The shaman could have gone on grumbling all day long, but he had an incantation session planned to neutralize the missionary’s influence so he headed for his tent.
* * *
Ignace de la Transfiguration, who was not the most tolerant of Jesuits, did not look favourably on the alliance of a white man and a Métis woman. He had the usual prejudices of learned Europeans, with their scorn and paternalism vis-à-vis the First Nations.
“Have you thought this over, Joseph? The Indians are like rude children who have trouble adapting to our religious beliefs and customs.”
“You’re wrong, Father. Angélique is Métis. In any case, the Indians are a devoted and pure people. They don’t speak with a forked tongue, they’re hospitable, and they help me forget the white man’s hypocrisy. Why should we strip them of their traditions and change their way of life?”
The Jesuit refused to admit that good people could exist outside the Church. The fact the Mi’kmaq had no word to express concepts such as virtue, vice, temptation, angels, and forgiveness led him to believe they were heathens. He was, however, intrigued by the discovery in Acadia’s forests of an old moss-covered cross found by Champlain and Poutrincourt in 1607. He had also read in a book by Lescarbot that during their first contact with the white man, the Mi’kmaq peppered their conversations with Hallelujahs, while those living in Miramichi used the cross as a totem, a custom that predated the arrival of the white man. In fact, that was why the whites were called Crossbearers. Legend had it that after a terrible illness decimated the tribe, a handsome man carrying a cross appeared to the wise elders and suggested they adopt the symbol to protect them from illness. This was done, and the illness was conquered. Others claimed that Irish monks, including St. Brendan and St. Colomban, ended up in the region prior to the first millennium. The thought of the many legends made Ignace de la Transfiguration dream of perpetuating the tradition of the cross and building an empire in America to the greater glory of God…
His daydream was interrupted by Joseph, “She is white on her father’s side, and she loves me.”
“Ah… my son, but her father belongs to that verminous race of Protestants,” the Jesuit retorted.
Angélique arrived just in time to hear these startling words. “You have no right to pass judgment on your neighbour,” she exclaimed.
“We hold the truth, and we are advisors to popes,” the Jesuit said, haughtily
The discussion had soured.
“I know your opinions on Indians. You decreed we are heathens, even though we believe in one God. Your civilization is the one that has brought us illness, alcohol, and evil through your religion that preaches nothing but fear and suffering…”
Angélique was beside herself. Joseph shared her opinion and thought it intolerable the way white men called the native people a race of lazy, immoral drunks and thieves. He took issue with the term “lazy.” The natives lived according to nature’s rhythm, which they respected, careful never to take more from nature than what they needed to survive. They could not be called “drunkards,” either, for white men had introduced brandy to destroy the native way of life and obtain their furs at ridiculously low prices. In the native custom of sharing and hospitality, Joseph saw the opposite of “thieves,” as some called them. How can there be theft if everything belongs to the group? he wondered.
As for the native notion of good and evil, he preferred it to the white man’s view since their morality allowed ill-paired couples to look for happiness elsewhere. But Joseph was conscious of the immunity guaranteed by a Catholic marriage. The Jesuits had long arms, and excommunication was feared even more than leprosy. The excluded were banished from the body of the Church as unworthy members and deprived of prayers and sacraments. And of a Christian burial. Worse yet was the way other faithful were prohibited from speaking to or greeting the excommunicated, and were urged to flee them as though they carried the plague.
Who in such a tiny society can survive rejection? he thought. Perhaps I could with my Indian friends, but why expose our children needlessly?
Joseph realized he had to be seen to agree with the missionary, especially since the latter looked extremely upset. “Father,” he said, “we sincerely admire the courage and faith that have led you to travel the breadth of huge countries and to suffer hunger, cold, slander, and rejection. Your knowledge of the Mi’kmaq language is a testimony to your perseverance… Angélique has what many Christians are without: a pure heart, simplicity, great honesty, and she will abide by the truth.”
The word “truth” clearlv lent itself to a number of different interpretations. Angélique understood Joseph’s strategy, but she had no desire to deal with this priest she considered to be an instrument of white authority designed to destroy the Mi’kmaq way of life in order to better subjugate them. She was furious, but her love for Joseph ran deep. So a semblance of calm could be restored, she began playing with small stones in the sand, rearranging them and creating designs that reflected her agitation.
As for the missionary, he hated to admit to himself that he found this woman both exotic and beautiful and, for that reason, all the more threatening.A non-submissive woman is the devil incarnate! he thought.
“I’m not making myself understood very well,” Angélique continued. “The Mi’kmaq believe in one God as well, but we have trouble understanding why we have to abandon our traditions. We leave profit, property, and material goods to the white man. When the colonies began, the Indians welcomed you with open arms; we helped you survive scurvy thanks to the healing powers of anneda…
The missionary was openly touched by Angélique’s mention of the sorry state of the new arrivals who died of scurvy during their first winters, and the miracle cure, the white cedar herbal tea the Indians brought for them.
“Yes, that was a gift from heaven,” the priest admitted. “God certainly allowed the Indians to be His instruments to allow France to expand its empire… Will you respect the teachings of our Holy Mother the Church as promised on the day of your baptism?” he asked suddenly.
Angélique murmured assent.
So Ignace de la Transfiguration let them have their way.
* * *
After the wedding, Fiery Elouèzes opened the banquet by offering his red clay pipe to each of the spirits of the four directions then to the spirit of the sky before lowering his pipe to the spirit of the earth. He beat on his drum (two smooth hides stretched over a wooden hoop case containing stones) to give the signal for the feast to begin. Great bonfires burned both along the shore and in Ruisseau, and long pine tables covered in birchbark buckled under the weight of all the local and European food. Saint-Jean had dug into his stores. From a French ship that had stopped over in Ruisseau, he also bought goods meant for Quebec’s high society. For his daughter’s wedding, he had decided on French gastronomy and European-looking menus. As well as barrels of French wine and rum from Martinique, he had brought out truffles and chocolates from Rouen, ham from Mayence, oranges from Brazil, spices from the East Indies and Mocha coffee from Yemen. In his view, food was close to a religion, a rite he followed with art and sophistication.
The feast took on gargantuan proportions. An exceptionally late summer made it possible to gather all the fruits of the sea and the forest. On that September 1, 1740, on the Ruisseau beach, seafood was abundant. The wedding menu included red oyster soup seasoned with wild mint, clam chowder seasoned with wood garlic, smoked salmon with loon eggs. Clams, halibut, lobster, and crab were served, scallop and shrimp brochettes on cedar sticks, cod with mussel sauce, and trout seasoned with black mustard and seasalt wrapped in clay and cooked in the embers. The fruits of the land and the sky had their own place of honour: goose, teal, doves, caribou, and bear roasted on the spit (on a bed of blueberries, cranberries, and raspberries). Accompanying dishes were not forgotten either: wild rice, corn on the cob, and greens (watercress, wild leek, wood garlic, sorrel, fiddleheads1, and dandelions)