Werewolves of Easter

I have this paper I’m working on. I thought some people might be interested in the general issue. Here’s the abstract of the thing:

Abstract: This paper will explore the werewolf legends of Quebec, focusing on nineteenth century folkloric accounts of encounters with wolf-men in the wilderness and villages of the rural areas of our province. In particular, this paper will focus on the interpretation of the curse of lycanthropy as a punishment for religious apathy and skepticism. Following a brief description of the historical and religious context of the folkloric record, this paper will discuss the innovative use of the figure of werewolf in Catholic Quebec, and highlight the social benefits of transforming secret transgression into visible stigma. Among the issues involved in this discussion: the representation of native peoples in werewolf tales, the beauty and danger of Quebec’s ‘wilderness’, the tension between urban and rural populations, and the confluence of French and Native folkloric elements.

Now usually, I wouldn’t really bother with something goofy like werewolves, but there are a few elements in these stories that are kind of interesting to me.

The Revelation of Secret Sin

One of the problems the Church has had over the years, in terms of social control, is that sin is usually an invisible transgression: not believing the right things, not being obedient enough, etc… a series of omitted action and transgressive thought or speech… all pretty tough to police.

Historically, the best way to police such things is to get witnesses to accuse the transgressor, or to have people incriminate themselves through confession. All so that they can do penance and return to the fold, of course.

Back in the day, Catholics used to sow little symbols on peoples clothes for the duration of their penance so that everyone could see what they had done. This was particularly effective in larger communities, so that sinners could be easily picked out from the general populace (in a small town there was usually no need, everyone usually knew about the whole situation, including all the participants).

Before this period, trials by ordeal worked on the same principle; that invisible sin could be revealed through ordeals of fire or water, that God and the Devil will reveal guilt or innocence. In a kind of mini-revelation, supernatural occurrence trumps empirical or circumstantial evidence.

Check out some of these Confession stories from the Medieval Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/tales-confession.html):

“A certain soldier dwelt in a certain village with whose wife the priest of the same village committed adultery. The soldier was told that the priest was carrying on an intrigue with his wife. He, since he was a prudent man and did not readily believe the story, wished to say nothing about it to his wife or the priest, but to learn the truth more fully. But he was not without some suspicion. There happened to be in another village, not far distant from the one in which the soldier lived, a possessed person, in whom there was such a wicked demon that in the presence of bystanders she revealed sins which were not cloaked by a true confession. When the soldier learned this from common report he asked the priest, whom he suspected, to go to a certain meeting with him. And the priest promised.”

Religion and Lycanthropy

In the werewolf stories, individuals who ignore their religious obligations, usually observing the Easter fasting period and confession, leave themselves open to becoming a servant of the devil and transforming, every night, into a werewolf.

Here’s an excerpt (in awful idiomatic French) from one of these stories:

“Ah ! sainte bénite ! j’me rappelle tout d’un coup qu’on délivre les loups-garous en les grafignant, en leur faisant sortir une goutte de sang, et j’y d’mande ben vite :
– T’es-tu loup-garou ?
I’répétait :
– Tu m’as trop fait mal, tu m’as tué… oui, j’sus loup-garou…
C’est tout c’que j’ai entendu parce que je revins à moué inque le sourlendemain, ou plutôt le lendemain, puisque c’ravau-là s’était passé l’mercredi des Cendres.
Depuis sept ans que c’pendard de Tourteau faisait pas ses pâques, i’avait viré en loup-garou à la première heure du huitième carême qui i’allait encore commencer comme un chien. C’est l’matin du jeudi qu’j’ai été trouvé à la porte du chanquier par Tanascon qui s’vante encore d’m’avoir sauvé la vie, parce que c’jour-là i’ m’a volé mon chevreux pis mon ours…”
- Un histoire de Loup Garou: http://grandquebec.com/legendes-du-quebec/loup-garou/

There are a number of other interesting elements in these stories, just for example:

Chasse-Galerie: from the Devil and the Werewolves:

“Alphonse threw himself flat on the ground and saw a huge canoe flying over him. The canoe landed on the ground in the clearing next to Dubroise house and the Devil jumped out with a whip in his hand.
At the sight of the Devil, Alphonse gasped and rolled under some shrubs at the edge of the field. From his hiding place, he heard the Devil shout: "Come out of the canoe!" and snapped the whip at the occupants. Twenty creatures with the shaggy coats of wolves but the upright walk of men leapt from the canoe. Alphonse recognized them immediately. They were werewolves (called loup garou); men who had neglected their religious duties for so long that they had fallen under the spell of the Devil.”
http://www.americanfolklore.net/folktales/quebec3.html

This whole Devil’s canoe thing is important, read about it here:

“This particular story can be traced back to a French legend about a rich nobleman named Gallery who loved to hunt. He loved it so much that he refused to attend Sunday mass. As punishment for this sin he was condemned to forever fly through the night skies, chased by galloping horses and howling wolves, in a fashion reminiscent of the Wild Hunt.
When French settlers arrived in Canada, they swapped stories with the natives and the tale of Gallery was combined with an Indian legend about a flying canoe.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasse-galerie

Notice the link to failure to fulfill religious obligation.
There is a whole other post in the role of the Native people in these werewolf stories. But I think this is enough for today.