French I - Quebec culture
French I – Culture de Québec
Guided Notes Key
The flag of Quebec
- The flag of Quebec has a white cross on a blue background and has 4 white fleur-de-lis. It is nicknamed Fleurdelisé meaning with the fleur-de-lis.
The flag of Canada
- The flag of Canada is red with a white square in the center. In the white square there is an 11-point red maple leaf. It is often referred to as the maple leaf flag or l’Unifolié meaning the one-leafed.
Almanac
- Population: Over 7 million
- Cities: Montreal, Quebec
- Industries: natural resources, aerospace tourism, pharmaceuticals, information technology
- Quebec is 4 times the size of California, but nearly half of its inhabitants live on less than 1% of the total land area.
- The province of Quebec is 3 times as big as France.
- It is divided into 17 administrative regions, characterized by forests, lakes, and mountains.
- About 80% of the population of Quebec lives near the Saint Lawrence River. The river connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.
« Je me souviens » - I remember
- Because of its stunning natural beauty, Quebec is sometimes called la belle province, which was once stamped on the license plates.
- More recently, the official motto of Quebec, Je me souviens (I remember) replaced it. Exactly what is remembered is a popular subject of debate in Canadian culture.
Jacques Cartier
- Explored the St. Lawrence River in the 1530s while searching for a route to Asia. He claimed the area for France, landing on the sites that later became Quebec City and Montreal.
Samuel de Champlain
- Sent by the king of France to map the St. Lawrence River, made the fur trade flourish, and established ties with native peoples.
- He founded Quebec City in 1608.
Treaty of Paris
- By signing the Treaty of Paris, King Louis XV of France gave Canada and all territory east of the Mississippi River to Great Britain.
- He considered the island territory of Guadeloupe to be far more valuable because of its sugar crops.
- Viewed as little more than a vast, frozen wasteland, New France, as Canada was called, was of little importance to the French.
- By royal proclamation, the British changed the name to Quebec in 1763.
Montréal
- In 1535, Cartier explored inland and named Mont Royal
- In 1642, the city of Ville-Marie was founded at the mountain’s base.
- Ville-Marie later became the city of Montreal.
- Today Montreal is the largest city in Quebec and the fourth-largest French-speaking city in the world after Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Paris, and Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire).
La Gaspésie
- The eastern tip of the Gaspe Peninsula is known for its enormous limestone rock formation, le Rocher Percé.
Les Laurentides
- The Laurentides region, north of Montreal, has spectacular foliage in the fall.
Le hockey
- Ice hockey is the most popular sport in Quebec.
Le Nord du Québec
- Wildlife, like the caribous and the moose, have adapted to the conditions of this harsh landscape.
Les aurores boréales
- In July you can enjoy the remarkable phenomenon of the northern lights from the Mount Cosmos Observatory, south of Quebec City.
Le Saint-Laurent
- You can see a great variety of large sea mammals like whales, dolphins, and sea lions in this river.
Îles de la Madeleine
- Each year, toward the end of February, hundreds of thousands of sea lions come here to give birth to their young.
- For a few weeks each year, eco-tourists can observe the snow-white baby sea lions in their natural habitat.
Le village du Père Noël
- In Val-David, le village du Père Noël is an amusement park based upon the theme of Santa’s summer home.
- Visitors can cool themselves in a wading pool in the shade of a huge sapin de Noël (Christmas tree).
La cipâte aux bleuets
- This traditional pie is made with a kind of blueberry found in Canada.
La tourtière
- This Quebec specialty is a meat pie, usually made from minced pork and spices.
Le sirop d’érable
- In early spring, many people go to a cabane à sucre to enjoy the traditional hot maple syrup poured onto a bed of fresh snow and scooped up with wooden sticks.
- Maple products are a big industry in Quebec.
- Every spring, maple growers tap their trees and boil the sap to make maple syrup.
- It takes about 40 liters of sap to make a single liter of syrup.
- “Sugaring off” is celebrated with sleigh rides and maple festivals.
La pêche blanche
- This sport was handed down from the Innuits and Amerindians.
- People fish through holes cut in the thick ice that covers rivers and lakes in the winter.
Le canoë
- In the summer, people enjoy canoeing in the many waterways that Quebec has to offer.
Les traîneaux à chiens
- Dogsledding provided transportation to the Innuits, settlers, and fur traders for hundreds of years.
- Today “mushing” (traveling on snow with a dog sled) provides ecoadventures through the wilderness.
Snowmobiles
- Joseph-Armand Bombardier invented the snowmobile in Valcourt, Quebec. He coined the brand name Ski-Doo® and created a new industry and sport.
- Valcourt annually hosts the Grand Prix snowmobile race and has a museum devoted to the sport.
- With 6-13 feet of snow each year and 20,900 miles of trails, Quebec is the most popular destination for snowmobiling in the world.
L’international de montgolfières
- This festival in Saint-Jean lasts for ten days. You can admire hot air balloons of all shapes and colors here.
Le Festival International de jazz de Montréal
- Jazz musicians from all over the world participate in over 400 concerts every summer during this festival.
- Around 1.5 million jazz lovers converge on Montreal to enjoy the week-long festival, which features over 2000 musicians.
- Most performances are outdoors and many are free.
Le Carnaval de Québec
- This is the biggest winter carnival in the world.
- Among the numerous festivities, and ice palace is built for Bonhomme Carnaval, the mascot of the carnival.
La chute Montmorency
- A waterfall about 12 kilometers from Quebec City.
- At 82 meters high, it is 30 meters taller than Niagara Falls.
Le manoir Montmorency
- Above the falls and accessible by cable car is the manoir Montmorency.