In our country, very few anthropological researchers have brought to light the fact that most French-speaking populations in America, like several other minorities, have been systematically kept in economic, cultural and social underdevelopment for two centuries. They are forbidden from speaking or working in their language, from accessing education or health services in French, and from witnessing their history on the continent. These cultures drew on their oral traditions, which could not be taken from them, to maintain a certain social cohesion, a certain joie de vivre, and a capacity for communal mutual aid..
Naturally, in difficult conditions of isolation, our ancestors created a social space that made the difference, the dance evening where storytellers, singers, musicians, families, neighbors and travelers could share to the tune of violins. A form of hospitality that defied the taboos of the British occupiers and the clergy. It should be remembered that dances, naughty and political songs were censored in Quebec until the 1960s. The violinist in particular was denounced and excommunicated by the priests. The vigil was a democratic response to a repressive and discriminatory system by religious and political authorities. A collective creation that allowed us to face reality instead of sinking into an imposed fiction that would not serve us anyway…
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