Winter Fun And Ancient Tradition

Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River is the largest Winterlude site, and turned into a large playground for visitors. Mounds of snow are assembled in January for the creation of snowslides, as it was in 2018.

For those who might be too little for the snowslides, other activities: these sleds are kitted out not unlike dog sleds, but with an adult doing the work while a young one sits and takes it all in. The frozen river and the Ottawa shore are in the background here.

The slides are popular.

And there were dogsleds in the park too, with the dogs running through paths through much the rest of the park.

Other activities: demonstrations of First Nations living, with teepees set up in the park.

Drums- both finished and in process- are seen here. The frames are made of wood, and the process of woodworking the old fashioned way was being shown by members of the Anishinaabe peoples.

Green wood is better for working into curves for drums, snowshoes, or other purposes than wet wood is.

A fur in the background, and in the foreground, a portion of a tree first hollowed out to make a trough. This was the technique for making maple sugar. Rocks would be heated in fires, moved by antlers into the troughs to heat the sap, and the sap poured in. The result was maple sugar, used both for food and medical purposes.