Joyeux Noel

Joyeux Noel is french for Merry Christmas, and if you visit during the Folkways event, the French-Canadian Christmas is the first stop you'll make.

Compared to today's standards, the French-Canadian Christmas was rather sparse. French-Canadians populated the Minnesota River Valley before statehood in 1856 and prospered from the thriving fur trade industry. However, as fashion moved beyond the beaver fur hat which cut demand and the land began to be overtrapped cutting the supply, many French-Canadians abandoned the fur trade and tried another livelihood while calling Minnesota home.

The Fairbault Cabin came from Shakopee and was built in 1844 out of Tamarack logs. If you look, you can see how small the logs are. A small team of a few men could have built this cabin. The Fairbault family were traders, merchants, and politicians in early Minnesota history and we talk about them in this cabin.

For a French-Canadian Christmas, a creche would be put out to tell the Christmas story. Most of these nativity scenes on the frontier would not be made out of glass, but instead out of sticks, material, or maybe cornhusks. You used what you had.

Additionally, the family would tie three beeswax candles together to symbolize the Trinity. A large log, the Yule log, would be burned in the fireplace on Christmas Eve, which was the highlighted day of Christmas observances, while stories would be told. Often, a special cake was made to symbolize the Yule Log. I've read some recipes that say it would be made out of chocolate, but no doubt this was hard to find in Minnesota back then. The meal would often consist of a meat pie, wild rice, and other offerings from the land. If there was a Catholic Church or mission nearby, then the family would attend Mass. Sometimes, stockings would be hung for "Le Pere Noel" to visit and leave the children with small gifts.