Quebec Winter Carnival
The Quebec Winter Carnaval Festival events include a winter amusement park, with attractions such as skiing, snow rafting, ice sculptures, snow sled-slides and outdoor shows and is usually held in February.
As a Catholic tradition to feast for a week or two up to Mardi gras / Fat Tuesday, before the 40 day long Carem / Lent's fasting begin, Carnival celebrations were a private affair long before the first organized event came to light in 1894 in Quebec city with the erection of the first Ice Castle.
After being held on and off for half century, Quebec city Carnival has been held uninterrupted since 1955. This year, a magical large Ice Palace was built for Bonhomme, the Carnival's guest of honour, for the first time in Jacques-Cartier Square. The impressive ice construction even had a dungeon, used to jokingly jail Carnival-goers who refused to honour Bonhomme's effigy. Bonhomme and its Palace where located opposite the Quebec Winter Carnival at Place d'Youville. Crowds gathered to dance and celebrate at the site that had special lighting and entertainment for the occasion. In 1973, Bonhomme Ice Palace was moved opposite the Québec National Parliament, on the foot of the Upper city-wall (fortifications), right next to the entrance of the main setting of Carnival on the Plains of Abraham. [1]
Activities and attractions
The most famous attractions of this winter festival are the night and day Carnival's parades lead by the Carnival's Master, Le Bonhomme Carnaval, through the Upper city decorated with lights and ice sculpting items.
Although numerous public or private parties, shows and balls are held across the city, some of them set-up outside in the bitter outdoor cold, and are a testimony of the Quebecois fable joie-de-vivre, the other main events are:
- The mascarade ball of Ball de Bonhomme with up to 400 participants at the Gran ball-room of the Chateau Frontenac.
- The opening and closing ceremonies taking place at the Ice Palace before thousands of participants, Bonhomme and the mayor of Quebec.
- The various outdoor sport races (snow boarding, canoe on ice, snowshoes, hockey, dog-sledding, etc. some of them part of Word championship tournaments) in the city and around.
- The outdoor public free banquets (brunch, breakfast, etc.).
- The Canadian, Quebecois and International snow sculptures contests on the Plains of Abraham.
The main setting of the Carnival is the Plains of Abraham. The Plains are a Quebec city's public park and stay open for free for leisure, including snowshoeing and cross-country skiing trails, during Carnival's time. Part of the Plains around the Citadel are transformed into an outdoor winter amusement park with various family-themed activities, including the display of the three main snow sculpting contests (Canada's provinces, Quebec's regions, International) and the traditional bikini snow bath event (bain de neige).
The outdoor dance parties are set at the Ice Palace with other events.
Also worth noting:
- Kiosks and other outlets in the city sell the Bonhomme effigy tag for $12 that gets you into most of the Winter Carnival events, albeit some of them are free.
- Most commercial main streets are decorated and several bars and restaurants through the city set-up a winter patio made of ice sculpting in front of their establishment.
- Bonhomme short for bonhomme de neige "snowman") is the official ambassador of the festivities, the castle lord of the Ice Palace. Bonhomme is a large snowman sporting a red cap, black buttons and a ceinture fléchée. Bonhomme was ranked in 3rd place of the world's top ten creepiest mascots by The Magazine.[2]
- Drinking the alcoholic beverage Caribou hot to keep warm.
- The public auction is a fund raising event in aid of the Carnival. This auction features many goods and services donated for silent auction and live auction.
About feasts and restaurants:
- The Business Leaders' Luncheon, organized by the Québec City Chamber of Commerce.
- The Calgary Stampede Flap Jack Breakfast In 2008, the carnival-goers were served by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
- The 'Restaurant Partners' Campaign is a 179-day promotion during which Québec City restaurants offer customers a special menu for a fixed price throughout the Carnival (including appetizer, soup, or salad, a main course, and a dessert).
About races and tournaments:
- A sleigh race in which drivers and their horses take part in a single- and double-harness race on the Plains of Abraham.
- The Dog Agility Competition on Snow brings together around 60 people and their dogs to compete in an outdoor obstacle course in the Old city narrow streets
- An Ice canoe race on the St. Lawrence river.
- The Québec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament (not official part of the Carnival's program since 1977).
- The Snowboard World cup in Quebec city (not part of the Carnival's official program).
Also not part of the official program of Carnival but worth a visit or a stay, the Quebec city unique Ice Hotel (Quebec) open every year from early January to late March with its bar, night club, exhibition galleries and ceremonial church.
References
- ^ {{Citation His You Mean His Palace | title =Quebec Winter Carnival (Carnaval de Québec) | contribution=Statistics | url = http://www.carnaval.qc.ca/statistics.html | accessdate =2009-01-14}}
- ^ The Magazine 2008|2008. pp. 12–13. ""The ambassador for Quebec's Winter Carnival, Bonhomme is supposed to be a snowman, but to us, his slight resemblance to the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters is too hard to ignore"."
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