St. Joseph The Worker Pray For Us 💼 Worked For Me Last Week! You Got This!!

Cultural Centres for French Heritage in Canada

Below are the links for French cultural centres and archives around Canada. Whether you're looking into maritime Acadian culture, Quebecois traditions, Franco-Ontarian culture, Franco-Manitoban history and heritage, there's so much out there for you! Many of these centres host events, music concerts, cultural festivals, art galleries, and research centres to help you learn your roots.

Franco-Ontarian Folklore Centre

Centre for Research on French Canadian Culture at University of Ottawa

The Acadian Centre of the Université Sainte-Anne

Historical Society of Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre

Marius Barbeau Centre, Montréal, Québec

Saint Isidore Museum and Cultural Centre, Alberta

Université Sainte-Anne

Centre acadien

Founded in 1972, the Centre acadien has large collections of primary and secondary sources that mainly feature the Acadian and Nova Scotian

https://ccfm.mb.ca/en/

Mighty Peace Tourism

St. Isidore Museum & Cultural Centre - Mighty Peace Tourism

St. Isidore Museum & Cultural Centre – English Situated in the quaint hamlet of St-Isidore, is a museum that depicts the storied heritage of

Mhm God I love seeing landscapes like this! It calls out to me!

Waiting for the storm - stormy morning in the Ecrins National Park, France - @gregoire_pns_photography [OC 2000x3000] - Author: greg_pns

Canadien français trouvé!! :D!!

allo! C'est moi, un québecois et de descendance acadienne ⚜️⭐

Nativity Scene

I'm finally ready for Advent season tomorrow with my new Nativity scene. My grandfather built his own Nativity scene for under the Christmas tree, as is most common in Quebecois and Acadian Christian homes. The baby Jesus of course doesn't make it to this set until Christmas Day, but I wanted to show off my hard work at transforming these figures and box from Dollarama into something unique and spectacular. On the cover of the box, I painted a landscape from the Magdalen Islands, where my Acadian ancestors lived. A happy Advent to all my fellow Christians, witches and believers of all denominations celebrating this holy time.

May 17 - National Fiddlers Day - la journée nationale des violoneux

This year, I’m earnestly starting up my fiddle learning as part of my spiritual practice. For many Acadian and French Canadian families, having a violoneux (fiddler) among us was a guaranteed entertainer!

My great great grandfather Dominique Malaison, out of thirteen siblings, was the only one to pick up a musical talent! He would keep his fiddle attached to an old red ribbon, and mounted it on the staircase wall. He would play the Hangman’s Reel and the Devil’s reel to my then young great uncle Leo’s requests. Dominique’s wife Anasthasie Arsenault would be the expert podorhythmic and would turlutte the songs with great breath control! They passed on this gift to my great grandmother Angèle Malaison. She would play tunes and my mother would dance to them. I also have vague memories of dancing to her playing as well when I was really young.

Others in my family also had the penchant for the fiddle. My great great grandfather Joseph Gilbert would learn his tunes with recorded vinyls, and practice late into the night. Their house was really small and no soundproofing! His daughter, my great grandmother Florida Gilbert, would be sleeping in her room and tell him “you don’t have that part yet!” And he’d go to her bedroom door and ask her “well then sing it for me!”

My mother took violin lessons, but never really stuck with it. Although, she does keep Angèle’s fiddle displayed on the mantle in her house. I’ll inherit it one day.

Learning fiddle for me is a struggle, it being a really hard instrument to learn anyway. As I’m attempting to understand how to read music and develop my musical ear, I remind myself of those who came before me, and that I am carrying on for them. I want to bring that same joie de vivre and dancing joy to my own house with this heritage, and participate in my musical culture in full swing! I try to light a candle every time I practice, to remember them and to wish me luck at the same time!

Dominique Malaison

My mom (little kid at the right), enjoying Angèle playing tunes while her son Raymond sits nearby.

Florida and Noël on their wedding day, with Joseph Gilbert on the right.

St. Mary Magdalene's Day - July 22

I fell ill that day, but I still want to post something regarding this wonderful saint.

Known as 'The Apostle of the Apostles', Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus's most beloved disciples. She is steeped in controversy and mystery through the many legends surrounding her origins and her connection to Jesus. She has been known as Jesus's companion and partner as early as 1500 years ago through the Gospel of Philip in the Gnostic faith, and she is seen often in Gnostic texts (way before Dan Brown entertained the thought she was Jesus's wife).

The Easter egg is rumored to be connected to her, as she is the first to see Christ's Tomb empty, and shows the disciples this news by showing them an egg turned red by God.

In folk traditions, Mary Magdalene is invoked in magic spells, especially love magic. The eve of her feast is believed to be a great time for prophetic dreams. She is the patron saint of beauticians, hairdressers, aromatherapists, perfumers, pharmacists, lovers, prostitutes, prisoners, and any who pine after someone else.

France is where she is most commonly celebrated. There are about 125 shrines in her name. Legend has it that she fled the Holy Land and isolated in a cave in France, where she communed with angels, and became a mystic in Christian thought.

So, for her feast day, it can be a good time for:

-Divination by chalice (for her connection with the Holy Grail)

-Dream spells

-Love spells

-Meditations for connecting to your power

-Women's health campaigns

-Studying any metaphysical texts with active learning

-gifts of myrrh, a perfume bottle, and wine on the altar

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.

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.

Nativity Scene progress

I'm painting my Nativity scene figurines and scenery for Advent this year. It'll be a quiet Christmas season here, on account of my top surgery. Here are the Three Magi for now :) the figures are from Dollarama, and they needed some serious personality and color!

Out of all the cats in the house, Meringue is always on the altar, loafing, not even playing with the dangly things. What a well-behaved cutie who covets the altar cloth 🧡