by Nikki Rajala | Oct 4, 2018 | Featured
Bon jour! (“Good day” in French) Have you wondered what the foreign words in “Waters Like the Sky” or “Treacherous Waters” sound like as you’re reading about the adventures and mishaps of a brigade of fur traders in the 1800s? If so, now you can check out the...
by Nikki Rajala | Sep 14, 2018 | Featured
A few days back I blogged about red voyageur sashes, though they came in many colors — the sash was the most defining piece of a voyageur’s apparel. Wearing a bright sash was a useful and stylish part of voyageur clothing. In Chapter 2 of “Treacherous Waters,”...
by Nikki Rajala | Sep 10, 2018 | Voyageur
What’s the red sash about? Were they always red? Did voyageurs wear sashes for any other reason than decoration? Could different brigades have matching sashes, like our team uniforms? Bryce, 16; Deenah, 15; Keira, 11 The colorful wide woven sash is truly a...
by Nikki Rajala | May 19, 2018 | Featured
It’s in my blood—I’m descended from voyageurs. Mom found listings of a dozen engagés, or canoemen, through genealogy research into her French-Canadian roots. My grandfather, a younger son of a younger son of a voyageur, told of his connection: His great...
