A Canadian Family

Vive Le Vent!

I’ve already discussed how crucial winter is to Quebeckers’ sense of national identity, and some of our public traditions such as the traditional  big winter carnivals, and winter sports in general. Well we’re just a few hours into Montreal’s first major snowstorm of the 2009/2010 season so I thought I’d share another toboganning postcard. This one depicts a traditional slide in Montreal’s historic Mount Royal Park. When my sisters and I were little and growing up in the working class district of Verdun, it was a real treat to go to the mountain for a day of sliding.

Before we were able to get our traditional family toboggan my father loved inventing little home made sliding machines for us. Once he took apart my mother’s broken down old wringer washing machine and made us what he called a  flying saucer from its round metal cover. I need to mention that this was the golden age of science fiction and my father positively devoured space attack stories! It  looked great to us but there were little holes in the middle that kept filling up with snow, so the toboggan was definitely a great improvement!

Further Reading:

Mount Royal, A Territory to Discover – A Focus on History

The Ice Cubicle

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Message  from “Dinner Table” Karen

This is some intriguing information that I retrieved from one of the comment boxes. I say intriguing because Karen is right about what she says, yet I’ve googled and googled and I cannot figure out how the term toboggan morphed from its original First Nations meaning of a sled, into a hat!

“Gorgeous card! And what fun. My family is from central Maine, where toboggans are also a part of childhood life.

But toboggans are not the same thing in other places. One winter, while living in the South of the United States, I heard a teacher say to a child, “Don’t forget to put your toboggan on,” and my attention was focused, because who on earth would put on a toboggan???!!!

He continued, “Your head will get cold.” And I was even more puzzled. The child went to his cubby and took out a woolen cap and put it on his head. I said to the teacher, “What is a toboggan, to you?” And he explained that it was the wooly winter cap!

And so it is, here. And every time I hear someone say this in the winter-time, I laugh. “

Karen of  Postcards From The Dinner Table

December 9, 2009 - Posted by Evelyn Yvonne Theriault | . | winter sports