Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day and Canada Day

The national holidays of the region. One weekend after the other. Essentially two bank holiday weekends which bring hundreds of tourists to Mont Tremblant.

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, aka la Fête nationale du Québec, is celebrated in Quebec on the 24th of July. Apparently the holiday originates from the French tradition of honouring Saint John the Baptist on this day and spread to Quebec with the French settlers. It became a politically charged holiday in the 19th century, representing Quebec culture and language and resistance to British colonialism. Saint John was later named the patron saint of French-speaking Canadians. Nowadays it is a celebration of Quebec and the start of summer.

In Tremblant it also happened to be on the Monday after the Ironman weekend, hence the resort was even more packed. Work was a struggle. Most visitors were Quebecois and therefore French-speaking. I was scanning tickets, the first point of contact for customers, so was bombarded with questions in strong Quebecois accents and the law dictates that I have to be able to answer in French. It was stressful!

During the day, the white and blue flag of Quebec was everywhere - flying from cars, painted on faces, strung along railings, raised in gardens. The evening saw barbecues, concerts by Quebec artists playing Quebec music and fireworks. I enjoyed the music - French lyrics, a mixture of folk and rock - and the fireworks were impressive. It was a fun night.

Canada Day

Canada day, aka la Fête du Canada, is celebrated on the 1st of July across the country. Festivities are pretty similar to those for Saint-Jean except the flag is a different colour! Canada day marks the day Canada became its own constitution: the Canadian equivalent to the 4th of July in the US. Apparently it is less of a big deal in Quebec than in other provinces of Canada; Quebecers are more interested in Saint-Jean.

Nonetheless, it brought many a tourist up to Tremblant for the weekend and there were concerts in the squares, games and face painting for the kids, free "birthday" cake, and fireworks in the resort. Once again, a lot of flags fluttering - this time a sea of red - and a lot of maple leaf "tattoos". I wore a red t-shirt for the occasion and blended in pretty well with all the people wearing Canada merch! The cake wasn't bad at all and the fireworks were nice but not as impressive as the Saint-Jean ones.

Overall, personally I enjoyed Saint-Jean more than Canada day, just because more was made of it by the locals, but the events were really pretty similar.

The Saint-Jean concert and fireworks took place at Lac Mercier which is a more convenient location for me to get home from than the resort. The Canada day fireworks finished at about 10pm meaning the next bus wasn't for another half hour and by the time it came there were over a hundred people waiting to get on which made for a squashed journey home.

#canada #quebec #holidays #celebrations #fireworks