by Nikki Rajala | Oct 18, 2018 | Featured
“Saint Anne is the patroness of the Canadians, in all their travels by water.” That’s what Alexander Henry (the Elder) wrote in his 1804 journal about his 1761 venture into Canadian fur country. I also read about her in various fur trade histories. So I believed...
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 | Aug 10, 2018 | Voyageur
Where in the world is André? Are the waters really treacherous? Please give me a map so I can see where “Treacherous Waters” takes place. Taya, 15, Blake, and Kjell, 13, (Time for maps, one of my favorite tasks.) For a kid in French-Canada in the early...
