Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day

• French: Fête de la Saint-Jean-Baptiste, la Saint-Jean, Fête nationale du Québec

• known in English as St John the Baptist Day

• holiday celebrated on June 24 in the Canadian province of Quebec

• It was brought to Canada by French settlers celebrating the traditional feast day of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist

• It was declared a public holiday in Quebec in 1925

Ludger Duvernay, who would later become the first president of the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society, attended the celebrations of the first St. Patrick's Day, the celebration of the Irish diaspora, in Montreal in 1834. This would give him and others the idea of organizing something similar for all the Canadiens and their friends.
On that June 24, George-Étienne Cartier's "Ô Canada! mon pays, mes amours" was first sung during a grand patriotic banquet gathering about sixty francophones and anglophones of Montreal

​Later on

A very popular event in the Ancien Régime of France, and it is still celebrated as a religious feast day in several countries, including Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Spain, Latvia, Ireland and Lithuania.
The tradition came to Canada with the first French colonists.
The first mention dates back to 1606, when settlers en route to the future Acadia rested on the coast of Newfoundland
The second mention of celebrations occurred on the banks of the Saint Lawrence River on the evening of June 23, 1636, with a bonfire and five cannon shots.

​History

Origins

• supported by the Catholic Church

• lighting of bonfires

• the first parades were organized

• procession of floats was introduced in 1874

​

​Parades

• In 1880, all francophone communities in North America took part

• On this occasion, the citizens of Quebec City were the first ones to hear the "Ô Canada" of Calixa Lavallée, based on a poem by a Quebec Superior Court judge, Adolphe-Basile Routhier

• The song was commissioned by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society.

• English words were later written for a royal tour in 1901

• In 1980, "O Canada" became the official national anthem of Canada.

​

​The anthem

​Fireworks and light shows accompany the celebrations

​In 1908, Pope Pius X designated St. John the Baptist as the patron saint of French Canadians. In 1925, 91 years after Duvernay's banquet in Montreal, June 24 became provincially a legal holiday in Quebec

​The festival has attempted to be more inclusive, as groups have sung in Creole and for the 2008 celebrations, Samian, "the world's first aboriginal Algonquin language rapper", sang at Montreal's celebration

​Useful information

https://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/stories-of-montreal/article/the-origin-of-saint-jean-baptiste-day/