Myth and Religion

The St Lawrence was beautiful. Squint and you might glimpse red coats and blue coats still fighting it out.

But we were about to enter Saguenay Fjord, and the weather mysteriously changed. 

As we sailed along Saguenay fjord, which is just off the St Lawerence,  I was struck by its emptiness, even monotony. How many photos can you take of forested cliffs with no differentiating features? I tried and was each time disappointed. None would pass muster in an identity parade. 

Below, I tried to convince myself that the water in someway mirrored the rock

Port or starboard, the same overwhelming emptiness.

And yet.

Nature abhors a vacuum, as  does the human spirit. The Saguenay fjord  teems with fish, its shores densely forested and rich in game, but the overwhelming impression is of a vast and virgin wilderness – one filled with native myth, overlaid later by French colonisation and an imported religion.

An early native legend is that of the White Whale, one that housed a powerful and benevolent spirit. Those who reported seeing  it talked of a majestic and otherworldly creature, serene and pure white. For them, it was the spirit guardian of the river and surrounding forests. It’s been seen many times over the years, each sighting supposedly marking a significant event.

Here was  a likely spot for a whale, even an old woman in a canoe

A related spirit is that of the ‘Old Woman of the Fjord,' depicted as a wise and elderly woman who, like the whale, guards and preserves the purity of both wildlife and wilderness. Both myths reflect the native reverence for a natural world that sustained them.

Some years after the French arrived the tradition was continued, though in religious form and epitomised by the Statue of Our Lady of Saguenay. 

The statue is over thirty feet tall and shows Mary embracing the valley with her arms outstretched. It’s both religiously important as well as a tourist attraction, and has the added advantage of being more accessible than the Old Woman or the Whale. I saw it at least, but not, alas, the Old woman or the Whale.

Just lots of trees