Métis communities across the Homeland have grand celebrations during the winter holiday season.
Christmas and New Year’s became particularly important holidays in Métis communities after the merging of the Hudson’s Bay Company and the Northwest Company in 1821, when HBC Governor George Simpson, imposed new rules to reduce partying among lively Métis workers:
“The new governor was much less enthusiastic about the fur traders' love of entertainment, believing that it interrupted post discipline and routine. Part of the strict new regime that was introduced after the union of the two companies in 1821 was the curtailing of the men's passion for dancing; now balls would only be allowed in the Christmas holiday season.”
Métis communities were known to take full advantage of the rules.
In 1848, for example, Mattawa postmaster Colin Rankin arrived back at his post from a fur collecting trip late on Christmas Day and noted in his journal that he “[f]ound Jo Langevin here who kindly refreshed us with a few tunes on the violin.”
On New Year’s Day of 1853, Rankin recorded a “jolly” celebration “at the Mattawa,” adding, “[my] friend Gaston and myself … had a reel with each of the ladies.”
Not all Métis holiday soirees were quite so orderly. In 1859, for instance, the Métis at Moose Factory proved George Simpson right about the risks of partying when a fight broke out in Moose Factory between “the Half breeds” and Norwegian labourers at the HBC’s annual New Year’s Day dance–an incident now affectionately referred to as the Moose Factory Fight Night.
Christmas and New Year's continue to be some of the liveliest times of year for Métis communities across the Homeland.