Historical Information
The Sainte-Marie Story
The Men Who Lived at Sainte-Marie
The Life of the Wendat
Resource Materials
The Sainte-Marie Story
The spell of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons lies in the very land upon which it stands. Located along the shores of Georgian Bay -Samuel de Champlain's "mer douce"-- and surrounded by wooded hillsides, this was the ancestral homeland of the Wendat nation, a branch of the Iroquoian family. The Wendat were a matriarchal society of good traders and skillful farmers who called their land Wendake -- the land apart.
French Jesuits came to Wendake in the 17th century. As an international order, the Society of Jesus operated like an army dedicated to spreading Catholicism throughout the world. They believed, with their founder Ignatius Loyola, that the first step in saving one's neighbour was to educate him.
Encouraged by Champlain, who saw conversion to Christianity as a first step in the colonisation of the North American native people, the Jesuits established themselves in Wendake. They travelled from village to village endeavouring to perfect their knowledge of the Wendat language, learning the aboriginal customs, and tirelessly preaching to the Native people. Their Superior, Father Jérome Lalemant, dreamed of "building a house apart, remote from the vicinity of the villages, that would serve among other things for the retreat and meditation of our evangelistic labourers."
The dream was realized as a wilderness mission rose on the banks of the Isaraqui (Wye) River in 1639. Courageous laymen travelled from France to give their talents to the construction of the mission which was named Sainte-Marie among the Hurons, using the French name for the Wendat people.
Hard work and dedication soon brought Sainte-Marie to virtual self-sufficiency, a miraculous achievement for a community 1,200 kilometres from Quebec. Sadly it only lasted ten short years.
In the 17th century, the land we know as Canada was New France. The
population numbered in the low hundreds, and most of the inhabitants lived
along the Saint Lawrence River, their livelihood based on fish, furs and
fledgling agriculture.
The Ottawa and French Rivers provided a rugged inland waterway
which carried precious books, mail, personnel, furs, building material
and even livestock between Quebec and the wilderness mission. A particularly
priceless item of canoe cargo was the annual report written by the Superior
at Sainte-Marie and sent via Quebec to his higher Superior, the Provincial
in Paris. Composed mainly in French and occasionally in Latin, these meticulous
accounts of day-to-day experiences in the mission fields tell us a great
deal about life and missionary labour at Sainte-Marie. They are an unparalleled
first-hand resource.
It is from the annual Relation written by Father Paul Ragueneau
that we learn of the heartbreak and despair that led to the eventual abandonment
of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons.
In the spring of 1649 under growing pressure and attacks from the Iroquois, Jesuit missionaries, their helpers and Wendat followers withdrew from Sainte-Marie and put it to the torch. They fled to St. Joseph (now Christian) Island where together they embarked to establish a new Sainte-Marie.
The following spring, after a terrible winter of starvation and constant attack, the Frenchmen and the surviving Christian Wendat returned to Quebec. The Huron were settled on l'île d'Orléans, where a subsequent Iroquois attack devastated the community. The surviving Wendat eventually gathered at Jeune Lorette in 1697, and began to rebuild their Huron culture and their nation. At Sainte-Marie, the remains of martyred Fathers Brébeuf and Lalemant were first buried in an unmarked grave that has since become a sacred place of Christian pilgrimage.
The ruins of Sainte-Marie lay undisturbed for almost three centuries. Subsequent archaeological excavations and historical research provided data to support the reconstruction of many of the original mission buildings and Sainte-Marie rose again.
The Men Who Lived At Sainte-Marie
Jesuit Priest
With the exception of one Italian priest, the only people who lived at Sainte-Marie were Frenchmen. No women accompanied them. The Natives, drawn by curiosity, often came to visit the priests and their helpers to learn about their strange and different ways..
The Jesuit Priests belonged to the order of the Society of Jesus, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1534. This active order was well organized, efficient and disciplined. Only outstanding men, whose character and particular talents could be well utilized, were admitted to the Society.
The Jesuits thought of themselves as the soldiers of Christ and were organized in a military manner. The order took a vow of complete obedience to the Pope and a "ranking system" was laid out with a General at the pinnacle. Beneath the General were various other levels. The process of becoming a Jesuit took between 13 and 15 years and involved eight separate steps.
Despite initial setbacks, the Society of Jesus rapidly enjoyed remarkable success in its role as a teaching and missionary order. An example of the order's missionary efforts was its work in Wendake.
A steady number of priests kept arriving at the Wendat missions. This indicated that once it had been decided that Sainte-Marie would operate as a mission headquarters, efforts were made to ensure a constant supply of manpower. It was necessary to have as many priests as possible, to ensure that newcomers could be properly trained under the direction of more experienced priests. Some of the priests found life in New France more difficult than others, but all of them without exception served God to the best of their ability.
Lay Brothers
Not all who joined the Society of Jesus wished to take the final vows of a priest. Some desired to serve God in a different capacity and took vows as Lay Brothers.
Each of the five Lay Brothers at Sainte-Marie was a skilled craftsman and devoted Catholic.
Donnés
The Donnés were a very special group of men at Sainte-Marie. They signed a contract with the Jesuits to give their time and talents to helping the priests with their missionary work.
The vows taken by the Donnés committed them to hardship, danger and years of toil that they undertook cheerfully. Some of these men had skills such as carpentry or smithing, while others had no specific skill to give. But, whether ordinary labourers or highly skilled craftsmen, they all gave unceasingly to the best of their abilities.
Engagés
Not all the men at Sainte-Marie took vows. Some simply wished to be part of the great happenings in Wendake. The Jesuits hired men to help with building the wilderness mission of Sainte-Marie. Often these men would take the vows of a Donné after a year or two of working at the mission.
Soldiers
Soldiers sometimes accompanied the flotillas of canoes making the 1,250 kilometres journey from Québec. They spent the winter in Wendake, returning to Québec the following spring.
The Jesuit Fathers worried at first that the soldiers' conduct might set a bad example for the Wendat but good behaviour soon set these fears to rest.
The Life of the Wendat
Their Land
The Wendat or Huron nation occupied the area north and west of Lake Simcoe and south and east of Georgian Bay. About 70 percent of this area was arable land and was well described by a 17th century Recollet, Brother Gabriel Sagard:
"...a well cleared country pretty and pleasant and crossed by streams which empty into the great lake. There is no ugly surface of great rocks and barren mountains such as one sees in many places in the Canadian and Algonquian Territory. The country is full of fine hills, open fields, very beautiful broad meadows bearing much excellent hay."
The area provided excellent fishing and hunting, and Georgian Bay and its many rivers allowed the Wendat to control exchange between the fertile south and the Canadian Shield. Within Wendake, there were an estimated 330 kilometres of trails linking the four tribes of the Huron Nation and all the villages together.
Paths found on ridges where vegetation was not so thick, criss-crossed throughout Wendake and also lead to nearby areas of the Petun and Neutral Nations. Birch bark canoes were used to travel long distances. They were about seven metres long and one metre wide, and could carry four or five men and about 91 kilograms of cargo. During the winter, snowshoes or raquettes, toboggans and sleighs were used in the snow.
Tribes and Clans
The Wendat Nation was an association of Iroquian speaking groups. They were divided into four main tribes: The Bear, Cord, Rock, and Deer. The Bear Tribe (Attignawantan) was the largest of the tribes accounting for almost half the Wendat population. There were thirteen villages of the Bear clan in 1640. The Cord Tribe (Attigneenongnahac) lived between the Sturgeon and Coldwater Rivers, in the Mount St. Louis Ridge. They lived in three main villages. Like the Bear, they were one of the oldest tribes. The Rock Tribe (Arendarhonon) was located between Coldwater and Orillia. They had four main villages with the village of Cahiague being their main village. The Deer Tribe (Tahontaenrat) was the last tribe to enter Wendake and lived in the area north of Orr Lake.
The People Beyond the Silted Lake (Ataronchrono) were not recognized in the confederacy, but were represented by the people of the Bear Tribe. They are thought to have been made up of clan segments from the Bear Tribe and perhaps some refugees fleeing from the Seneca to the south.
A chief of a clan segment called tribal councils and a messenger was sent to all the various village chiefs, telling them of the time and place of the meeting. Before travelling to the meeting, each clan would determine an opinion on the matter to be discussed. Once a year, all clan segment chiefs would attend a confederacy council. For several weeks, usually in the spring, there would be dancing, feasting and gift giving. At the annual confederacy council they would discuss common war and defense plans, and renew and strengthen ties between nations.
Clans
Day to day government of the Wendat was based on the clan. The clan consisted of individuals who were descended from a common female ancestor. They were members of a matrilineal extended family. Various clan leaders made up the village council. Councils were restricted to the male chiefs and women had no direct voice in the councils. Wendats usually married outside of their clan. Thus most of the villages were united through marriage. This resulted in strong social bonds.
There were eight Wendat Clans, which were functional organizations. They cut across Tribal Boundaries. The clans seem to be based on animals that are prominent in the Wendat creation myth: Turtle, Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Deer, Hawk, Porcupine and Snake. Most of the eight clans were represented in each village.
Daily Life
The Wendat were farmers who grew corn, beans and squash. Sixty-five percent of their diet consisted of corn. Dried and shelled, the corn was pounded into flour or sometimes ground between two stones. Sagamité, (corn soup) was enriched with fish, meat and squash. Unleavened bread was baked under hot ashes using corn flour. For flavour, dried fruits, and pieces of deer meat were added. Other items on the Wendat menu included beans, wild berries, nuts and maple syrup. Sunflowers were grown for their oil, which the Wendat used to garnish food and to rub on their bodies.
The women of the village planted the three main crops on raised hills. About every two years the soil would become depleted and new fields would be cultivated. In the fall, corn was harvested and hung from poles in the longhouse to dry. Beans were dried and stored with the corn in bark or wooden containers. The men carried out fishing using nets and weirs (underwater enclosures). Sometimes, wooden spears with barbed boneheads were used for fishing. They caught whitefish, trout, sturgeon, pike and catfish. Some was eaten, but most fish was dried and smoked for later consumption. Hunting was undertaken in the spring and fall. The principle game was the deer, which was prized for its hide as well as for the meat.
The Wendat caught deer by driving them over the bluffs of rivers, or into constructed enclosures where they were shot with bow and arrow. The meat was smoked and mainly used as a main dish at feasts and celebrations. Wendat hunters also tracked bear with specially trained dogs. Dogs were the only domesticated animals in Wendat society. At certain times dogs were eaten or sacrificed, especially in the winter, when meat was hard to procure.
Wendat hunters killed beaver with snares, arrows and clubs. The beaver was killed for fur as well as meat and it was a dominant part of the 17th century fur trade. It is estimated that the beaver population was exhausted in Wendake by the 1630's.
Gathered food was of some importance in the Wendat diet. Ripe fruits, nuts and berries, bulrush roots and maple sap were all collected and added to the diet. Hemp was also collected, and used for nets, ropes and baskets.
Family Life
An average longhouse accommodated six families. A family consisted of a woman, her daughters or sisters and their husbands and children. In the longhouse, the women had influence on the male leaders. Women were guardians of the family and of village traditions. They were responsible for cooking, sewing and tanning leather, the care of the children, cleaning out cooking fires and hearths, gathering food, making baskets and pots, weaving mats and fishing nets, farming and caring for families and guests.
Farming was the most important of their labours. Using small wooden spades, the women planted and tended the crops, scared off birds and rodents, harvested the crops and burned the remaining stalks (this practice helped to nourish the soil).
The Wendat men aspired to be brave warriors, good hunters and fishermen and clever traders. They also tried to earn reputations for generosity, good advice and good speech making.
The men of each village took care of clearing new fields, hunting, fishing, storing the fish, making stone and wooden utensils and tools, repairing the village, making canoes, pipes, snowshoes and sleds. They also carried out peace negotiations with the rest of the world.
Men and women worked hard to acquire goods to share with others of the longhouse, village, clan tribe and confederacy. In several early accounts, European visitors made special note of Wendat generosity to the French and to other Native groups.
Wendat marriages were monogamous and could be terminated by either partner. This was rare if children were involved. When a woman became pregnant, it was normal for each man she had lived with to claim the child as his. The choice was up to the mother. Pregnant women faced some restrictions. They were never to be within sight of game for fear the animal would get away. They were never to set foot in the house of a sick person because it was believed that the sickness would get worse.
Newly born babies had their ears pierced and then were named. Wrapped in furs, the babies were carried in cradleboards filled with soft, warm down from bulrushes. A child would be breast-fed up to the age of two or three years. Older babies were also fed soups and chewed meats. Children were well liked and well taken care of by everyone.
With their great sense of dignity, the Wendat felt it was wrong to coerce or publicly humiliate anyone, especially a child. Physical punishment was never used as discipline.
There was little formal training for growing children but they learned skills from their games. Girls helped their mothers with their work. Boys were expected to be hardy, brave and self-reliant. From an early age, boys would begin to impose self-inflicted cuts and burns in order to prepare themselves for future tests of their courage and manhood.
Village Life
Villages were built near a good water supply and near arable soil. An ideal site would have been beside a bluff; close to a spring; overlooking a navigable waterway; near a large area suitable for farming; and close to wood for fires and building material.
Large villages were protected by palisaded rows of upright poles; sometimes more than one row was used. Rows of poles were reinforced by inserting saplings to form a basket weave. Narrow gates, watchtowers and galleries provided defense.
Families lived in longhouses that were windowless structures 6 - 9 metres wide and about the same in height. The average longhouse was between 25 - 30 metres long. Over time, longhouses became smaller in size.
Longhouses were made of poles bent over to form an arbour, then covered with bark and saplings. There were low doors at both ends and usually a porch where food and wood were stored. Holes in the roof let smoke out and light in. Fireplaces, usually about 6 metres apart, served two families. Estimating six members per family, the average longhouse would house 36-40 people.
A platform ran along each side of the longhouse. In the winter, the people slept on the floor near the fires and the shelves served as storage. In the summer the people slept outdoors, or on the shelves, which were as wide as bunks. Smoke often caused eye disease among the old.
Longhouse furnishings were simple - reed, bark or husk mats, or animal skins on the floor; pottery vessels, baskets and huge containers of stored corn.
A longhouse lasted about eight to ten years. A village usually moved every 20 - 40 years. The move was made by a collective work force from nearby villages.
Wendat Clothing
Wendat clothing was made from the hides of deer and beaver. Men wore loincloths and moccasins. In winter they added leggings and sleeves and a cloak made of fur. Women dressed the same way, substituting a skirt for the loincloth. The Wendat wore body paint and beads and red was a favourite colour. They also used porcupine quills and feathers for decoration. Women wore ornamental bone combs in their hair. Wampum made of shells, bones and glass beads was another popular decoration.
Men wore fire pouches on their backs in which they carried tobacco pipes, charms and other personal belongings. Pipes were highly prized, and the Wendat never spoke of business or came to any meetings without first smoking a pipe.
Religion
Feasts were part of Wendat religion. Singing Feasts were the largest and most popular. A man would hold a Singing Feast if he wished to gain status. Thanksgiving Feasts were held to celebrate good fortune.
Societies who dealt with both physical and mental disorders carried out curing feasts. Each society had a unique mask or symbol. A dying person gave farewell feasts when death was imminent.
Feasts were announced by the crier, and the more elderly the crier the more important the event. Dances and special rites accompanied all feasts. In addition, feasts included contests and games.
Illness
The Wendat recognized three types of illness:
- Natural causes cured by herbs, drugs, poultices or sweating.
- Un-natural social behaviour thought to be witchcraft that was dealt with by a Shaman.
- Psycho-illness that manifested itself in dreams. The Wendat considered dreams to be the language of the soul. If dreamed desires remained unfulfilled, harm or even death could befall a person. Dreams and desires had to be interpreted by a Shaman.
Shaman
There were four kinds of Shaman:
- Those in control of wind, rain and weather
- Those able to predict the future
- Those able to find lost objects
- Those able to heal the sick
The Shaman worked with drugs and herbal remedies and mask or shell rattles. Shaman (men and women) were highly paid and highly respected.
Resource Materials
Barbeau, Marius. Huron and Wyandot Mythology. Ottawa: Canada Department of Mines; 1915 (Geological Survey Memoir 80) (No. 11 Anthropological series).Culin, S. Games of the North American Indians. New York : Dover Publications, 1975.
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Hawkes, Christopher John. Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Toronto: Ginn; 1974.
Hayes, John F. Wilderness Mission : The Story of Sainte-Marie among the Hurons. Toronto: Ryerson Press; 1969.
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Parker, Arthur C. Iroquois uses of maize and other food plan. Albany, N.Y. : University of the State of New York, 1910.
Parkman, Francis. The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth century. Boston : Little, Brown, 1925, c1897.
Patterson, Palmer. Indian Peoples of Canada. Toronto : Grolier Limited, 1982.
Ridington, Jillian & Robin. People of the Longhouse : How the Iroquoian Tribes Lived. Toronto : Douglas & McIntyre, 1982.
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Trigger, Bruce. The Huron Farmers of the North. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; 1969.
Trigger, Bruce. The Impact of Europeans on Huronia. Toronto: Copp Clark; 1969 64p.
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