Métis Christmas traditions full of food, family

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This article was published 25/12/2023 (670 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A fire crackles in the hearth, casting a warm glow on the faces of loved ones, illuminating stockings all lined up in a row.

The moon rises up over a stark field of snow, like a gleaming jewel in an inky-black sky that is studded with stars that shine like diamonds.

The scent of sage, thyme and roasting turkey fills the air, floating above warm conversation and the tinkle of laughter.

Whatever one’s background, age or location, those who celebrate Christmas all have memories of just what the beloved holiday has meant to them, their families and their communities.

For Will Goodon, a minister with the National Government of the Red River Métis, also known as the Manitoba Métis Federation, Christmas brings back happy memories of his childhood in the Turtle Mountains, located 93 kilometres southwest of Brandon.

“Our family celebrated Christmas at church and at home,” Goodon told the Sun. “I remember as a young child that our Uncle Erie was Santa for all the children in the bush. He was Santa for all families, and it was so awesome to see him. We absolutely thought he was the real thing.”

Christmas oranges, with their gleaming skin and sweet, refreshing segments, were also something that Goodon and his family looked forward to each and every year.

“It was such a treat, but Mom had to hide the box of mandarins so I wouldn’t go through the whole box at once,” he said.

Shortbread cookies were — and still are — Goodon’s favourite holiday treat, and no Christmas was complete without a meal of roast turkey or chicken with mashed potatoes, stuffing and all the fixings, he said.

Goodon remembers stories told to him by his father and uncles about how Christmas used to be a weeklong event that lasted into New Year’s Day. Those who weren’t fortunate enough to have plentiful food or meat were always provided for, and horses in harnesses were hitched to sleighs, with families travelling from house to house to bring their friends and loved ones Christmas greetings.

“There was always a lot of food everywhere. Bannock and frybread were a staple, but the one dish that I was told was a New Year’s tradition were boulettes — meatballs made from ground wild meat, rolled in flour, salt and pepper, and boiled in a pot of hot water to make their own broth,” Goodon said. “I still make boulettes to this day, and I’m looking forward to making some moose boulettes this year.”

Another story Goodon’s father told him is of the men in the community assembling at midnight and shooting their rifles in the air to mark the new year. Ammunition was always scarce, so only a couple of shots were fired.

Many other Red River Métis were predominantly Roman Catholic. However, there were several Anglican parishes in the Red River area, he said, and small communities led to intermarriage between Catholic and Protestant Métis. Cuthbert Grant, a Métis leader of the early 19th century, was partly Scottish, but converted to Catholicism and even built several churches in communities he worked in.

But there were also Métis people who clung to the influence of traditional Indigenous spirituality, Goodon said.

“Stories would be told around the campfire and when the hunters would go on their annual buffalo hunts. This became a mixture of sorts, where the so-called ‘civilized’ side of us were devout Catholics, while we also practised the ways of our mothers when on the land.”

Chantal Fiola, an associate professor in urban and inner city studies and Distinguished Indigenous Scholar’s Chair at the University of Winnipeg, said in the Winnipeg Free Press last year that oral history confirms some Métis families held onto traditional ceremonies despite pressure to assimilate.

When Fiola spent time with Elder Maria Campbell at her home near Batoche, Sask., located 654 km northwest of Brandon, during the summer of 2018, Campbell told her that some Métis people had been going to ceremonies like sweat lodges for as long as the Métis have existed as a distinct people in Canada.

Spirituality as a whole has evolved for Métis people just as it has for people of other backgrounds and communities, Goodon said.

“Many of our communities have only Catholic churches, but some communities have now had influences of evangelical Christianity as well. This was the case in the Turtle Mountains for me and my family, but there is also a resurgence in many Red River Métis who have looked to traditional spirituality as their hold in the spiritual world.”

The legacy of colonialism has further complicated some Métis people’s relationship with religion, Goodon said. According to a report from the Alberta Teachers’ Association, many Métis students attended residential schools, although the provinces were seen as being responsible for Métis children.

Local public schools often did not admit Métis children, and in most Métis communities, there weren’t enough funds to build schools for local children. The report stated that many Métis parents who wished to see their children educated had no options other than to try to have them accepted into residential schools.

The extend to which they identified with the European portion of their roots was sometimes an indicator of how a Métis child would be treated at a residential school. But many school employees had negative stereotypes of Métis children, which had a negative impact on the students, the report stated. Métis children frequently faced racism and discrimination as part of their residential school experience.

This intergenerational trauma has led many Métis people to leave the church and seek their spiritual life elsewhere, Goodon said.

“I have my friends who practice traditional spirituality. I know for myself that spirituality is more the experience and immersion of nature.”

Goodon feels most calm and collected when he is alone in the bush, walking on the roads built by his ancestors and listening to the sounds of birds, animals, water and wind.

“I love to be at my place in the Turtle Mountains, and I need it very much. It grounds me and helps me take on each day,” he said.

Other traditional dates the Red River Métis celebrated around Christmas and New Year included All Kings Day, celebrated on Jan. 6, when gifts are sometimes given, according to the Louis Riel Institute.

» mleybourne@brandonsun.com, with files from the Winnipeg Free Press

» X: @miraleybourne