Every long weekend in August, Métis from all over central Alberta gather in Big Valley to celebrate the annual Hivernant Métis Society’s rendezvous.
Not only is the rendezvous a chance for family and friends to connect and celebrate together, it’s a combined chance to showcase the Métis heritage to the public and share skills and history amongst themselves to ensure traditions and ways of life don’t die out.
The rendezvous, which ran from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31, was divided into several different activities. On Saturday, people gathered around downtown Big Valley, with several artistic skills being taught within the community hall. Marlene Lanz, president of the Hivernant Métis Society, was one of the crafters set up at a table in the hall. She taught beading.
“It’s very important these skills aren’t lost,” she explained as she set out hanks of string and scraps of home-tanned leather. Beading began to appear on Métis-made materials — from clothing to simple accessories — as a way of making appealing trade goods to send along the trade routes with Hudson Bay Company traders.
Some of her students were learning a complex two-needle beading method and creating more involved designs of flowers, while others were making quick and easy keychains that they could finish at the beading station and take home at the end of the session, complete.
While Lanz and a couple others taught beading, fiddling lessons were being given at the front of the hall. Music is an important part of the Métis heritage, with a unique blend of early Canadian settler music and Indigenous music coming together to create something solely Métis. The fiddle is the instrument most recognizable as Métis in choice.
The Red River jig is one of those keystone tunes elemental to the Métis society, and the strains of the energetic music was heard as fiddlers demonstrated the song and worked to teach it to others.
Outside, a group of men worked to set up teepees, before the Voyageur games could take place. The games, which include axe-throwing and other unique Métis activities, are open to all ages and are a great way to pass on skills while creating the excitement of competition, Lanz noted.
This year, the society nixed the opening ceremonies because it was difficult to get people together early on Saturday morning, Lanz explained.
“People are everywhere, making breakfast, setting up things, meeting friends,” she elaborated. “So we moved that to dinner, when we’re all together again.”
While numbers of attendees aren’t known at this time, the event was well-attended, if the pancake breakfast was any indication.
“We had to go shopping,” Lanz said with a laugh. “We ran out of food.” And for those who have ever attended a Métis event, the one thing guaranteed is that there’s plenty of food.
