Today, June 24th, is St. Jean Baptiste day in Québec, and much of the French-speaking world. It`s not an statutory (official) holiday in Canada, but it is in Québec. Because most Québécois have the day off, there`s a huge party the night before. The largest one is in Québec City, on the Plains of Abraham (proof that despite the French loss of Québec to the British, the French still sing and dance on the field). In Québec everyone celebrates St-Jean Baptiste day, while very few celebrate Canada Day (July 1st) as that`s the day when most people move.
So to celebrate St-Jean Baptiste, I went over to Gatineau (in Québec) and bought myself a poutine, while wandering around and checking out the other side of the river. There wasn`t much going on though, as I suspect most of the events will take place tonight. I know that La Bottine Souriante played last night in Aylmer (near Hull). That would`ve been a fun show to go to, if I had a car and had heard about it earlier.
Québec Quiz (you can answer in the comments section if you want...)
1) What year did Québec join Canadian Confederation?
2) What`s the official language of Québec?
3) Name 4 well known francophone Québecois musicians/groups?
4) Who`s the Premier of Québec, and which party does he represent?
5) Who was the Premier during the Grande Noirceur?
6) In what year did la Révolution Tranquille start?
3 comments:
Ok without cheating (ie googling) here are wags:
1) 1867
2) French
3) the only music I know of in sung in french is by "Theivery Corp".
4) Some political opportunist named Charest. Was Conservative federally is now Liberal provincially.
5) The grand what????
6) 1968 expo year when deGaul made is famous "viva quebec librae" speach I think
Ok I flunked and should have cheated :)
Not too bad, you got 1, 2, and 4 correct.
La grande noirceur was when Maurice Duplessis was in power, and it ended in 1960 with the start of the Quiet Revolution.
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