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Carnival in Quebec By Thomas R. & Deborah A. Fletcher
A serpentine river of snow–driven by the howling wind– twists and meanders across the runway as our plane touches down. Obviously this isn’t your typical winter getaway of drenching sunshine and warm sandy beaches. Quite the opposite. This is a land where the winters are deep, long, and cold. Welcome to Québec. Long winters can take a toll on the psyche. We know, we live in a state where, as John Denver said, "dark and dusky [are] painted on the sky," where it seems we look at leaden skies six months of the year. In Québec, it isn’t the grayness–the sun does shine, quite often. It is the biting cold, where temperatures can plunge to -40 degrees F. Québec is held firmly in winter’s icy grip for months by temperatures that would drive most people indoors for the duration of the season.
Québec City developed an antidote to the melancholy of this cruelest season: Winter Carnival. Carnival represents a defiance, a refusal to give in to the cold. Carnival is a celebration of the joy of life in the midst of this cruelest season. Québec’s Carnival has its roots in the European pre-Lenten celebrations of The tradition of Carnival came with those early settlers, but the first official celebration of Québec’s Winter Carnival was in 1894. Two world wars and the great depression caused the festival’s sporadic celebration for many years. In January and February 1955 the first modern Carnival was held, firmly establishing the tradition as an annual event starting in late January through mid-February.
No article on Québec City would not be complete without a mention of the city’s fine cuisine. Tasty French cuisine is to found at every turn. Québec has more independent dining establishments than anywhere else in Canada. There are fewer chain restaurants and a greater variety of cuisine choices.
Québec City’s location between two mountain ranges, the last remnants of the Appalachians to the south and the Laurentian Mountains to the north, means easy access to outdoor adventure. Mountains, rivers, lakes and protected wilderness areas offer unlimited adventure opportunities. Snowshoeing, cross country skiing, dog sledding and snowmobiling are popular winter pursuits. Stock photography by Thomas R. Fletcher at Alamy Performance Apparel @ ExOfficio.com
If You Go:
Restaurant-Pub D’Orsay 65, rue De Buade Québec (QC) G1R 4A2 Phone: 418-694-1582 Web: www.restaurantpubdorsay.com E-mail: dorsay@restaurantpubdorsay.com
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Québec
City claims the believable title of "snow capital of the world." Yet
the city is populated with a seemingly indomitable people that refuse to be
driven indoors by the icy winters. Instead, a festive spirit pervades. The
narrow European-style streets are filled with people–from shoppers to street
musicians. These hardy people are used to dealing with the cold.
indulgence and revelry before the 40 days of Lent, where self-denial was to be
the order of the day. Québec City was settled by the French in 1608. The city
is located at a narrow spot along the St Lawrence River, on a broad east-west
plain that extends from the Atlantic seaboard to the heartland of North America.
(The name Québec means "where the river narrows.") The old city was
the cradle of French civilization in North America. Québec became the capital
of New France, overseeing a region extending south to Louisiana. Captured by the
British in 1759, uncharacteristically, the city’s French culture was left
intact. Instead of forced assimilation usually imposed when the British took
control, the city’s inhabitants were guaranteed rights to practice their
Catholic religion, retain the French code of law, and continue speaking French.
The city’s walled fortifications were built under British rule, making Québec
the only walled city in North America. Québec was named Provincial Capital
under the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The old walled city became North
America’s first United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage City.
Québec’s
Winter Carnival has grown to be the world’s third largest carnival celebration
(behind Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans) and the world’s largest winter
carnival event. More than one million out-of-town visitors attend the event
annually. This carnival event is not the licentious, hedonistic event expected
in either Rio or New Orleans. People wear a good deal more clothing here–the
cold sees to that. Carnival here is by far, more of a family event. There are
activities for all members of the family. The city’s Plains of Abraham area is
transformed into a winter playground for the family, with games, outdoor sports,
a climbing wall, dogsled and sleigh races, downhill skiing for 5-8 year olds,
snow rafting and a sugar shack (where boiling maple taffy is poured into troughs
of snow for a popular sweet treat). There’s something for everyone. Tour the
Ice Palace located just across from Québec’s Parliament Building. Take in a
race. There’s the popular soapbox race held on the city’s steep streets, or
the challenging Grand défi des glaces canoe race across the icy St
Lawrence from Québec City to Lévis, as contestants battle ice floes, the
current and the cold.
Located
merely 30 minutes outside Québec City the Station touristique Duchesnay offers
a unique attraction each winter–The Ice Hotel, or Hôtel de glace de Québec-Canada.
This hotel brings to life those ice-fort fantasies of childhood in a way never
imagined. Made completely of ice and snow the 3,000-square-meter facility
features32 rooms and suites, a chapel, a disco ballroom, and a bar–where the
glasses are chiseled chunks of ice. The season runs January through sometime in
April (when the facility starts to melt).
# D-04-CAN-1183 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1187 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1105 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1121 Playing fiddle for coins, Québec City
during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1159 Québec City during Winter Carnival,
The Plains of Abraham
# D-04-CAN-1163 Québec City during Winter Carnival,
The Plains of Abraham
# D-04-CAN-1116 Playing fiddle in Québec City during
Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1111 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1099 Québec City, mural depicting life in
Quebec City over the seasons
# D-04-CAN-1104 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1145 Québec City during Winter Carnival,
Ice Palace
# D-04-CAN-1157 Québec City during Winter Carnival,
The Plains of Abraham
# D-04-CAN-1094 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1101 Québec City during Winter Carnival,
mural depicting life in Quebec City over the seasons
# D-04-CAN-1006 Moonrise over Québec City during Winter
Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1090 Québec City during Winter Carnival
# D-04-CAN-1062 Entrance to The Ice Hotel, or Hôtel
de glace de Québec-Canada
# D-04-CAN-1064 Friends chat inside The Ice Hotel, or Hôtel
de glace de Québec-Canada
# D-04-CAN-1080 Bed covered in animal skins inside The Ice
Hotel, or Hôtel de glace de Québec-Canada
# D-04-CAN-1084 Disco, dance floor, ice table inside The Ice
Hotel, or Hôtel de glace de Québec-Canada
# D-04-CAN-1074 Ice bar inside The Ice Hotel, or Hôtel de
glace de Québec-Canada
# D-04-CAN-1041 Visitor holds up sled dog puppy, Aventure
Innukshuk, Quebec, Canada
# D-04-CAN-1037 Dog-sledding with Aventure Innukshuk, Quebec,
Canada