The Montreal Snow Shoe Club (MSSC) was a sports club in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . Founded in 1840 by twelve well-known young men, it was the first club of its sort in North America (and probably the world) and led the way for hundreds of other clubs like it to be established across Canada and the United States . Though as a club the MSSC was significantly pre-dated by others such as the Royal Montreal Curling Club and the Montreal Hunt , it was snowshoeing that pioneered the organization of sport in Montreal. In the 19th century, only lacrosse (and much later, ice hockey ) exceeded the total number of urban snowshoe clubs in Canada. In the period before 1867, Lindsay remarks, "a history of snowshoeing in Canada is virtually a history of snowshoeing in Montreal, and, in particular, the Montreal Snow Shoe Club". The MSSC laid the foundations for many other winter and sporting clubs to be established in Montreal, and notably the world's first Winter Carnival .
35-397: The MSSC organized an array of races, but they are best remembered for their night-time torchlit processions from McGill's Gatehouse up through Mount Royal Park , wearing their traditional take on the outfits of the old Québécois trappeurs and the infamous tasselled ' tuque bleu'. At the top a hearty dinner was served in their clubhouse, the club's songs were further sung and before
70-686: A functional equivalent of the Hudson's Bay Company blanket coat. The Hudson's Bay blanket coat served as a template for the Mackinaw jacket. The English language adopted the French word capote at least as early as 1812. In the early 1600s, French sailors traded their capotes to the Micmac in North America. By 1619, the French habitants were also wearing capotes. Fifty years later, the habitants wore an altered form of
105-464: A group of Métis buffalo hunters he encountered at Pembina by the Red River in 1823. All of them have a blue capote with a hood, which they use only in bad weather; the capote is secured round their waist by a military sash; they wear a shirt of calico or painted muslin, moccassins and leather leggings fastened round the leg by garters ornamented with beads,&c. The Bois brulés often dispense with
140-525: A hat; when they have one, it is generally variegated in the Indian manner, with feathers, gilt lace, and other tawdry ornaments. In the latter half of the 19th century the blanket coat was popularized amongst the European-descended population of Canada to the extent that it was looked on as national dress . Blanket coats had been used for some time before by those with outdoor occupations, but in this period
175-405: A particularly icey day had beaten him in a steeplechase , having cleverly attached spikes to his snowshoes beforehand. These tournaments soon became an array of popular individual events cheered on by throngs of spectators. The races were concluded with a large dinner given for all the competitors; involving toasts , prize-giving, speeches , snowshoeing songs, jokes, dancing and "bouncing,"
210-690: A rattling pace, for the President steps out, like him of cork -leg notoriety ( Milton Sublette - known as 'the Thunderbolt of the Rockies '), and each member has to keep up with him... In the 1860s, with the rise in the popularity of the Club's races, interest in the MSSC's weekly tramps began to wane. In an effort to revive popularity, club colours were adopted in 1869 to increase the visibility of its members. The colour blue
245-520: A slope at night has been a scheduled event of winter festivals since at least 1903. The Far-right and Nationalist groups have had a long history of torchlight marches. During the 1930s Nazi Germany in some of its Nuremberg rallies used torchlight marches. On 1 January 2014, Stepan Bandera 's 105th birthday was celebrated by a torchlight procession of 15,000 people in the centre of Kyiv and thousands more rallied near his statue in Lviv. The march
280-416: A walk of between ten and twelve miles , they repaired to a well-known café on Saint Jacques Street , where the proprietor, one Monsieur Tetu, "afforded every luxury relished by the jolly crew". Tetu's was well-known not just for his choice viand and Henry Hogan's bowl of punch that "served to magnetize those from whom old age had eradicated their tender passion;" but in the continuing melodic synonyms of
315-713: Is a procession held after dark so that lights carried by the participants form a spectacle. The lights will commonly be of the same type, so making a candlelight procession , lantern parade or torchlight march . Examples include the Christmas festival of Ndocciata in Italy; the Chinese Lantern Festival to celebrate the first full moon; and the daily procession of pilgrims to the grotto of Lourdes . Torchlight processions were known already in Ancient Greece where it
350-560: Is a long wrap-style wool coat with a hood. From the early days of the North American fur trade , both indigenous peoples and European Canadian settlers fashioned wool blankets into "capotes" as a means of coping with harsh winters. The garments served as winter outerwear for First Nations , the habitants and voyageurs of New France , the Métis of the Red River Colony , and
385-538: Is the Quebec French word that described this unique winter jacket. From capot came the verb encapoter or s'encapoter also in Quebec French (meaning to put on a capot and other winter accessories before going out). The Metis man's winter attire was the capote; a thigh length coat with full length sleeves which could come with or without a hood or cape. Most had small shoulder decorations made of red stroud. To keep
SECTION 10
#1732852772159420-489: The British settlers , traders, and trappers of British North America . The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) sold capotes, called blanket coats , made out of the company's "point" blankets . These were sold at HBC trading posts starting the early 18th-century, and were popular among traders for their "wrap" style, which was easy to move and hunt in. The Canadian Mackinaw jacket , originally made from HBC blankets, serves as
455-536: The Royal Montreal Cavalry being elected president. Its 'rules' were drawn from the unwritten traditions of this "Band of Brothers", when memory stood in the place of Minutes and loyalty to the common law of Snow Shoers made any formal code unnecessary. In addition to the weekly 'tramps', the club introduced annual races at the old horse racing field along the St. Pierre River, in what is now Verdun . In good spirit,
490-702: The MSSC since its origins remained, and prior to the Confederation of Canada in 1867, 'Evergreen' Hughes gave a speech linking the snowshoers' "bodily superiority" to the success of the "future Kingdom of Canada". From this institution other clubs quickly sprang up, notably the two most famous French Canadian clubs in Montreal : The Canadien de Montréal (founded in 1878) and the Trappeur de Montréal . By 1885, there were twenty five snowshoe clubs in Montreal alone, which led to
525-584: The MSSC's historian , recalled twelve of the earliest names associated with the club from 1840: The Hon. Edward Ermatinger (the club's first president in all but name in 1843); Colonel Édouard Juchereau du Chesnay ; Nicholas Hughes Burroughs; The Hon. Charles-Joseph Coursol ; Frederick Matthews; Romeo Harrison Stephens (brother of the elder George Washington Stephens ); Sir George Conway Colthurst 5th Bt. ; and, The Hon. Edward Goff Penny . He mentions also Mr Lamontagne, Mr Lamothe, Mr Harris and one Frank Brown. Torchlight march An illuminated procession
560-611: The capote, possibly based on the then fashionable justacorps , or on the French military uniforms of soldiers stationed in New France at the time, such as the Carignan-Salières Regiment . The altered knee length version had no buttons and was worn with a military sash ( Ceinture fléchée ). The habitant capot was no longer the sailors' capot nor the soldiers' capote , but something distinct, combining features from both. Capot
595-436: The club relished all challengers, no matter of their station in life: The MSSC, made up of British officers and Canadians who would become associated with Montreal's Golden Square Mile , competed alongside non-commissioned officers , former voyageurs and native Indians (notably Narcisse and 'the wonder' Keroniare). In those days, ingenuity was welcomed, and Ermatinger heartily congratulated an Indian named Deroche, who on
630-446: The club's first historian , Hugh Becket: "Dame Rumour has accused more than one of the handsome fellows who stretched their pedal extremities under mine host Tetu's mahogany , of being attracted thither through the mesmeric influence of the fair dame presiding over the establishment in conjunction with her lord". In 1843, when membership had significantly increased, the club was informally organized with Colonel Charles Ermatinger of
665-587: The coat closed there were both thongs and buttons or a sash. "Red stroud" refers to the "Stroudwater Scarlet", cloth produced in the English town of Stroud , which was used for the uniform of the British Army . The Métis capotes of the Red River area were made of leather or wool. Those made of leather were often decorated with beads and silk embroidery in floral designs. The wool capotes were of different colors; blue
700-590: The creation of the Union Canadienne des Raquetteurs (the Canadian Snowshoers' Union), who held their first convention at Quebec City in 1907. Since 1997, the Tuques Bleues Celebration has been organized by Les Amis de la Montagne (a charity that works to protect and preserve Mount Royal Park), re-introducing snowshoe tramps by traditional torchlight up the mountain. In 1882, Hugh Becket,
735-431: The cut and construction of the coat started to follow changing European and American fashions and became more widely used. The popularity of the coat was part of a wider movement to adopt aspects of the culture of indigenous people in order to establish a Canadian identity that was separate from both British and United States identities. Two elite groups were important in establishing the blanket coat's popularity. One
SECTION 20
#1732852772159770-488: The descent new members were "bounced". The MSSC significantly added to Quebec 's reputation throughout the British Empire as the most sociable, colourful and cheerful place to spend winter. In 1840, the first twelve members of the as yet unnamed Montreal Snow Shoe Club (though mainly Anglo , there were several French names too) started by meeting up every Saturday to 'tramp' out into the surrounding countryside . After
805-428: The end of February and the stewards who oversaw the events were usually commanding officers stationed in Montreal , such as Generals Eyre , Williams , Paulet , Lindsay and Michel . In January, 1859, Nicholas 'Evergreen' Hughes presided over the first Presidents Dinner and, "the echo of the shouts and laughter that rang thro' the tree tops of old Mount Royal must have astonished ' McTavish 's ghost '." In 1860,
840-486: The first two official photographs of the MSSC were to be taken. After the first of all the members (which did not come out well), a second was to be taken of just the officers : "This was a signal failure, the presence of an animated background proving too much for the dignity of the officers, who after several attempts at a suitable state of solemnity, gave up all idea of a picture, much to the delight of background brilliants". The old military camaraderie that had surrounded
875-426: The name given to an unusual but favourite custom of the Montreal snowshoers. It was started by the MSSC and afterwards popularly adopted by all the other snowshoe clubs set up after them. Guests of honour, new members or winners of snowshoe races were "bounced", by being thrown into the air repeatedly and caught either by hands or a blanket, as depicted in the picture. It is not known when the MSSC members first adopted
910-564: The outfits they became known for, or when the first moonlight processions were led up Mount Royal , but in 1859 a reporter from the Montreal Transcript joined the club for one such tramp and recounted his experience, Half past seven o'clock! and here we are at the 'rendezvous' in Sherbrooke Street ... all the members are in appropriate costume, namely, a blanket coat (white and hooded), with capote attached, firmly bound round
945-607: The torchlight march is meant to honor those who have fallen for the nation of Estonia and to signify that Estonian youth have not abandoned the nationalist principles. The event has been harshly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the Estonian nazi collaborators . Capote (garment) A capote ( French: [kapɔt] ) or capot ( French: [kapo] )
980-536: The university's Lawn chanting Nazi and white supremacist slogans, including "White lives matter"; " You will not replace us "; and "Jews will not replace us". (The phrase "You will not replace us" has been reported by the Anti-Defamation League to "reflect the white supremacist world view that ... the white race is doomed to extinction by an alleged 'rising tide of color' purportedly controlled and manipulated by Jews". ) The Nazi slogan " Blood and Soil "
1015-409: The waist with a sash or belt ; blanket continuations and moccasins of moose -skin; together with the indispensable snow-shoe ... adorned round the sides with tufts of crimson wool ... The route is across the mountain ; for your snowshoer looks with contempt upon the beaten road. The more of impediments in the shape of hedges , ditches , and fences , the better for his purpose. Off they go at
1050-435: Was also used. The group was primarily composed of white men, many of them wielding tiki torches . In Estonia Conservative People's Party of Estonia The party's affiliated nationalist youth movement Blue Awakening is the main organizer of the annual torchlight march through Tallinn on 24 February, Independence Day of Estonia. The first Independence Day torchlight march was held in 2014. According to Blue Awakening,
1085-572: Was chosen for the club's tasselled tuques , and soon the term tuque bleue became synonymous with the MSSC and its members. Tuques had been popular in New France since the 18th century. From the 1870s, club membership badges were sewn on to members' blanket coats - red and white in the early 1870s, and red, white and blue from 1875. The club's popularity continued to grow year on year and from 1850 they extended their weekly 'tramps' to Tuesday afternoons as well as Saturdays. The annual races were held at
Montreal Snow Shoe Club - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-759: Was connected with Ancient Greek religion . Until today they are part modern adaptations of Dionysia festival in Greece and elsewhere. Before the American Civil War in the U.S., illuminated processions were held to promote political parties. That includes mass torch light processions in 1858 at Hartford Connecticut, the Republican Party in New York City in 1860 and in Galesburg, Illinois in 1884. Processions of skiers holding torches or flares while skiing down
1155-546: Was preferred by the Catholic Métis and white by the Protestant Métis while grey was worn by both. A sash was worn around the waist and a fire bag was either tucked in the folds of the sash or hung around the neck by a shoulder strap. A fire bag was used for carrying flints, steel and tinder to start a fire as well as tobacco, pipe, knife and other personal items as most capotes had no pockets. William H. Keating described
1190-644: Was supported by the far-right Svoboda party and some members of the center-right Batkivshchyna . In 2017, During the Unite the Right rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. a group of white nationalists – variously numbered from "dozens" to "about 250" – gathered for an unannounced (and unsanctioned by the city) march through the University of Virginia's campus. They marched towards
1225-545: Was the Montreal Snow Shoe Club , which adopted the blanket coat as required equipment. Snow shoeing was another activity adopted from indigenous people and for a time became immensely popular as a sport. The other group was a succession of Governors General of Canada photographed wearing blanket coats. Perhaps even more significant for spreading the coat as a fashion was its wearing by the wives of Governors General, known as viceregal consorts . Initially considered
#158841