(aka ‘Victoria Day” in the R.O.C.)
(R.O.C. = Rest of Canada, whose federal holidays Québec likes to rename and rebrand as Québec-centric celebrations.)
Victoria Day, which celebrates the birthday of Queen Vicky, isn’t so popular here in Québec due to the many years of oppression of the Québec French by the English ruling class.
Québec still has a holiday weekend this week, but instead it’s called “Fête national de Patriotes,” which is another rebranding of “Fête de Dollard,” the original Québecois replacement for Victoria’s national birthday party.
Why are we fêting Dollard? Well, because Adam Dollard des Ormeaux was killed in 1620 when his expedition ambushed some Iroquois who weren’t so receptive to being attacked by white colonists. However, later his name and “martyrdom” were elevated by nationalist politicians as a fine example of selfless Québec patriotism, so all good, right?
Unfortunately for Dollard, as time went on the doings of colonial “heroes” like him were being scrutinized and reformed by people who (quite rightly) didn’t think that killing Indigenous people should be celebrated as a point of national pride.
So the province took the hint and renamed the holiday again in 2003 as Fête national de Patriotes, refocusing it on those who helped shape and implement Québec’s democratic principles and practices.
That’s all very well, you might think to yourself, but what are Sylvain and Manon doing to celebrate this holiday weekend?
Well, right now we’re eating MTL Gringo corn chips with some fresh guacamole I made from *very* expensive avocados I bought across the street, and a pizza covered with all the vegetables we need to get rid of in the next few days before our leaking refrigerator is replaced with another one in what will surely be an epic battle against gravity as some poor hunks haul the replacement fridge up the 3.5 flights of stairs to our apartment.
Maybe we’ll watch a movie later too.
Then, since the “pedestrianized” Rue Ste-Catherine is a block away from us and officially opens as a walkstreet tonight, we’ll be sending up fervent prayers that we’re far away enough from the celebrations not to be kept awake by drunken screaming all night (like we were in 2022).
Tomorrow, if we get enough sleep, we may go check out the new city-sponsored plaza and café that opened in The Village this past week, but otherwise I think we’re going to steer clear of the holiday-weekend revelry (which I’m guessing won’t be particularly centered on Québec’s rebellion against Imperial rule anyway).
And Monday, when the rest of Canada has the day off, Sylvain will still be working because his U.S. employer does not observe Canadian or Québecois holidays. He’ll get to play on the following Monday when American Memorial Day will close his office but everything will be back to normal business hours here.
So that’s our holiday-not-holiday weekend, and some Québec history too.
We will be back atcha with more Canaderp/Quebecderp updates soon, and from all of us here in MTL Gringo-land we wish you a restful and restorative Memorial Day next week.