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Article: December 25, 1604: the first colonists in the Americas celebrate Christmas.(Moment)
- Article from:
- The Beaver: Exploring Canada's History
- Article date:
- December 1, 2006
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Canada's National History Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cold, miserable, and starving, the first colonists in the Americas celebrate Christmas huddled together in their frigid houses on the Isle de Sainte Croix on the border of New Brunswick and Maine in the Bay of Fundy. Yet, for these lonely men from France, all is not gloom. A Roman Catholic Mass or a Protestant service is held in their recently constructed ecumenical chapel. They enjoy a cup of Spanish wine poured from a wooden cask by their commander Pierre Du Gua de Monts, the recently appointed lieutenant general of the Acadias. They cheer as Samuel de Champlain, his second in command, chops frozen cider into icy blocks. They burn one of the few remaining logs of wood ...