The long holiday weekend in the Canadian province of Quebec is wrapping up Monday (June 24) with a parade and a giant outdoor concert.
The Fête de la Saint–Jean (St John the Baptist holiday) has been celebrated in what is now the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec since the 19th century. Originally it was a religious holiday but even as early as 1834 it had a political aspect to its celebration.
Quebec’s so-called Quiet Revolution of modernization in the 1960s saw an increasingly political assertion of nationalist French-Canadian / Québécois pride, with the Quebec fleur de lys flag very present in the celebrations.
These days, the holiday continues to have a nationalist flavour, but the emphasis is much more on holiday celebrations, than political activism.
June 24 is a statutory holiday in the province of Quebec, but not elsewhere in Canada, although Francophone communities in other provinces do hold some celebrations. Canada Day, July 1, is a statutory holiday across Canada including Quebec.
According to the organizers of the Fête nationale du Québec (National Holiday of Quebec) thousands of events have been planned through the three day holiday weekend.
On Sunday night, the big outdoor show was in the province’s capital Quebec City, featuring the group Les Cowboys Fringants, and singers Plume Latraverse, Lisa LeBlanc and Louis Jean Cormier.
Monday evening, after a parade in the streets of Montreal, the weekend culminates with a giant outdoor show featuring comedian Guy A Lepage as host with numerous big name artists including Diane Dufresne, Raoul Duguay, Les Colocs, and Richard Seguin.
The theme of this year’s celebrations is Le Quebec en Nous, D’hier à demain (Quebec within us, from yesterday to tomorrow).
More information:
Fête nationale du Québec website – www.fetenationale.qc.ca
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