Mid-Lent festivities: Renewed popular entertainment
Of French and medieval origin, Mid-Lent was once celebrated in all regions of Quebec as well as in Acadia. Reaching its peak in the first half of the 20th century, this collective festival, which consists of “breaking Lent,” then diminished alongside the easing of the deprivations that traditionally marked this period of the liturgical calendar. Today, some forms of updated Mid-Lent have survived in three Quebec localities: Fatima on the Magdalen Islands, Natashquan in the Côte-Nord region and Isle-aux-Grues, an island in the St-Lawrence River close to Montmagny. Have the geographic location of these villages, their limited access roads and their isolation during the winter period favoured the continuation and passing on of these festivities? Are they in keeping with tradition or are they at odds with it? Careful examination of ethnographic sources reveals that the practice has been renewed more so than having survived.