2005/02/14
groundhog; nuns; lupercalia; hey-ho; Sacagawea
"Tuesday Feb. 2nd was Groundhog Day and the State of the Union Address in the USA. It is an ironic juxtaposition: one involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to a creature of little intelligence for prognostication -- and the other involves a groundhog." nyuk nyuk
Yesterday Mom took us out for brunch to a little place across the street from Medicine Rock Cafe in St. Francois Xavier. The restaurant is a new one located in a large house that once held a Nunnery. It's called The Habit cafe.......eating there could become a habit...heehee Anyhoo,it was very good. We did not got to the Medicine Rock because the food there is on and off and it is our understanding that yesterday the food was more off than on. Comprenez-vous? After brunch we went for a little ride out hwy #26 to Poplar Point, St. Ambroise and ended up in Portage la Prairie. It was a nice day at about 3 deg c (-+36 deg f) and very comfortable in the car, especially since I got the heater fixed! Mom was in a good mood, as usual and we had a nice visit with her over the weekend.
Today is St. Valentine's Day, and is another day usurped by the Christians from the Romans who celebrated Lupercalia in the middle of February. According to legend, during Lupercalia all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Damn party pooper. Anyway, Happy Lupercalia!!!!!!
It looks like good weather for the Festival du Voyageur. I hope that the snow sculptures don;t melt before we have a chance to see them! Besides the Fort (Gibralter) there are 5 trading posts, each with its own theme. There is lots of food and much music in each trading post. They have dog-sled racing and sleigh rides with horses. There is a snow sculpture maze for the kids and a beer tent for the adults. Right throughout St. Boniface there parties and concerts for the week. Bon Festival!
For those of you that don't know about the Voyageurs: They were mainly French-Canadian men who signed on with fur trading companies, including the Hudsons Bay Company, as paddlers or canoe-men. These voyageurs opened up the north and west of North America. Lewis and Clark could not have made their trip to the Pacific without enlisting the help of French-Canadian voyageurs. In fact as Lewis and Clark made their way down rivers of the west, voyageurs ( a lot of them Metis) would be waving to them from the banks! French Canadians on the Lewis and Clark expedition included Toussaint Charbonneau, whose wife was the Shoshone Sacagawea. Sacagawea has more statues in the USA that any other woman in US history.
Well better go.....keep blogging everyone!!!!.............
peace Rev Dennis
groundhog; nuns; lupercalia; hey-ho; Sacagawea
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Yesterday Mom took us out for brunch to a little place across the street from Medicine Rock Cafe in St. Francois Xavier. The restaurant is a new one located in a large house that once held a Nunnery. It's called The Habit cafe.......eating there could become a habit...heehee Anyhoo,it was very good. We did not got to the Medicine Rock because the food there is on and off and it is our understanding that yesterday the food was more off than on. Comprenez-vous? After brunch we went for a little ride out hwy #26 to Poplar Point, St. Ambroise and ended up in Portage la Prairie. It was a nice day at about 3 deg c (-+36 deg f) and very comfortable in the car, especially since I got the heater fixed! Mom was in a good mood, as usual and we had a nice visit with her over the weekend.
Today is St. Valentine's Day, and is another day usurped by the Christians from the Romans who celebrated Lupercalia in the middle of February. According to legend, during Lupercalia all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city's bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage. Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day around 498 A.D. The Roman 'lottery' system for romantic pairing was deemed un-Christian and outlawed. Damn party pooper. Anyway, Happy Lupercalia!!!!!!
It looks like good weather for the Festival du Voyageur. I hope that the snow sculptures don;t melt before we have a chance to see them! Besides the Fort (Gibralter) there are 5 trading posts, each with its own theme. There is lots of food and much music in each trading post. They have dog-sled racing and sleigh rides with horses. There is a snow sculpture maze for the kids and a beer tent for the adults. Right throughout St. Boniface there parties and concerts for the week. Bon Festival!
For those of you that don't know about the Voyageurs: They were mainly French-Canadian men who signed on with fur trading companies, including the Hudsons Bay Company, as paddlers or canoe-men. These voyageurs opened up the north and west of North America. Lewis and Clark could not have made their trip to the Pacific without enlisting the help of French-Canadian voyageurs. In fact as Lewis and Clark made their way down rivers of the west, voyageurs ( a lot of them Metis) would be waving to them from the banks! French Canadians on the Lewis and Clark expedition included Toussaint Charbonneau, whose wife was the Shoshone Sacagawea. Sacagawea has more statues in the USA that any other woman in US history.
Well better go.....keep blogging everyone!!!!.............
peace Rev Dennis
groundhog; nuns; lupercalia; hey-ho; Sacagawea
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