Québec City: Wendake Huron site is an authentic experience
Only a 15-minute drive from Québec City sits the village of Old Wendake, home to a first class aboriginal themed hotel, restaurant and museum. For millennia before Europeans arrived members of the Wendat nation (named Huron by the French) roamed ancestral lands stretching from Georgian Bay to the Gulf of the St. Lawrence River.
European disease decimated the Wendat, which at the apex of their influence were a powerful foe to the Iroquois confederacy. From mythical beginnings through alliance with the French in 1616, peace with the Iroqouis in 1701, to permanent alliance with the British in 1760 the Wendat have held onto their culture.
Old Wendake is a refreshing escape from the frenetic world of concrete, high rises and traffic. The village sits in a natural landscape which can be explored year round. The four-star First Nations Hotel with connected museum (Hotel-Musée Premières Nations) is an impressive modern structure inspired by traditional aboriginal design.
The natural theme is maintained throughout the interior with wood walls and trim, decorative furs and native artifacts. This is not a Disney reproduction; everything is genuine.
In one large space the museum objectively details the history and plight of the Wendake. Visitors are bound to come away enlightened about this country’s earliest inhabitants and their contributions to Canadian history.
The Wendake story continues in nearby Tsawenhohi House, built in the 1800s for Grand Chief Nicolas Tsawenhohi Vincent. The personal lives of early occupants reveal significant little-known contributions of tribal members to our larger society. Wendake has been a center for making snowshoes, outfitting Canadian military personnel for the past few hundred years.
La Traite Restaurant within the hotel sources local ingredients to balance modern tastes with a traditional essence. The results are what might be described as heritage nouvelle cuisine: fresh natural ingredients from the land prepared with a contemporary twist – all expertly done.
For those finding themselves in Québec City without a car there is a free bus shuttle to and from Wendake.
PHOTOS
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1) WINDOW PAINTING?
A brief drive to the Huron community of Wendake reminded me of early 20th century landscape paintings by Québécois painter Clarence Gagnon. And as a side comment, I think that backseat photographers aren’t nearly as irritating as backseat drivers.
2) FIRST VIEW
The First Nations Hotel-Museum (Hotel-Musée Premières Nations) was deep in powder snow when we arrived.
3) MANDELLA
The Wendat people were part of the greater Iroquoian confederacy which early French explorers called Huron. Historic first contact took place in 1535 at the Indian village of Stadacona, now the reservation of Wendake and suburb of Québec City. A contemporary hotel and museum showcase Wendat culture with notable sophistication. ‘Mandellas’ like this one in a guest room are in a sense a spiritual blanket.
4) JASON PICARD-BINET
Our guide at Wendake was Tourism and Marketing Director Jason Picard-Binet. A woodland caribou trophy gave me the idea of making this portrait to show an ancestral connection between Jason and the land.
5) LA TRAITE DINING ROOM
Lunch was a wonderfully warming soup plus meats and vegetables inspired by native Wendat food sources. No tropical fish on the menu here. Authenticity is balanced with a modern approach. To capture the special atmosphere of the dining room I balanced my steak and micro-brew on a row of fire logs draped with a brown bear pelt.
6) AATAENTSIC: A STORY OF CREATION
A ceiling painting at the museum entrance depicts a version of Wendat mythology about Earth’s creation. The story, known as Aataentsic, is about a young woman who cuts the stalks of sacred corn in the world above, is thrown to Earth as punishment but survives with help from various animals. Seeds and plants then grew from her cuttings. I framed the glass door handles to appear as uplifting hands.
7) CHURCH ALTAR
The interior of the small village church known as Notre-Dame de Lorette has been declared a national historic site. Snowshoes and drum reflect traditional Wendat culture, the altar and brass balustrade the European influence.
8) SPIRE AND ICYCLES
Two large icycles on a nearby building framed the steeple of Notre-Dame de Lorette Church.
Please note: Story and photos copyright © Gary Crallé 2012. Not for commercial reproduction without written consent.
Wendake Tourism / Tourisme Wendake
100, boulevard Bastien
Wendake, Québec G0A 4V0
TEL 418 847-1835
Toll free 1888- WENDAKE
[email protected]
www.tourismewendake.com
Office du tourisme de Québec / Québec City Tourism
835 avenue Wilfrid-Laurier,
Québec, QC G1R 2L3
TEL 1-877-783-1608 or 418-641-6290
FAX 418-522-0830
http://www.quebecregion.com/en