Chasse-Gallerie
And, of course, canoes can fly
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”TitleBlock” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#f7b733″ custom_margin=”-1px||-1px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|||0px|false|false” locked=”off”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ admin_label=”Column” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default” header_text_color=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”16px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|10px|false|false”]All Articles: New Years Day | Day After Thanksgiving | Cider Hike | The Folding Boat | Just Between Swims
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Tradition Section” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Traditions Row” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”rgba(0,0,0,0)” custom_margin=”20px||-1px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px|||0px|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ admin_label=”Column” _builder_version=”4.6.5″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” header_font=”Work Sans|700|||||||” header_text_align=”center” header_text_color=”#000000″ header_font_size=”49px” custom_margin=”0px||-1px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false”]Chasse-Galerie
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Taviraj||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px”]French Canadian variant of the Wild Hunt, a legend that interprets strange noises in the air as relating to a hunter condemned to hunt throughout eternity. In Chasse-Galerie, one or several persons together are able, with the help of the devil, to travel in a canoe through the air at tremendous speed. They must take care not to have any blessed object on their person or to pronounce the name of God, lest the canoe crash. The name appears to be derived from the French chasse, “hunt,” and Galerie from Sire de Gallery, a condemned hunter.
The Story
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Taviraj||||||||” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”16px” sticky_enabled=”0″ custom_padding=”||||false|false” hover_enabled=”0″]After a night of heavy drinking on New Year’s Eve, a group of voyageurs working at a remote timber camp want to visit their sweethearts some 100 leagues away (300 miles). The only way to make such a long journey and be back in time for work the next morning is to run the chasse-galerie. Running the chasse-galerie means making a pact with the devil so their canoe can fly through the air to their destination quickly. However, the travelers must not mention God’s name or touch the cross of any church steeple as they whisk by in the flying canoe. If either of these rules is broken during the voyage, then the devil will take their souls.
To be safe, the men promise not to touch another drop of rum to keep their heads clear. The crew took their places in the canoe which then rises off the ground, and they start to paddle. Far below they see the frozen Gatineau River, many villages, shiny church steeples, and then the lights of Montreal.
The bewitched canoe eventually touches down near a house where New Year’s Eve festivities are in full swing. No one wonders at the trappers’/loggers’ sudden arrival. They are embraced with open arms and soon are dancing and celebrating as merrily as everyone else. Soon it is late and the men must leave if they are to get back to camp in time for work. As they fly through the moonless night, it becomes apparent that their navigator had been drinking as he steers the canoe on a dangerously unsteady course. While passing over Montreal they just miss running into a church steeple, and soon after the canoe ends up stuck in a deep snowdrift. At this point, the drunken navigator begins swearing and taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Terrified the devil will take their souls, the men bind and gag their friend and elect another to steer. The navigator soon breaks his bonds and begins swearing again. The crew becomes more and more shaken at the possibility of losing their souls, and they eventually steer the bewitched canoe right into a tall pine. The men spill out and are knocked unconscious. The ending of the story changes from version to version. Sometimes the men are condemned to fly the canoe through hell and appear in the sky every New Year’s Eve, but in all but one version, all escape the terms the devil (Lucifer) made.
Several different versions of this tale exist.[2] An Acadian version involves an axe handle. It stretches to accommodate as many as climb on.
Another variation has the devil himself steering and deliberately trying to break the rules on the return journey, at which point they throw him out of the canoe to save themselves.
In English, this particular legend is known as “The Canoe”, or “The Wild Hunt Bewitched”. The second name is used to translate precisely chasse-galerie as it is known in Canadian French.
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-2px||1px||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false”]Chasse-Galerie, the movie
[/et_pb_text][et_pb_video src=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IknRpwzFNIk” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default”][/et_pb_video][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”-22px||14px||false|false”]Sort of like Mary Poppins for paddling kids.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https://www.greatlakespaddlers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/400px-Lachassegalerie.jpg” title_text=”400px-Lachassegalerie” align=”right” admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” width=”56%” custom_margin=”|||20px|false|false”][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https://www.greatlakespaddlers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Chasse-Galerie1.jpg” title_text=”Chasse-Galerie1″ align=”right” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”|20px|||false|false”][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_image src=”https://www.greatlakespaddlers.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/catherine-rondeau-photographe-photomontage-chasse-galerie.jpg” title_text=”catherine-rondeau-photographe-photomontage-chasse-galerie” align=”center” admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”4.9.1″ _module_preset=”default” width=”57%” max_width=”95%”][/et_pb_image][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]