What activities are at the Festival du Voyageur?
The festival includes music, dance, a snow sculpture contest, a parade, period food, a sugar shack, a bar, a live presentation on the life of the voyageurs, and so on. Thousands of people take part in the uninterrupted activities in Whittier Park, Fort Gibraltar and St. Boniface, over a period of ten days.
What does Festival du Voyageur mean in English?
The Festival du Voyageur is an annual 10-day winter festival that takes place in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The event is held during each February in Winnipeg’s French quarter, Saint-Boniface, and is western Canada’s largest winter festival.
What should I wear to Festival du Voyageur?
How should I dress? Festival du Voyageur is a winter festival and February in Winnipeg can sometimes be cold. Make sure you check the weather before coming to Voyageur Park and dress accordingly. Wearing several layers is a great idea since you’ll be spending time outside as well as in warm heated tents.
What is a jigging contest?
The Jigging Contest’s virtual component is open to Canadian jiggers only. Only one winner will be chosen to win a prize of $150 as all online contestants will be placed in the same group regardless of age. The results will be announced immediately following the airing of the competition.
Is Festival du Voyageur free?
No, due to capacity and contact tracing, you will need to buy a ticket for everyone that will be attending the Parc du Voyageur.
Who is the mascot of the Festival du Voyageur?
Léo La Tuque
One year later, a sculpture of a toque and boots took first place in the snow sculpting contest and inspired the image of Léo La Tuque, who became in 1972 the official mascot and trademark of Festival du Voyageur.
Where do voyageurs sleep?
When they were finished all of the work, the voyageurs told stories and sang songs until it was time to sleep. Shelter for the night was an overturned canoe, a bed of moss, and a blanket or furs for warmth. If the weather was bad, they erected a tarp as cover. They got up at 3:00 a.m. to start their day all over again.
What did the voyageurs eat?
The voyageurs ate a mid-day snack of pemmican and biscuit around 2:00 p.m., while paddling. At night, they settled by the firelight to enjoy a meal of pemmican, dried peas, or cornmeal. Cornmeal was made into hominy, a type of thick white porridge combined with bacon fat or bear grease for added taste.
What did a voyageur do?
Voyageurs were independent contractors, workers or minor partners in companies involved in the fur trade. They were licensed to transport goods to trading posts and were usually forbidden to do any trading of their own. The fur trade changed over the years, as did the groups of men working in it.
What language did the voyageurs speak?
Although the new employers were English, the working language would remain French. In Making the Voyageur World, Carolyn Podruchny estimates the number of voyageurs at 500 in 1784, 1,500 in 1802 and 3,000 in 1821 at the height of the fur trade.
How much weight did voyageurs carry?
The standard load for a voyageur on a portage was two bundles, or 180 lb. Some carried more; there are reports of some voyageurs carrying five or more bundles and legends of them carrying eight.
What did the voyageurs sleep in?
When they were finished all of the work, the voyageurs told stories and sang songs until it was time to sleep. Shelter for the night was an overturned canoe, a bed of moss, and a blanket or furs for warmth.