Over the past few months, I have really fallen down a very deep rabbit hole, learning about my family and ancestry. All of my life, I thought that we were just very boring and rather depressed French Canadians. Like many, if not most Americans, we are children or grandchildren of immigrants. Our ancestry, history and culture is often lost to us. Our parents or grandparents came here, often fleeing poverty, war, oppression. They just wanted to be Americans, forget their struggles and fit in.
In the past few months, I have learned many mind-blowing things, that my family never really spoke of directly, but I am finding that I absorbed much of by some osmosis. 🙂
There is so much, I will just make a quick, bulleted list, and you can believe me or not…
- I have very significant Mi’kmaq ancestry, as many French Canadians do. I have started work learning our language and more about culture.
- My family were among the very first French to arrive in Acadia (modern day Nova Scotia) from Loudon France. At the time, what is not mentioned often, was they were escaping a Salem-style hysteria of witch-hunts and executions. Their motivations were similar to the English Mayflower Pilgrims. They wanted freedom to practice their faith. (I will throw some spice on that later)
- Our Catholicsm practiced in our family has always seemd a lot different than other Catholics. Now I know why. In 1610, Chief Membertou of the Mi’kmaq actually negotiated for a year with the VATICAN(!) for a kinder-gentler Catholicism that respected their traditional native beliefs. This resulted in two Papal bulls, in the 1600’s stating that the Mi’kmaq are to be respected in their traditions and beliefs. So hundreds of years later, I was raised in an oddly “nice” Catholic upbringing. 🙂
- My French and Mi’kmaq ancestors are described as family relations in multiple historical accounts, and fought side by side against the English. Before and during the expulsion/ethnic cleansing in the 1700’s of what is now Nova Scotia.
- My ancestor Alexis Landry, after being in an undisclosed location for several years, returned to public view, and founded a large part of Caraquet New Brunswick. There is a statue of him in the square. I later learned from the Mi’kmaq historical timeline (which is very meticulous!), and other sources, that during his missing time, he was fighting guerilla warfare alongside the Mi’kmaq against the English, to resist their occupation!
- Despite being of very clearly mixed ancestry, the Landry side of the family always insisted they were “pure french”, and were very hypocritically prejudiced against the Metis (mixed) people of Bas Caraquet. This attitude persists to this day!! They appear in the book I just read, as the bad guys.
- My Grandmother’s family, on the other hand, were openly listed as Metis as far back as we find in the church marriage/birth/death records.
So that is a LOT of new information to digest, in a short period of time. But I am ok, I am adjusting!
In my new passion, to research my family, our Acadian homeland, and trying to understand their everyday lives… I came across some amazing folklore. La Mariecomo! All we know of her is that she lived from 1838 – 1910, and was reputed to be the most powerful witch, a member of a powerful family that were the first French to settle Acadia, from Loudon France. They were part of a group that actually did practice a Cabala/Hermetic magical tradition. She married a powerful Mi’kmaq shaman, and together they were unstoppable! 🙂
Legend widely has it that they led a coven of similar folk who read the Great and Little Albert Grimoires. They were champions of the poor and downtrodden, and taught lessons and spells from the Little Albert, to help common folk with everyday things like farming, fishing, protection against harm. And they did great works in secret to influence the tides and weather, and against the greater injustices and corrupt leadership of the time.
I recently found a novel, “La Mariecomo – Roman (Collection Les Romanciers du jour)” which is out of print, but I managed to find an online French language copy. It is difficult to read, because it is in Acadian. My friends from France can not understand most of it themselves.
I was expecting to find some historical facts about La Mariecomo, as I eagerly read the novel from cover to cover. You will not find any answers in this book. It is a fictional account of Mariecomo and her sorcerer friends and family, sitting around a table, in a poor little house, telling each other stories of their travels, loves and adventures. Just everyday poor people, who happen to be wizards. 🙂 What facts you may find, are bits of history of the wider world, and of specific places (like Caraquet, Shediac, Moncton), and Canadian history that many of us have never heard of, like the Lower Canada Revolt (Patriots War), that Acadians fought and lost and in the time of the book, were being punished for. And accounts of my own family’s unfortunate disposition.
I suspect a LOT of people would not understand this book, or what it means. In the book, Mariecomo, the most powerful witch and benefactor of the people, walks the roads, largely anonymously. People are mean to her, shoo her away, call her a whore. They have no idea what a powerful and wonderful person she is. They are small minded, to be pitied. She is patient and just goes about her business, because despite all that, she is happy and free and works to help them.
In many ways, this really describes my friends in OpenSim, and myself. We walk though the world out there. No one has any idea what magic we do, the beautiful and brilliant things we create out of view. And in my case, I actually do get chased down the street getting obscenities yelled at me. lol To me, a powerful message is “People may not know how beautiful you are, or what you do, or how rich you are. Be happy and free. Those people are not so blessed.”
And in the book, that takes place in 1800’s Canada. The people in the book are people living in poverty, oppressed by a corrupt government and church. Yet they are unstoppable! They are (to quote Kipling) the rot in the root, the thorn in the foot… misletoe killing an oak, rats gnawing cables in two, how they must love what they do! They manage to thwart people in power, and persist and survive and be happy anyway!
As I write this, my Partner is watching the inauguration of someone who promises to make life hell, for people like me (A transgender woman) You know. My Mi’kmaq and Acadian (and Polish, and Scottish and everyone else) ancestors have been through WAY worse. That orange clown can say whatever he wants. We will be a continual thorn in their side, and we’re not going ANYWHERE!
For the brave of heart. If you would like to read it, it can be found at:
https://archive.org/details/lamariecomoroman0000brun_d3o3/mode/2up
To read the full version, sign up for a free account at archive.org and you can “Borrow” the full online book.
