Originally posted to my livejournal in July 2008, as part of research on one of my ongoing novel projects.
For various reasons, I've been reviewing my Québec mythology a little.
It's an interesting field. The Catholic European roots are undeniable, but there has definitely been an adaptation of such legend to the realities of an immense and sparsely inhabited territory (something true even to this day - Québec has a population density of 5.6 inhabits per square kilometer. While a lot of that is due to the empty north, that still leaves vast untamed forested areas).
Native American influence is probably there as well. For example, I'm not aware of too many European Catholic legend which feature sea serpents as benevolent being, but there are records of at least one in Québec, where the apparition of a sea serpent in the nearby lake announce a bountiful harvest for the year.
Similarly, the Québec werewolf is an interesting figure. While it is undeniably a man-human transformation, it's a were whose legend involve no biting (one becomes a were by not attending church for several years in a row. Or, in other words, deliberately stepping outside society), and no silver (simply bleeding the were is enough to cure him). Nor does the resulting being (were-cat, were-horse and were-demon all join the wolves in Quebec folklore) show any sign of ever being human : they completely take the form of the other (interestingly, while the cat and dog are universally described as enormous and black, the horse is enormous but white. The demon is, well, a demon). Possibly, this conception of the werewolf was influenced by the Native American wendigo, people who became demons for breaking taboos.
For various reasons, I've been reviewing my Québec mythology a little.
It's an interesting field. The Catholic European roots are undeniable, but there has definitely been an adaptation of such legend to the realities of an immense and sparsely inhabited territory (something true even to this day - Québec has a population density of 5.6 inhabits per square kilometer. While a lot of that is due to the empty north, that still leaves vast untamed forested areas).
Native American influence is probably there as well. For example, I'm not aware of too many European Catholic legend which feature sea serpents as benevolent being, but there are records of at least one in Québec, where the apparition of a sea serpent in the nearby lake announce a bountiful harvest for the year.
Similarly, the Québec werewolf is an interesting figure. While it is undeniably a man-human transformation, it's a were whose legend involve no biting (one becomes a were by not attending church for several years in a row. Or, in other words, deliberately stepping outside society), and no silver (simply bleeding the were is enough to cure him). Nor does the resulting being (were-cat, were-horse and were-demon all join the wolves in Quebec folklore) show any sign of ever being human : they completely take the form of the other (interestingly, while the cat and dog are universally described as enormous and black, the horse is enormous but white. The demon is, well, a demon). Possibly, this conception of the werewolf was influenced by the Native American wendigo, people who became demons for breaking taboos.
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