GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes
If it’s still here tomorrow… I may ignore it again
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2007
Chapter 8 – Day-5
- Part 4: O Canada
After that little flight of fancy, we started off toward the World Showcase. As it was still a bit before the official starting gun and we weren’t in a hurry, so a few pictures got snapped along the way (which mean that you now have to endure them).
Firstly… here’s a couple of shots of me and my lovely. She thinks that I look better in one of them and that she looks better in the other, so you get two to choose from. Truth be told, neither of us very much like the way we turn out in photos, so these are actually a pretty rare commodity.
Epcot’s main tree
A few shots of the various pavilions across the lagoon
And from the other side of the water looking back at Spaceship Earth
The real mission for today was to catch at least a couple of the storytellers taking part in EPCOT’s annual “Holidays around the World” presentation. We’d loved to have caught all of them but a couple of thing stood in the way of that goal. First, the World Showcase doesn’t open until later in the morning. Second, we needed to get on the road by about 2-ish or so (if we wanted to have any chance at making it back home some time before O-Dark-Thirty). As such the plan was to walk the WS from one side to the other and stop the listen to any of the stories that were going to be starting up anywhere near the time that we happened to be in that particular pavilion. If the wait was more then about a quarter hour, we’d likely have to come back and catch that one anther time. Now that a master plan had been devised, we started on the west side of the Showcase and rolled into Canada about 10 minutes before the first show.
A couple of CMs were setting up the final props for Poppa Noel’s visit. A moment or two later and we heard a thunderous voice bellowing out “Merry Christmas... Merry Christmas one and all…” Up the walkway came a bewhiskered woodsman. He had a double edged ax resting on his shoulder and continued to holler out joyful salutations as he strode up to the little stage. This jolly fellow greeted all the folks that had gathered around and then started relating his recollections of Canadian holiday traditions. As he talked and entertained comments and questions form the kids (because we all know they can’t keep quite long enough to hear a good story), our lumberjack began his transformation.
He had a seat and pulled off his work boots. While doing so he talked about the diverse cultures in Canada and how they each had their own take on the holidays. He noted that some folks followed similar traditions as those in the States except that a fair number of people referred to Santa as “le Pere Noel” or “Poppa Noel”.
As he began the process of polishing and pulling on a pair of black fur trimmed boots, he talked about the more uniquely Canadian elements of the season such as the Belsnickles”. These devilish creatures do the work of determining which children have been “naughty or nice” and are known to enter the homes of the more unruly boys and girls and cause great mischief.
While pulling on a pair of gloves he related how folks in Quebec, would celebrate “le Reveillon”. This is a sumptuous traditional French dinner served after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Then he picked up a long walking staff and imparted on us the tail if the “Naluyuks”.
These mysterious creatures are known to visit Canada’s Inuit children and will pound sticks on the floor before questioning the kids about their behavior. The youngsters must answer truthfully and sing Christmas carols to satisfy their visitors who will then open special gift bags full of presents.
At this point our storyteller slipped on a red and fur trimmed overcoat and related that most of Canada celebrates Boxing Day on December 26. This honors the ancient English tradition of giving filled Christmas boxes to the poor as well as to servants and tradesmen for their help during the year. With the transformation now nearly complete, our woodsman picked up a fur trimmed cap and placed it over top of his walking staff.
As he did so, he asked the crowd if they believed in “Pere Noel”. The kids all shrieked back in approval, and he said: “Good… I do as well, but I’ve never actually seen him myself you know…”
- Part 4: O Canada
After that little flight of fancy, we started off toward the World Showcase. As it was still a bit before the official starting gun and we weren’t in a hurry, so a few pictures got snapped along the way (which mean that you now have to endure them).
Firstly… here’s a couple of shots of me and my lovely. She thinks that I look better in one of them and that she looks better in the other, so you get two to choose from. Truth be told, neither of us very much like the way we turn out in photos, so these are actually a pretty rare commodity.
Epcot’s main tree
A few shots of the various pavilions across the lagoon
And from the other side of the water looking back at Spaceship Earth
The real mission for today was to catch at least a couple of the storytellers taking part in EPCOT’s annual “Holidays around the World” presentation. We’d loved to have caught all of them but a couple of thing stood in the way of that goal. First, the World Showcase doesn’t open until later in the morning. Second, we needed to get on the road by about 2-ish or so (if we wanted to have any chance at making it back home some time before O-Dark-Thirty). As such the plan was to walk the WS from one side to the other and stop the listen to any of the stories that were going to be starting up anywhere near the time that we happened to be in that particular pavilion. If the wait was more then about a quarter hour, we’d likely have to come back and catch that one anther time. Now that a master plan had been devised, we started on the west side of the Showcase and rolled into Canada about 10 minutes before the first show.
A couple of CMs were setting up the final props for Poppa Noel’s visit. A moment or two later and we heard a thunderous voice bellowing out “Merry Christmas... Merry Christmas one and all…” Up the walkway came a bewhiskered woodsman. He had a double edged ax resting on his shoulder and continued to holler out joyful salutations as he strode up to the little stage. This jolly fellow greeted all the folks that had gathered around and then started relating his recollections of Canadian holiday traditions. As he talked and entertained comments and questions form the kids (because we all know they can’t keep quite long enough to hear a good story), our lumberjack began his transformation.
He had a seat and pulled off his work boots. While doing so he talked about the diverse cultures in Canada and how they each had their own take on the holidays. He noted that some folks followed similar traditions as those in the States except that a fair number of people referred to Santa as “le Pere Noel” or “Poppa Noel”.
As he began the process of polishing and pulling on a pair of black fur trimmed boots, he talked about the more uniquely Canadian elements of the season such as the Belsnickles”. These devilish creatures do the work of determining which children have been “naughty or nice” and are known to enter the homes of the more unruly boys and girls and cause great mischief.
While pulling on a pair of gloves he related how folks in Quebec, would celebrate “le Reveillon”. This is a sumptuous traditional French dinner served after Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Then he picked up a long walking staff and imparted on us the tail if the “Naluyuks”.
These mysterious creatures are known to visit Canada’s Inuit children and will pound sticks on the floor before questioning the kids about their behavior. The youngsters must answer truthfully and sing Christmas carols to satisfy their visitors who will then open special gift bags full of presents.
At this point our storyteller slipped on a red and fur trimmed overcoat and related that most of Canada celebrates Boxing Day on December 26. This honors the ancient English tradition of giving filled Christmas boxes to the poor as well as to servants and tradesmen for their help during the year. With the transformation now nearly complete, our woodsman picked up a fur trimmed cap and placed it over top of his walking staff.
As he did so, he asked the crowd if they believed in “Pere Noel”. The kids all shrieked back in approval, and he said: “Good… I do as well, but I’ve never actually seen him myself you know…”