Summer Solstice and Quebec's National Day
Originally, Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day was intimately
tied to the celebrations surrounding the summer solstice. On the days
between June 21 and 24, the longest of the year, activities were
organized to pay tribute to the sun as they had been since time
immemorial. A tribute to the light, bonfires served as public rejoicing
in what was Gaul and northern Europe. The summer solstice is still
celebrated in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, England, Peru, Ecuador,
Canada and other countries
 In what was to
become Quebec, the bonfire tradition was noted by the Jesuit Louis
LeJeune on the banks of the St. Lawrence in 1636. In 1646, the Journal des Jésuites
reported that "on the 23rd of June a bonfire is lit on Saint-Jean's Day
at eight-thirty in the evening. Five cannon shots were fired and the
muskets were fired two or three times." New France was largely rural at
that time. The rhythm of work was linked to the seasons, and the
solstice provided a few moments of respite and entertainment before the
start of the big haymaking and harvest work.
The Church, through the Council of Trent (1545-1563), attempted to
Christianize the solstice celebration of light around a joyous bonfire
by replacing it with a portrayal of submission in the person of Saint
John the Baptist, "the lamb of God." In the same vein, in 1702,
Monseigneur de Saint-Vallier, in his Catechism for the Diocese of
Quebec that was intended for the Canadiens, noted that the Catholic
Church in the New World -- the colonies of the French empire --
considered that ceremony acceptable so long as the "dances and
superstitions" of the Indigenous peoples were banished.
When Ludger Duvernay and the elected members of the Patriot Party
inaugurated the National Day of the nascent Quebec nation, they did so
within a spirit very different from the orientation desired by the
Church. Historians like Leopold Gagner, quoted in Denis
Monière's biography of Duvernay, said that Duvernay had been
influenced by St. Patrick's Day, which for the Irish is "a precious
instrument for the reclamation of their freedom and rights."
Today, it is noteworthy that on June 21, National Indigenous Peoples
Day, a "Solstice of the Nations" takes place. It is "an expression of
exchange and friendship amongst the nations living in Quebec." The Fire
Ceremony held by the Indigenous nations is "to encourage closer ties
amongst the peoples living on Quebec's territory," so that "the coals
of that fire light up the bonfire of the Great Show of Quebec's
National Celebration, on the Plains of Abraham."
The Quebec people's National Day celebrates the Patriots who
fought for independence from Britain in the mid-19th century: Nelson,
De Lorimier, Côté, Chénier, Duvernay,
O'Callaghan and many others. They fought to establish an independent
homeland and republic that vests sovereignty in the people. It includes
celebrating all those who have espoused and those who continue to
espouse the cause of the Quebec Patriots, in particular all those
committed to elaborating a nation-building project commensurate with
the needs of the times.
Summer Solstice Celebrations in
Kinawit, Val d'Or, June 21, 2019.
 
More summer solstice celebrations on the occasion
of National Indigenous Peoples Day 2019.
Left: Quebec City; right: Saguenay.
Note
With files from:
- La Saint-Jean-Baptiste, 1634-1852, in Mélanges historiques
Études éparses et inédites de Benjamin
Sulte, compiled, annotated and published by
Gérard Malchelosse; and
- Le réseau de diffusion des archives du Québec.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 22 - June 20, 2020
Article Link:
Summer Solstice and Quebec's National Day
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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