SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2018
By LANA CARBON & JOHN LILIES
[Lana] I was afraid that this trip was going to be filled with misadventures judging by the way it started out. On my way to the car, I was the victim of a fly-by. Yes, a bird actually flew into me as it attempted to fly past me. John is the one that always seems to have issues with birds, not me. Does this mean it is contagious? After sharing a laugh over the whole thing, we pulled out onto the road.
[John] You seriously shouldn’t be surprised by this now, dude. Over our years together you’ve had increasingly more close encounters of the avian kind. At some point you will just have to accept that I come with weird and sometimes disturbing bird occurrences and denying it will not help you at all.
Honestly though, Lana does not exaggerate with this. The bird did fly into him (his reaction was hilarious) and I do seem to have issues with birds. They fly into me too, and my car, and well… I could probably write an entire article just about that. Stay tuned… maybe I will. (In case you are wondering… the bird was fine and continued on its way.)
[Lana] Although we didn’t expect to get to the hotel until much later that day, figuring we would do our site-seeing first, we arrived well before noon and risked trying to get into our room even though we were there much earlier than their 2:00 p.m. check-in time. The staff were very accommodating and allowed us to access our room right away, so we dropped off our luggage and set out for our first stop on what would become our tour through history.
[John] At first, I didn’t think this was necessary as the car was all packed for the whole day. However, considering how incredibly hot it was outside, I was so grateful that Lana insisted we try to check in early and even more grateful that they accommodated us so seamlessly. Such a hot day. Really… hot. Also, I don’t think that Lana really believed me when I told him that Midland wasn’t too far away. We had made a quick stop in Barrie to top up the gas tank and as we pulled out, Lana decided to throw on a podcast to listen to. I told him we wouldn’t be listening for too long as Midland is not far from Barrie. It was a fairly short time later that Lana noticed we were in the outskirts of Midland and he exclaimed, “We’re here already?!?”
Yes baby… I told you it wasn’t that far.
[Lana] Have I mentioned that you’re a smarty pants?
[John] I have no idea what you are talking about.
[Lana] Anyhoo…
Driving into Midland, we had noticed a sign for Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. We didn’t realize that it was so close to where we were going to be staying. That is the advantage of not planning a trip; when you see something of interest that you hadn’t accounted for, you can still find time to fit it into your day. Sainte-Marie among the Hurons is a reconstruction of an old fort where Jesuit missionaries and the Wendat (Huron) nation co-inhabited in the early days of the European settlement of Canada (Colonization). The first portion of the village was dedicated to the settlers. The buildings here consisted of a tailor shop, a blacksmith shop, a cookhouse, carpenter shop, soldiers’ barracks, farmers’ dwelling, Jesuit’s quarters, granary, stables, chicken run, bastions, a chapel, and a church (which contained the graves of Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant, two martyred saints).
[John] The heat made it tough to stay in any one place for too long and there aren’t too many original pieces on display, so much of our our experiences in these areas were slowly walking through but not much standing in awe at anything and really examining things.
Inside the lobby of the museum and gift shop building.
[Lana] We stepped into the second part of the walled village and realized it was like night and day. This section was dedicated to the Wendat nation and the Jesuit’s attempts to gradually convert them to Christianity yet make them still feel comfortable. The two stand-outs here were separate long houses… one traditional and one Christian. It was clear to see the slow merging of lifestyles that the Jesuits were attempting in order to earn the trust of the Indigenous people. A hospital, an apothecary, and one bastion were the only remaining Christian elements in this part of the village. The rest of the area was dedicated to the way of life the Wendat were more accustomed to with their typical dwellings, games (like lacrosse), and crop-growing.
At certain times throughout the day, the staff dressed in period clothing do put on a variety of shows/demonstrations for visitors as well. We didn’t sit through any of these but we did catch the tail end of a few. The tailor shop was doing a presentation about the clothing of the era as we passed by the building. Inside the Jesuits’ dining area, some kids were learning to write with feather pens and ink pots. This, I would have enjoyed if only there had been more room at the table… and maybe a few less children. Lastly, and this was right near the end of our tour on this very hot day (in case we haven’t mentioned the heat yet), two workers were showing us a game with a piece of wood which had been sharpened to a point and had a ring tied to it. The purpose of the game was to catch the ring on the point of the stick. The staff asked if we wanted to learn how to make one or at least how to play. We ordinarily would have agreed to it but we were just too hot. They were kind and gave us one anyway, and laughed as I walked away bragging about my new “stabby stick”.
[John] “Did he just call it a stabby stick?” “No vampire slaying here.” “He called it a stabby stick!” Ha. It was funny.
[Lana] “Have at thee, blood sucker!”
[John] Did you just thrust your arm out in front of you as you said that? You so should have been an actor.
[Lana] Moving on…
I always have mixed reactions when I come to one of these types of places. I know if this time in history hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t likely be here right now and even if I were, I likely wouldn’t be a Canadian. At the same time, I can’t help but feel a sadness for the way the Wendat (in this particular case) were treated. Yes, it sounded like the Christian faith which was imposed upon them was a gradual transition but what if it were me… you…your family…?
Our magnet souvenir. We often purchase a magnet from a place we visit, whenever able. This one felt really special to have.
The back of the magnet helps us remember the purpose and the passion behind this artist’s work.
[John] The key word there is “imposed” and I’m not really sure it was so gradual. Learning the history is important and stepping into it a bit like we were able to here, provides perspective. Our Canada would not exist – we would not exist – had things been done differently. However, when I think about the ugliness involved – the stripping of one’s culture and traditions, the separation of families, the torture, the injustices – it is really hard to take in. Sometimes I wonder if we should really celebrate the country and our accomplishments. Our history is complex and there is much of which to be proud and there is much of which to abhor. Humans are complicated.
I wasn’t able to really submerse myself in this place. I think, to be honest, my mind was really whirling throughout the village and museum. I couldn’t stop thinking about what the real history might be. What is the uncensored version? Despite all of this, I am quite happy we came upon this historical site and went through it all. We spent quite a while here (sweating profusely the entire time) and it was an important stop on our vacation in the Midland area.
The postcard we purchased… along with magnets, we tend to buy a postcard when we visit places like this.
And, I was glad we had cold water and snacks in the car. Really glad.
[Lana] We considered grabbing something to eat at the restaurant right there but luckily had our snacks in the car and decided they would be enough to hold us over until after we visited our next historical attraction.
[John] We spent a few minutes enjoying the air conditioning blasting in the car and then set out for Port McNicoll.
Part 3 coming soon…
