Ontario to the Maritime provinces. His use of both watercolours and oils brings versatility and an array of variety! Favorite Painting: Quebec Landscape, 1950. Oil on masonite 24 x 30” in. 

Books and Witchy Tools and Where to Get Them

Most mainstream anglophone shops like Chapters Indigo don’t have much. There are other options within Québec and in local regions for our books, and some of them ship elsewhere!

Archambault: this retailer has a lot of Quebec authors, music. Many books in their collections have folklore, regional histories, folk tales and more! Simply type the region you want, for example, Charlevoix or Saguenay, with any key words like “contes” and “folklore” and you’re bound to find a few good reads. https://www.archambault.ca

Septentrion: a bookstore specializing in historical monographs and scholarly works, especially those of France, Québec and any other region where we settled. https://www.septentrion.qc.ca

Bookmark Halifax: https://halifax.bookmarkreads.ca/. A local independent bookshop in our maritime province specializing in local interest authors and titles. Many features books include local history, graveyards, notable people, local plants, and so much more!

Carrefour Atlantic Emporium and Puffin Gallery: https://www.carrefouratlanticemporium.com. An eclectic paradise of local handicrafts, books, art from all over the maritimes! There’s a location on 1869 Upper Water Street, Halifax. I go there for most of my witchy tools like hand-carved spoons, woven tapestries, jewelry, statuettes, and lots of books on Acadian and Scots plants, folklore, history and culture books, as well and Indigenous titles. Sadly I don't think they ship, but always worth asking!

Honorable mention to Jennifer's of Nova Scotia! They're a local shop in Downtown Halifax where a multitude of local craftspeople and artisans sell their works! I get my pottery, tea, candles, art, jewelry, and trinkets from them! They only deliver within 20km of the store.

For those who garden or who are interested in Quebec-grown plants and seeds to incorporate into your spiritual path, here's a website to have a list of all available growers and seed providers! https://notreheritage.ca/semences/semenciers/#:~:text=Situé%20sur%20la%20Rive%2DSud,plein%20potentiel%20de%20chaque%20cultivar.

There's also the Pépinière Ancestrale, based in Saint-Julien, QC. a regional nursery for fruit trees, shrubs and plants! They ship to Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes! https://www.pepiniereancestrale.com

That's all I can think of for now! There's certainly more, but here is plenty to get any of you started! Feel free to reach out and ask any questions!

I bought the book Héritage d'Acadie by Jean-Claude Dupont, one of my favorite books on Acadian folk ways, and Luc Dupont sent me so many other books for free ❤️❤️❤️ my heart is so happy! Moonshadow is enjoying my scholarly spoils. I'm especially thrilled to receive the book on traditional Acadian medicine. That book is almost impossible to find still in print, and has been on my wishlist a very long time.

Lesson of the day: talk to your favorite authors and publishing houses. Especially in Acadian and French Canadian small print houses. They show so much generosity and openness in providing resources if you reach out.

Bibliography of Scholarly Articles and Books

Abbott, Frank, "The Devil Made Me Do It." Popular Spirituality in a Rural Quebec Parish, 1736-1901." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association/Revue de la Société historique du Canada, vol 27, no. 1 (2016): 1-30.

Abbott, Francis A. "The Body or the Soul? Religion and Culture in a Rural Quebec Paris, St-Joseph-de-Beauce, 1736-1901," Simon Fraser University Thesis, Fall 2012.

Anselme Chiasson. Les légendes des Iles de la Madeleine. Éditions des Aboitaux, 1969.

Anselme Chiasson. Le diable Frigolet et 24 autres contes des Iles de la Madeleine. Éditions de l'Acadie. 1991.

Arseneau, Danielle, "Growing Acadian Medicine: From the Acadian Homeland to Nova Scotia Gardens," Dalhousie University. 8 pages.

Arsenault, Georges. La Chandeleur en Acadie. Éditions La Grande Marée Ltée. 2011.

Arsenault, Georges. Contes, légendes et chansons de l'Ile-du-Prince-Édouard. Éditions La Grande Marée Ltée. 2018.

Arsenault, Georges. Noel en Acadie. Éditions La Grande Marée Ltée. 2005.

Arsenault, Georges. La Mi-Carême en Acadie. Éditions La Grande Marée Ltée. 2007.

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

Bergeron, Bertrand. Contes, legendes et recits du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. Trois Pistoles, 2004.

Bergeron, Florence. A force d'amour: biographie de Florida Gilbert. Société d'histoire du Lac-Saint-Jean. 2008.

Bouchard, Russel. L'exploration du Saguenay par J.-L. Normandin en 1732: Au coeur du Domaine du Roi. Journal original retranscrit, commente et annote. Septentrion, 2002.

Dawson, Nelson-Martin. Fourrures et forets metisserent les Montagnais: Regard sur les sang-meles au Royaume du Saguenay. Septentrion, 2011. 322 pages.

E.I. Robson. A Guide to French Fetes. Methuen & Co. Ltd. 1930.

Gaudet, Colby. "Women and Acadian Popular Religious Culture in Southwestern Nova Scotia, 1795-1820," Vancouver School of Theology, thesis submission, March 2018.

Gaudet, Rose-Delima. “La place de l’Église catholique aux Îles-de-la-Madeleine” Sessions d’études: Société canadienne d’histoire de l’Église catholique 46 (1979): 99-106.

Karst, Amanda. 2010. Conservation Value of the North Ameriacn Boreal Forest from an Ethnobotanical Perspective. Canadian Boreal Initiative, David Suzuki Foundation and Boreal Songbird Initiative; Ottawa, ON; Vancouver, BC; Seattle, WA.

Labelle, Ronald. “Native Witchcraft Beliefs in Acadian, Maritime and Newfoundland Folklore” Ethnologies 30, no. 2 (2008): 137-152.

Lapierre-Otis, Rita. Angèle des Iles: Pour la suite de son monde. Jonquière (Impression à Cap-Saint-Ignace), à compte d’auteur, 1997.

Laurendeau, Geraldine. Inventaire des savoirs et des connaissances des Pekuakamiulnuatsh sur les plantes médicinales, rapport final. Ressources naturelles Canada. Mars 2011.

Lavoie, Kathia, Julie Mollen, Agathe Napess, Georgette Mestokosho et Priscilla Mestokosho. "Innu-Natukuna: La cueillette de plantes médicinales par des membres de la communauté d'Ekuanitshit" Recherches Amérindiennes au Quebec, vol. 45, no. 2-3. (2015).

Madeleine Doyon-Ferland. "Folk Dances in Beauce County," Journal of American Folklore vol. 67 no. 264 (April-June 1954): 137-47; "Carnavals et deguisements traditionnels en Beauce." and "Rites et voisinage chez trois populations rurales canadiennes (Beauce, Dorchester et Charlevoix)" in Coutumes populaires du Canada francais (Quebec: Les Presses de l'Universite Laval, 1972). Found at Library Archives Canada, General Collection F5419 F4 1972.

Maison Saint-Gabriel: Musee et site historique. "Capsule Historique: Croyances populaires et superstitions au Quebec ou côtoyer le merveilleux."

Marius Barbeau. The Tree of Dreams. Oxford University Press. 1955.

Marius Barbeau. Le Saguenay légendaire. Librairie Beauchemin Limitée. 1967.

Nicole Belmont. Mythes et croyances dans l'ancienne France. Flammarion. 1973.

Niemeyer, Mark. "Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie and the Ambiguous Afterlife of the History of the Acadians." Canadian Review of American Studies/Revue canadienne d'etudes americaines vol. 48, no.2, (2018).

Pearl, Jonathan L. "Witchcraft in New France in the Seventeenth Century: The Social Aspect." Historical Reflections/ Reflexions Historiques, vol. 4, no. 2. (Winter 1977): 41-55.

Pierre DesRuisseaux. Dictionnaire des croyances et superstitions. Éditions Triptyche, 1990.

Podruchny, Carolyn. Making the Voyageur World: Travelers and Traders in the North American Fur Trade. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Podruchny, Carolyn, "Werewolves and Windigos: Narratives of Cannibal Monsters in French Canadian Voyageur Oral Tradition," Ethnohistory vol 51 no.4, 2004.

Ransom, Amy J. "The Changing Shape of a Shape-Shifter: The French Canadian "Loup-garou"." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 26, no. 2 (2015): 251-275.

Robinson, James M. The Nag Hammadi Library: The Definitive Translation of the Gnostic Scriptures Complete in One Volume.

Smallman, Shawn. "Spirit Beings, Mental Illness, and Murder: Fur Traders and the Windigo in Canada's Boreal Forest, 1774 to 1935" Ethnohistory vol 57, no. 4 (Fall 2010): 571-596.

Smith, Isobel. "Man into Animal: Lycanthropy in French and French-Canadian Folklore and Literature." Thesis presented to the University of Alberta, Spring 1985.

Tremblay, Marc. "Le cycle de la chasse-galerie: Etude des variantes significatives, de la diffusion et de la structure d'un conte folklorique canadien-francais." These soumise a l'universite Carleton, Janvier 1996.

Victor-Lévy Beaulieu. Les contes québécois du grand-pere Forgeron a son petit-fils Bouscotte. Éditions Trois-Pistoles. 1998.

W. Branch Johnson. Folktales of Brittany. Methuen & Co. 1927.

Wintemberg, W. J. “French Canadian Folk-Tales”, The Journal of American Folklore 17 no. 67 Published by American Folklore Society (Oct.-Dec. 1904): 265-267.

The home country has some good Easter candle lore! In the maritimes, fishermen would keep fragments of the easter candle on their boats! Guess I’ll do a post soon!

The protective magic of Easter candles. [French Folks Traditions.]

The fragments of Easter candles and other wax seals distributed by the priest constitute powerful protective amulets, whose power seems superior to that of Candlemas candles. In the Vosges, they attract money, and a person who suddenly makes a fortune is said to have "robbed a church on Easter Day." Elsewhere, on Easter Monday, a fragment of a candle is hung behind the front door of the house for protection; this Easter wax is also used to ward off lightning. In the Alps, a few drops of wax are dripped into water, which take on the appearance of flowers, then thrown into the fireplace during a storm.

The Easter candle also has a particularly effective effect against witches. It is slipped into the sockets of cows' horns so that they cannot be milked from a distance ; or into a child's shoe or cradle to protect them from evil spells. It also happens that several buttons of Easter candle wax are glued onto or into the butt of a rifle, so as to be effective against werewolves.

[Excerpt from M.C. Delmas, in the Dictionary of Mysterious France.]

French Canadian Witchcraft: Symbols, Guardians and Divination

(forgive the long post, but this is information I’ve been collecting through personal experience and Beltane Lowen’s book, along with lectures and other scholarly articles I’ve read.)

Symbols

Le fleur-de-lys: Can be used as a symbol for the Trinity, the triple worlds. The flower, the lily, is a symbol of purity and was often placed with the Virgin Mary (hence, a Goddess symbol). It of course also displays the sacred number 3. 

(Oh, this is my favourite painting done of Madeleine by Georges de la Tour, she just looks so pensive and looks like she’s learning lots of things, and the skull is just such a nice touch, a very witchy painting for me. ooh and fun fact: this painting was the one Ariel had in the Little Mermaid!)

Deities and Spirits

Saint Anne: The mother of the Virgin Mary, this saint was very popular among the French Canadians and Acadians living near the sea. Her feast day is July 26. She is matron saint of carpenters, single women, orphans, children, equestrians, grand-parents, housewives, lace workers, lost things, seamstresses, miners, clothes sellers, poverty, pregnancy, birthing, people who work in stables, teachers, sterility, and sailors (she protected against sea storms). I look up to her when I sew and keep my home clean and fresh. Her symbols are the threshold or a door, and books. She’s the matron saint of Brittany, and therefore, has Celtic connections. Her colours are green and red. 

Saint Marie Magdeleine: She is the matron saint of the Magdalen Islands (where my great-grandma came from). She was one of the female disciples of Jesus. She’s matron saint of women, spiritual revelations, of those that love to ponder and study, and discoverers of sacred mysteries, visions, apothecaries, jewellers, perfume makers, and pharmacists. I look up to her for vision quests and when I study witchcraft. She’s also someone I associate with sex, love, and the true meaning of loving someone for who they are. She’s been in religious debates among scholars if she was Jesus’s wife or not, but the mere implications that she could be are very appealing to me Pagan-wise, so there). I know, she’s been written as a repentent prostitute, but that was an addition made to the Bible long ago by a Pope so she’s not that for me. She’s witnessed Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and ressurection, so for me, she is a figure with which to work with spirits and death and rebirth. So I call on her for scrying and divination.

Virgin Mary: One of the prominent mother goddess figures, her symbols are cerulean blue, white and the lily, She protects women and children. I look up to her for learning love and compassion. 

The Devil: while the Church has painted a horrid image of the Devil in their structures, the Devil appears a lot in French Canadian folklore. He’s often there as a figure of temptation and getting seduced to act out of socially accepted norms (Church, right?), but, one could argue that there’s a primal wildness to this figure, as the French Canadian habitants were often very fearful of the forests when they came here. Some stories have heroes meet him in the forest, sometimes accompanied by little spirits and elves. He can transform into different beings, and sometimes, he appears as a fellow Voyageur (hence the liminal and sometimes dangerous aspects of the wilderness). He brings young women to dance wildly (something the Church frowned upon heavily, so let’s dance!!) In some stories, he helps build churches (I know, what the heck?) but the structure never ends up finished or it gets destroyed repeatedly. He’s basically a figure of mischief and wildness, of total chaos in the natural landscape, much like the Horned God. 

The Fée (from the Lecture: Erik Lacharity and Morrigane Feu “Les Dames Fées: Ladies Fae in French-Canadian Traditional Witchcraft”, Raven’s Knoll Workshop, 2018.) There were rules of engagement with dealing with the Fée. Stories of the Fée were roadmaps for people. When someone meets them, it’s because they’re embarking on a life-changing journey. Stories with “Ti-Jean” are like this. Crossing a road, stream, forest, or taking a right turn at the crossroads, they meet a Fée. In French Canadian tradition, Fée doesn’t mean belle fée. Fée meant something that is enchanted with the means of affecting fate. This is no ordinary stick, it can do something. The Fée would give them something to help them, usually in sets of three. The exchange that took place, the hero had a quest but usually, there’s something in it for the Fée. An example of this is a talking horse previously being a stable boy, and at the completion of the journey, they turn back to their forms. Depending on the setting of the storyteller, ex: Acadia, there were lots of stories with the ocean, boats, nets etc. In the interior, there’d be forests and valleys, barley and cakes. The geographical context matters. The Raconteur makes it so that you yourself are in the myth because of your geographical location. Trou des Fées: a little cave or a little crack in a rock and leave an offering of cream or milk. Normandy, Gasgogne, Picardie, Belgians, they came here, and they had fairies called les lutins. Little red-bonneted fairies, really good blacksmiths, more dwarf-like. They’d sharpen tools too. When Ti-Jean is on his quest, the Fée can give him a knife to defend himself or to deliver someone from imprisonment. Three main classes and areas of affinity for the Fée: those that take on aspects of the woodlands (the Queen of all the Animals/Birds etc) they were very straight-to-the-point peoples. The Fée as protectors, about 30-40 stories of those. Others were sorcerers or magicians. Some Fée would give advice and help the hero. Stories where lost loved ones were some of those. Many of these stories featured Princes and Princesses, kingdoms, etc. because the settlers came here before the Revolution, so it was still important to them. French Canadians, almost all their divination and magic was centred around their love, sex and family life. These are reflected in the stories. For magical objects that the hero would have, sometimes it’s a stick, sometimes a napkin (when you set it on the table a whole feast would show up), little pieces of iron, and if you set it down it becomes a cookstove. Animals of the Fée would help you: Eagles and Horses, they were the big deal. Eagles and Horses were passenger animals in and out of the Fée land. Hero is coming out of subterranean kingdom and there’s this giant Eagle there and offers him passage out of the Fée lands, but he needs sustenance. Use your magical knife and cut off a chunk of your thigh and feed it to me. Ok… but he got a passage. It’s about sacrifice. Little lessons are all hidden in there. Formulas came with using these implements. Ex: This stick can beat people up. If robbers come and take my stuff, I’d take my stick and say “Joue mon gourdin!” and the stick would beat everybody up. “Napkin, give me food!” and poof, food. It’s not about the big magical words, you already have a tool that you know is Fée and it’s a simple command. Every animal that is white is Fée. “Adieu Aigle” and you’d turn into the Eagle. Whoops. The French Canadians were super practical people, just do the thing. They had no time for frilly stuff. Archetypes are super fluid in this tradition. Never pigeon-hole the Fée. Ladies Fée is a type of Fée. Dames Amorphosées: shape shifters, ex: The White Cat, usually very very beautiful, the cat hops into the pail with four toads and she turns into a Princess. Another form of transformation is the whole aspect of going from the pauper to the Prince/Princess. Sometimes it was a curse, but other times it was to disguise themselves. Woodland Ladies Fée: you’d encounter them in the forest, and they had dominion over something, like Birds (super connected to the Fée). With the male aspect, there were beings like the Eagle King or the Ant King (they’d be more specific with their animal dominions). Elemental Ladies: personifying fire and water. Both those elements were big deals. Blue Bonnet Lady: she’s frustrating for the hero, sometimes blowing out his match when he’s cooking pea soup. The Lady comes in on a cloud in the fog. Fog is a big deal. There are Courtly Ladies, like Fée Princesses, and lots of items she offers are scissors, twine, thread, things that are tied to female weaving magic. Sometimes the pauper and the princess switch roles, sometimes they’re the same person. The Witch is another figure. They can have Fée Witches. These were not the type of witches you want to meet. Some stories have the hero stumbling over this thatched hut, and you can stay for lodging, just feed the good oats to the black horse, and beat the white horse to a pulp. The white horse is actually a Prince that she transformed. So he takes the white horse away. The Three Sisters, they come up often in French Canadian folklore and healing traditions. In stories with giants that want to eat humans, replace them with pork and barley bouillon, make a type of beer with raw dough makes the water boil without it boiling. When superintendents of New France were coming here, wine became less available, so French Canadians often made spruce beer, given the lack of hops. There’s a reason why in France they go “We love our wine!” and we go like “we love our beer”. A year and a day and forgetfulness is a big motif in stories. Gifts: magic weapons, animals, objects, transportation, social status (pauper to princess), riches, love (gets a bit non-consent, but in those days there was not a whole lot of consent in marriage, that’s why they were so preoccupied about who they’re going to marry, so they can psychologically prepare).Go to the threshold of the woods, where the Fée usually are, sit down, and offer your offerings. Clearings are good too, the beings you encounter can surprise you. White animals, characters from stories, etc. Following the steps of the story can allow you to write your own story with that formulaic narrative of the old tales. If you read the tales and use them as guides and embark on the hero’s journey, lots of wisdom can be attained. Stories became mixed with Irish folklore, because when the Catholic Irish came over, we bonded with them and created new stories. 

Historical Archetypes and Associations

The Voyageur: The liminal figure in its own right, voyageurs were known to shift and adapt endlessly to their environment and cultures they found themselves in, whether in French Canada or among Indigenous peoples. Can be linked to the Wild Man. They combined their Catholic rituals with the mythologies and cosmologies of Indigenous cultures. They’re temperamental figures, but knowledgeable off the beaten path to keep you alive.

The Raconteur: The storyteller had an important place in French Canada, telling stories as old as the first settlers in North America and sometimes from the old country. Some of them were itinerant, asking for food and lodging in exchange for a story. They were known to stretch stories for multiple nights, ending on cliff-hangers. They weaved tales together, and had vast repertoires. They’re learned figures, with silver tongues and enchanting qualities.

The Violoneux: The violinist or fiddler, a key figure in French Canadian culture. They had an innate sense of rhythm and song, and could bring a whole room to dance. The jigs and reels are also inspired from traditional Irish and Scottish music, as the two cultures mingled. 

The Bewitched Canoe: It’s a popular story of French Canada. It’s a variant of the Wild Hunt. One version, written by Honoré Beaugrand in 1892, tells it like this: some loggers get lonely in their winter camp on New Year’s Eve, and wish to go home to visit their families. The Devil appears to them to offer them an easy and fast way to go back to their homes through a flying canoe, as long as they get back before dawn, otherwise, their souls would belong to him and they’d go to Hell. The embark, and they arrive home, partying the night away. They almost arrive to the camp by the skin of their teeth, but the Devil lets them go, mysteriously. This legend comes from the Poitou region of France, where an english nobleman named Gallery loved hunting. He loved it so much, he skipped mass. As punishment, he was cursed to ride in the skies for eternity, chased by horses and wolves, like a Wild Hunt. When the French arrived in North America, they combined this Wild Hunt variation with the Indigenous realities of using canoes as modes of transportation. Some stories have the voyageurs or loggers ride the skies every New Year’s Eve for all eternity, and in some versions they escape Hell. Consequently, New Year’s Eve is an important day for French Canadians, and is very liminal in its aspects. 

Divination

Most French Canadian divination traditions revolve around the family, love, and sex. Back in the day, they were very concerned with whom they’d end up marrying, if their child would carry through an illness, or how their family and love life was fairing.

Lowen described some divination methods that can be applicable to a French Canadian practice, namely: playing cards, dice, reading tea leaves, mirrors and crystal balls, dream interpretation. 

A lovely Quinzou to everyone! I got dressed in my best ritual clothes, packed up my Stella Maris rosary (that Moonshadow loves to munch on..), enjoyed some live Acadian music and had an intimate little ritual for Mary.

La Quinzou - Assumption Day - August 15th

Assumption Day is arriving soon, and I wanted to share with you all a ritual I do on this day every year.

La Quinzou is the Acadian national day in Canada, and Acadian culture, music and history is remembered and celebrated anywhere Acadian families settled or ended up being deported to. It is distinct from the French Canadian Saint Jean Baptiste Day (June 24th), to celebrate and demarcate Acadian culture as unique from other French Canadian cultures. Originally, the 15th of August was chosen by the Acadians to highlight their ties with France instead of Canada.

Their patron saint, the Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea, also has an important day on August 15th - Assumption Day, where her earthly life ends and she ascends to Heaven to become Queen of the Universe and of the Heavens, being closer to God to act as intermediary between believers and God.

Subtle activities can be done that day if you don't have time for a ritual. You can pray for oceanic health, for mariners, and it's a good occasion to bless guardians with holy water. It's also good to acknowledge the first harvest of the year. This ritual is of my own composition and of how I interpret this holiday. Feel free to expand on it as you learn more on Acadian customs and culture!

Without further ado, here's my own ritual for La Quinzou:

Materials: a sky blue candle, sea salt, a shallow white bowl, holy water, a star-shaped object of your choice, a statue or image of the Virgin Mary, rosemary incense, a fresh white rose or an image of one.

A good idea to take a cold shower before the ritual to simulate being immersed in cold waters of this land, to don blue and white clothing, and to have the ritual take place at twilight when the first few stars appear in the sky. Call the four winds as you see fit, speak from your heart as to what these winds mean to you. The ritual has opened.

''Ave Maris Stella, mother of Jesus Christ and of the whole world, queen of the oceans and stars, you watch over us with warmth and charity. Queen of the Universe and the Heavens, your blue sky greets us every morning, and your starlight protects us in the darkest of nights. Your life was lived in full service to God and humankind, and we are eternally grateful. Your compassion and tenderness warms our hearts, and we know that with your Assumption, we can hope to have you back among us to give to us your Son one day. With your Assumption, we have hope in the eternal life of our souls as well.'' (light the blue candle).

Next, we bless the bowl as the vessel. Take the bowl and pour holy water in it. Place it in your hands and with incense lit underneath, say, ''by the sanctity of air, may you be blessed.''

Take salt and say the same line. Place the salt in the bowl. Take your bells and chime them three times, letting each ring die out before starting anew. This blesses the water, salt and vessel. Extend your hands over the bowl and say: ''Glory be to God for our sister the Moon and for the stars, who shine radiantly in the night sky of your making. Glory be to you, God, for our sister Water, who offers us life, in both ferocity and gentleness. Glory be to God for our brother Fire, in which you give us the light in the darkness. Glory be to God, we thank you and pray that we may serve you in greatest humility with the help of these elements. Amen.''

Place this bowl in your garden or in a pail to be disposed of later (under a tree or whatever strikes your fancy), and say: ''I offer this water to the all-powerful Mother Earth, in which the materials in this bowl come from. The earth offers us her oceans, lakes, rivers and brooks, and cradles us from birth until death. We are one with this Earth. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust we are and shall be. Amen.'' Set aside.

Adorn the altar with your rose, rosemary incense, and any star-shaped pieces you may have. After you are satisfied with its outcome, say with palms up: ''Mary, watch over our gardens and our crops so that we may feed everyone by the bounty of the Earth. May your holy waters flow over all living things in need of it and may everything be blessed in your presence.'' Take the rose and offer it up to the sky, say: ''I offer you this rose from the garden of my mind in memory of the purity of your soul and heart.'' Gently kiss the rose, and place it near the statue or image of Mary. Light the rosemary incense and stay there a while enjoying the atmosphere.

Any singing or reciting of canticles, hymns or prayers to Mary can be said here. It's up to you! Feel free to ask her for any favours you might need that day, or confide in her a while.

I hope you'll have have a lovely Quinzou, and enjoy some Acadian music while you're out and about!