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Nova Scotia - Blog Posts
A drive along the coasts of Cape Breton, in Main-de-Dieu, Louisbourg, and Sydney. Various graveyards, with time-worn statues, and an abandoned church. The first photo of Christ has the Fortress of Louisbourg in the background.
Spending Holy Saturday exploring these lonely, holy places really brought me joy!
La Mi-Carême (Mid-Lent)
Mid-Lent, or, La Mi-Carême, falls on the fourth Thursday in the Lenten season. This holiday has its roots in 7th and 8th century Europe, where believers were allowed this day of respite from the fasting and reservations of Lent. It was around the same time as Laetere Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Advent (exactly 21 days before Easter Sunday) where a spirit of joy is celebrated as we get closer to Easter. Having migrated with the French settlers of the 17th century, the Acadians and some Quebec communities, Mi-Carême became a day of carnivalesque mischief and trickery. Participants, mostly men until the twentieth century, disguised themselves with a dizzying array of masks and frocks, and do a tour of their village, challenging interlopers to guess who they were. In exchange, they would receive treats and opportunities to play pranks, sometimes a boozy recompense. In some communities, like in Grand-Étang, Nova Scotia, there is a Mi-Carême Interpretive Centre, where runners of the Mi-Carême gather on this day to do their designated tomfoolery. Lively fiddle music and sweet treats await visitors! Today, the most extensive celebration of this holiday remains in Chéticamp, Cape Breton, where it lasts a whole week. These two communities have celebrated Mi-Carême since 1785!
Today in Québec, you can see Mi-Carême celebrations notably where Acadians migrated, namely Fatima, the Magdalen Islands, Natashquan, and L’Isle-aux-Grues. In parts of Newfoundland, Acadians would pair Mi-Carême traditions with the mummers tradition of anglophone communities, however, it occurred between Christmas and the Feast of Kings.
Costumes would prioritize the grotesque, bizarre, and outlandish. The more ludicrous and hideous the masquerade, the better! Most costumes were improvised and very cost-effective. The point was to have no one recognize you! Old rags, hand-me-downs from distant cousins living in the United States (and unknown to the community, so no one would know whose family the clothes belonged to), and especially, clothing yourself in the clothes of your opposite gender, were sure-fire ways to be incognito on this festival day. Changing your body shape was also a notable technique, using hay to bulk out your limbs, or cushions to give yourself a hunched back. Some folks would go as industrious as using animal skins, like the hide of a bull, preserving the horns for a truly otherworldly effect!
Disguised parties, led by a chief, would enter homes, and entertain the family with brief songs and improvised plays. Unlike the eve of All Saint’s Day (October 31), the aim was not to pull tricks. The chief of the party-goers had to see that his troupe would behave in others’ homes. However, that can change if the house they wanted to enter would not let them enter!
La Mi-Carême, Mère Mi-Carême (Mother Mid-Lent)
Folklore traveled from Normandy and Brittany to Acadie, and transplanted itself into the maritime spirit of the people. In parts of Brittany, La Mi-Carême (Lady Mid-Lent) would be a beautiful woman who would traverse the skies on horseback, distributing sweets and treats from a magical golden cornucopia to the village cross, where children were led to for holy prayer. The treats would appear to fall from Heaven, and the children would leave behind offerings of hay for her horse at the foot of the cross as a thank you. In Quebec, this kind of figure appears in Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau’s novel Charles Guerin (published in 1852), featuring a Mère Mi-Carême (Mother Mid-Lent). She is a woman, bent forward by old age, who would hobble from home to home with a big bag on her back, and supporting herself with a thick cane. Peering through her small glasses, she was draped in old, tattered rags, adorned with fish bones and tails. Sometimes, she just appears as a hunched over figure covered by a white sheet, evoking a sense of mystery and apprehension for children. This figure also appears in Acadian communities, and almost in the habit of a traditional Santa Claus, would leave behind treats for obedient children, while chastising the mischievous ones. This figure would feature in the mythos of this holiday from the 19th century into the mid-twentieth century. When she would visit a house, children were told to not look at her leaving the house, for fear of knowing where she was headed to next. This could prevent her from coming next year. This tradition expanded to Irish immigrant communities, particularly in Tignish, PEI, where she was known as ‘mickram’ (anglicized verbiage of Mi-Carême). In some Acadian communities, especially in north-eastern New Brunswick, in Gaspésie, in the Magdalen Islands, and on the Côte-Nord of Quebec, it was known that La Mi-Carême would bring newborns to their families. When mothers would be in labour, children were told that La Mi-Carême was coming to see their mom. Given that this character gave a fright to children, they would instinctively go seek refuge at a neighbour’s house for the entire duration of their mother’s labour. She was also known to bring baby animals to the farms as well. What a busy woman!
Celebrating Mi-Carême in a Folk Practice
-if you're in the area and wish to experience the culture and the wondrous display of colours and lively music, visit the Centre de la Mi-Carême in Grand-Étang, Nova Scotia, just off the Cabot Trail.
-it’s a time of masquerades and journeys! If you can make yourself an outfit to be completely unrecognizable, even a mask, just to take your spirit out of yourself, it can lead to some exciting astral journeys!
-leaving an offering to La Mi-Carême, such as hay, or little quarters, might be wise, especially if you want to avoid getting a good scare from her.
-exploring the archives for songs attached to this festival, and listening to some examples would be fun!
-host a masquerade party and have people try to guess each other’s identities! Bringing back these celebrations means having fun in the ways we used to, so put your phones down!
Sources
Georges Arsenault. La Mi-Carême en Acadie. Editions La Grande Marée. 2007.
Le Centre de la Mi-Carême. https://www.micareme.com
Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America. Mid-Lent Traditions in Acadia. http://www.ameriquefrancaise.org/en/article-310/Mid-Lent%20Traditions%20in%20Acadia
Photos
Mid-Lent Revellers, NS, circa 1953. Collection Centre Acadien, Université Sainte-Anne.
Mi-Careme distributing cookies to children, charcoal drawing by Denise Paquette, Collection Georges Arseneault.
Nova Scotian Hodge Podge This is an old favourite vegetable stew from Nova Scotia. Is typically made in the fall as gardens are just harvested. It is important that the freshest veggies are used. This recipe very much lends itself to tinkering by adding different vegetables and quantities.
🎉 Happy 'Heavenly' Birthday to dancer, actress and singer (Ethel) Ruby Keeler who was born on this date; August 25th, 1909 in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada 🎼💃🎂🇨🇦.
