June 24 – Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day in Quebec

n

n

nTodaynis another version of Midsummer celebration—this time bundled intonthe feast day of John the Baptist. In Quebec, the observation ofnSaint John-the-Baptist’s Day took on a patriotic tone starting in the 1800s. Justnas Saint Patrick’s Day has come to be a time to celebrate all thingsnIrish, the early promoters of Saint-Jean- Baptiste Day felt that thenholiday would rally French Canadians to gather in Quebec and takenpride in their language and culture.

n
n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

nBynthe way, like Saint Patrick’s Day, this Catholic feast day has beennlargely secularized. It is a national holiday in Quebec, so evennEnglish-speakers and non-Catholics have the day off work and attendnvarious events. There have been a few protests and even a riotnconnected with the holiday; some people in Quebec want to pull out ofnCanada, and this patriotic holiday seems to some separatists to benthe perfect time to make their arguments. There has also been somentension about the use of the English language during a FrenchnCanadian event. A few years ago, two Quebec bands were going performnin a Montreal event—but always sing their songs in English. Somencomplaints about this caused the organizers to ban the musicians fromnthe concert. Outrage rained down upon the organizers, with bothnFrench-speaking and English-speaking Quebecers criticizing the ban.nSo the organizers put the two bands back on the program!
n

n

n

n

n
• nHeren isn a brief history of the settlement of Canada. Knowing the historyn helps you understand why there are French and English speakers inn the country.

  n

n

n

n
• nHeren is a KidZone website with info about and maps of Quebec.

  n

n

n

n
• nHeren are some songs in French and English, including “O Canada.”

  n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

nAnniversarynof the first “flying saucer” reports

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n

n
n