Seasonal Holliday Attire: Christmas in Canada


Figure 1.--A French Canadian reader writes, "My daughter at 3 year-old in 1980. She joins to me in the name of all the children of the world, past and future, to enjoy this great moment.

Christmas has traditionally been celebrated differently in Canada by French and Engish speaking families. An Anglophone Christmas in Canada is similar to that of England. In Canada, from 1875 onwards, Christmas lost its essentially religious character, at least for Anglophones and the upper middle class. Little by little it became a community festival which gave rise to much family merry-making. New customs began to take root. Henceforth, the decorated Christmas tree, the crèche with its santons or plaster figures, gifts and the Christmas "réveillon" became part of family tradition. For the majority of Francophones, however, this transformation did not occur until after the First World War. Good old "Père Noël" moved very quickly from his minor role, becoming the pivotal figure for many community events. Francophones, however, incorporated these new practices into their culture much later. After the World War I, increasing commercial advertising drew Francophones into the dizzy festive activities. During the 1930s, the working classes also joined this happy Christmas rush. HBC suspects that American Christmas trends must have leaked across the border, especially sence World War II, but we have no specific information on this. We suspect that siunce War the growing American influence and rising importnce of the mass media has helped dilute the formerly substantial differences between Christmasses in English and French speaking families.

English-speaking Canada

Christmas has traditionally been celebrated differently in Canada by French and Engish speaking families. An Anglophone Christmas in Canada is similar to that of England. In Canada, from 1875 onwards, Christmas lost its essentially religious character, at least for Anglophones and the upper middle class. Little by little it became a community festival which gave rise to much family merry-making. New customs began to take root. Henceforth, the decorated Christmas tree, the crèche with its santons or plaster figures, gifts and the Christmas "réveillon" became part of family tradition.

French-speaking Canada

For the majority of Francophones, however, this transformation did not occur until after World War I. Good old "Père Noël" moved very quickly from his minor role, becoming the pivotal figure for many community events. Francophones, however, incorporated these new practices into their culture much later than was the case of English-speaking Canada. After World War I, increasing commercial advertising drew Francophones into the dizzy festive activities. During the 1930s, the working classes also joined this happy Christmas rush. A French reader writes, "As promised, here is a picture of the "crèche de Noël" in my parish St-Joachim de Pointe-Claire, Québec. It is a tradition from the French Régime to built such a crèche in any Catholic Church. This one is the same from the 19th Century and it represents the holy family and the shepherds . It is near man's size. At right, you can see gifts from children to Jésus, Marie et Joseph."

American Influence

HBC suspects that American Christmas trends must have leaked across the border, especially sence World War II, but we have no specific information on this. We suspect that siunce War the growing American influence and rising importnce of the mass media has helped dilute the formerly substantial differences between Christmasses in English and French speaking families.





HBC





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Created: 6:47 PM 12/27/2004
Last updated: 8:35 PM 1/4/2005