St. Anne's celebration evolves beyond the Lennox Island church

The annual St. Anne's celebration has come a long way from more than 100 years ago when, as Lennox Island Chief Darlene Bernard explains it, guests would arrive in boats and canoes singing Mi'kmaw hymns and climbing the banks on their hands and knees.

"We have pictures of St.Anne's Sunday in 1915, camera pictures in 1915," Bernard said Sunday. "And Lennox Island wasn't inhabited year-round. It was more the summer gathering place and it was very much considered a shrine."

On Sunday, hundreds of people arrived in vehicles and on foot to take part in a parade, lobster feast and other festivities on the island in Malpeque Bay off the northwest coast of P.E.I.

The celebration to honour St. Anne,the patron saint of the Mi'kmaq, would not be complete, of course, without mass, since it began in the 1600s when French missionaries introduced the Mi'kmaq to Catholicism.

"It's not just about the church anymore," Bernard said. "It's about Lennox Island First Nation as a community, as a Mi'kmaw community who is working extremely hard to reinvigorate our language, to bring back our culture and our heritage and our teachings."

Bernard said she wants to share the experience with all Islanders, not just on Sunday but in the future.

How Lennox Island celebrates St. Anne's Sunday in 2024

1 month ago

Duration 2:29

The day celebrates the patron saint of the Mi'kmaq, but is also an opportunity for all Islanders to come together for a parade, lobster lunch, and fireworks. Lennox Island First Nation Chief Darlene Bernard explains how it's evolved over the years, and Roseanne Sark and Emma Levi say the day is more focused on building community, and celebrating family and their culture.

"We're going to have more visitors coming from around the world. And we're going to work really hard so that when they come here, they have a great experience," she said.

"And they come away from here not with just a little trinket, but, you know, with a teaching or feeling, like enlightened a little bit, you know, and just learn something about the first peoples of Prince Edward Island who are the Mi'kmaq. We are the rights holders."