Religions and beliefs in Quebec - The Traveller

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Friday, March 23, 2012

Religions and beliefs in Quebec

Christian religions are disproportionately represented, but all other major world religions are also represented and practiced in Canada. Unlike their American neighbors, there is a sharp separation between religion and politics.

In Quebec, the dynamics are different but the result is the same. Francophone Quebecers are almost all Roman Catholics. The clergy played a key role in the political history of Quebec until the 1960s, but it is no longer the case. According to a 2001 study, 94% of residents say they are believers, but few are practicing.

Almost all religions are represented in Quebec, with a predominance of Catholicism (83%). Protestants (4.7%), Muslim (1.5%), Orthodox (1.4%) and Jews (1.3%) are the other main groups. In Montreal, the great multicultural city of Quebec, we find the same profusion of religions - and even living together - as in English Canada.

The year 2007 saw a resurgence of debates on reasonable accommodation. An example: in the early 2000s, the Catholic religion classes are removed in Quebec for not forcing minority children to follow. On other occasions, judgments prohibit elected to begin a meeting with a prayer.

But reasonable accommodation to accommodation unreasonable, there is often one step ... Thus, when Muslim women demanded specific hours in public pools, where the Chief Electoral Officer authorizes the women wearing the niqab (full veil) to vote without revealing when some require the removal of Christmas trees public spaces as not to force non-Christians to support this religious symbol "ostentatious", tempers flare.

Most contested cases have recently focused on Muslim symbols, but other communities are also concerned.

As for the Indians, they practice the animist religions of their ancestors often crossbred with elements of Christian faith.

Good manners and customs

Quebeckers are rightly renowned for their hospitality and kindness. It is very easy to establish good contacts with them, provided you follow these rules of etiquette Quebec: simplicity and friendliness. No fuss, and if you are immediately familiar terms, this means that the current flows smoothly. Similarly, no need to start bitching at every little unexpected, the Quebecers will not understand this attitude and you will be facing a wall of incomprehension. In short, just keep smiling and kind.

Quebecers do not have this culture of frank and sometimes brutal is a national sport here. So, who discusses a French fort seems arrogant. The Quebecer is certainly a Latin (you know the topo), but it is also a Nordic (quiet, reserved) and especially North Americans (pragmatic, not complicated). A mixed culture that needs time to be surrounded ...

Some "customs" typically Quebec

- The draw: the end of winter, city dwellers are found en masse in the sugar bush to celebrate the return of the sun. While temperatures fro above 0 ° C, the maple sap thaws and is the time of bleeding. In the sugar shacks, the liquid becomes translucent syrup. Spread over the snow, it freezes almost instantly, remaining slightly chewy: that's the draw.

- The removal of 1 July: July 1, holiday (Canada Day), Quebecers move in unison, as it is traditionally the date the lease ends. Throughout the whole province, some 200 000 to 250 000 moves are recorded each year around July 1! The trucks blocking the streets, we walk with matching cushions and mattresses flower on her back, dragging the fridges in the middle of the sidewalk ... And during that time, others lined the streets for Canada Day!

- The "garage sales": this is the same as the Garage sales (garage sales) U.S., under a different name. These "sidewalk sales" are so common from spring to late summer they have become a sort of leitmotif. A good opportunity to discuss with people, to socialize through objects sometimes very interesting.

- The 5-7: somewhat equivalent to our appetizer. It is the custom of gathering around a drink with friends or colleagues after work, but unlike a drink with us, the 5-7 does not continue indefinitely and does not finish a meal (and not necessarily in bed). We drink a glass together, and after dinner everyone goes home.

- Addition: the restaurant, people pay separately (even in couples sometimes). Hence the question almost automatically from the server (or waitress) when paying the bill: one bill or more?

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