Les Seigneuriales, Saint-Michel Catholic church, Vaudreuil-Dorion, 2011

Re-enactment of a seignorial Sunday mass as part of Les Seigneuriales. This event is a great historic celebration that has been going on for over 25 years at the Musée régional de Vaudreuil-Soulanges in Old Vaudreuil. It is a re-enactment of an ancestral tradition dating all the way back to France that was perpetuated in New France and Lower Canada. Known as the Planting of the Maypole, its goal is to honor the seigneur, attract a good harvest and celebrate the end of a long winter. The tradition consists in planting, and then shooting at the Maypole. Gun power darkens the Maypole, and the darker the pole becomes, greater is the honor for the seigneur and greater will the harvest be.