Little Big Things

Wine bottle seals bearing the coat of arms of the Marquis de Beauharnois, Governor General of New France from 1726 to 1746, excavated at the Château Saint-Louis Before anyone asks, no, I haven't had the chance to visit Québec again recently. I would love to, of course - especially given the new knowledge and discoveries that I plan to share with you today - but for the time being, this "revisit" of Québec's Château Saint-Louis (my first visit to which is documented  here ) is purely figurative. This story begins with two websites I came upon by chance whilst browsing through my Pinterest feed early this year:  Furnishing New France  and its associated blog . Both of these are the work of one Philippe Halbert, who has drawn upon primary source records (more on that below) to piece together the material culture of the social and political elite in New France: many of whom would have been based in the capital city of Québec, including at Saint-Louis. Needless to say, I ...

I don't know about you, but I find it easy to take for granted just how widespread Christmas is as a holiday. There are websites and infographics devoted entirely to how it is celebrated all over the world: the music, the food, the specific person who brings presents to the good children or punishment to the bad. Even places and cultures that were not historically Christian - nor subject to widespread European colonization - seem to have gotten in on the action by now. And nowhere is that clearer, I think, than in global versions of the Nativity . Every year, for instance, the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. puts together a curated display of just some of its hundreds of crèches - figurines depicting the Nativity scene - from all around the world. And while many of these sets have the conventional figures and features many of us will have come to expect, others offer a more culturally-specific rendition, with subtle changes to the characters' faces, dress, or belongings ...