36 ~—_Historical Guidebook of the Evangeline Region 
     
    
   
   
    
     Mi-Caréme in 
     
     Abram’s Village, 1979. 
     
     (Georges Arsenault 
     
     Collection) 
     
    
   
   
    
     “We'd really prepare for 
     
     Mi-Caréme. We’d put on 
     
     all kinds of clothes and 
     
     then we’d go from door to 
     
     door. Sometimes we fright- 
     
     ened people. We’d go to 
     
     all the houses in the area. 
     
     We’d go in groups of two 
     
     or three. We’d go in the 
     
     house and we‘d say: 
     
     “Good evening. Do you 
     
     know who we are?” Some- 
     
     times we’d step-dance. 
     
     We’d jump and dance. 
     
    

    
     One time they tried to pull 
     
     off my mask, but they 
     
     couldn't because | ran too 
     
     fast. They couldn’t catch 
     
     us to take our masks off.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     Hermine Gaudet, 
     
     78 years old in 1989 
     
    
   
   
    
     On Candlemas, the 2nd of February, young men headed 
     
     by a leader would go from door to door to collect food for the 
     
     poor people in the village. Some of the food was kept to make 
     
     a fricot or a rdpure for a feast that the “Candelmas Runners” 
     
     would enjoy later in the evening in one of the homes. 
     
    
   
   
    
     In the olden days, Shrovetide (the week before the begin- 
     
     ning of Lent) was a period of rejoicing. There was dancing 
     
     almost every night, especially on Shrove Monday and Shrove 
     
     Tuesday (Mardi Gras). It was also a time for enjoying treats 
     
     like poutines rapées (potato dumplings), rapure, fudge and mo- 
     
     lasses taffy. Some of these customs are still alive today. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     The Mi-Caréme Celebration was observed faithfully every 
     
     year until the 1960s and sporadically after that. There were 
     
     two traditions associated with this celebration, which took 
     
     place in the middle of Lent or, more precisely, on the third 
     
     Thursday of Lent. According to one tradition, Mi-Caréme 
     
     was represented by a woman dressed in strange clothing, 
     
     who would visit children early in the evening. This mysteri- 
     
     ous woman would give them treats to reward them for their 
     
     good behaviour during the year. Every family had their own 
     
     Mi-Caréme. According to the other tradition, young people 
     
     and, sometimes, adults would disguise themselves and, in 
     
     small groups, visit all the houses in the village. Their hosts 
     
     would ask them to step-dance and try to make them talk so 
     
     they could guess who they were. These “Mi-Caréme Runners” 
     
     would use sticks to keep people at a distance so that they 
     
     could not be recognized.