Wednesday, March 09, 2005
Canadian national symbols
Seeing as this blog is supposed to be about emigrating to Canada in general, and not just my life here, I thought it would be good to hear a bit about Canadian culture.
Canada, in its constant drive to identify itself and show the world it isn't America, has many national symbols. Here are just a few of them:
The maple leaf
I think this is great. Other countries have bears, eagles or dragons, presumably representing strength or majesty. Canada has a maple leaf. Not sure what it's supposed to represent, but to me it means Canada is rich in natural beauty, has lots of maple syrup, and is completely harmless (or a peacekeeper, whichever way you want to look at it). It's also a pretty humble symbol, which represents Canadians pretty accurately.
The beaver
Okay, stop giggling. I mean of course the furry (I said stop giggling!) rodent that builds dams with logs. Also pretty harmless, although in Canada's early years it was the centre of an entire industry and wars were fought over it.
The moose
Also harmless (do you see where I'm going with this?), although if you slam your car into its spindly legs, its massive body will come hurtling through your windscreen. In that sense, moose cause several deaths a year. Anyway, it's pretty impressive looking so I can see why it would be a national symbol. I remember being on holiday in America when I was a kid and seeing a cartoon with a talking moose in it. It was called 'Rocky and Bullwinkle', and also featured a squirrel in flying gear. It was so weird it was probably Canadian.
The mountie
The most famous of these, of course, being that guy off 'Due South' who looked pretty good in the uniform. These guys are not harmless. They're kind of like the Canadian special forces and highly respected. So much so that when four of them were shot dead in a drugs bust last week, the entire nation went into shock. It's still making headlines now.
Maple syrup
Don't know about you, but I could drink this stuff neat. Not the synthetic stuff you get on Pancake Day though. Don't even get me started on that. I wanted to go and see them farm it (it comes from trees, it's basically very nice sap), but apparently it doesn't gush out like oil. It drips slowly, more like rubber. Watching that doesn't sound so cool.
Bryan Adams
Yeah, okay, we're getting desperate. Bryan Adams songs are basically a bad cliche repeated over and over and strung together with words like 'Yeah' and 'Baby', to a banal soft rock guitar riff. He used to be really good, back when... oh. Maybe it was it my age. Anyway, Summer of 69 was pretty good. It just can't justify his entire career.
Celine Dion
And on and on and on. Dr Kevorkian's music of choice. She also appeared in South Park, but this does not make her cool. She's French Canadian, so most other Canadians are completely indifferent to her.
Avril Lavigne
Why do they have to trundle this kid out every time they want to make Canada look funky? I mean, I think Canada is funky, but I don't think excessive black eyeliner and stud bracelets from Claire's Accessories is going to show that to the world.
Poutine
A horrendous French bastardisation of perfectly good fries. It basically involves drenching them in gravy and then passing it off as cuisine Quebecois. Ew. I mean, I know northern Englanders do this as well, but to me that's a perfectly good reason not to do something (sorry northerners).
Anyway we're getting into food now which isn't strictly a national symbol, so I'll take a break from the culture until another time. Canadian sports sounds good, keep a look out for that one.
Canada, in its constant drive to identify itself and show the world it isn't America, has many national symbols. Here are just a few of them:
The maple leaf
I think this is great. Other countries have bears, eagles or dragons, presumably representing strength or majesty. Canada has a maple leaf. Not sure what it's supposed to represent, but to me it means Canada is rich in natural beauty, has lots of maple syrup, and is completely harmless (or a peacekeeper, whichever way you want to look at it). It's also a pretty humble symbol, which represents Canadians pretty accurately.
The beaver
Okay, stop giggling. I mean of course the furry (I said stop giggling!) rodent that builds dams with logs. Also pretty harmless, although in Canada's early years it was the centre of an entire industry and wars were fought over it.
The moose
Also harmless (do you see where I'm going with this?), although if you slam your car into its spindly legs, its massive body will come hurtling through your windscreen. In that sense, moose cause several deaths a year. Anyway, it's pretty impressive looking so I can see why it would be a national symbol. I remember being on holiday in America when I was a kid and seeing a cartoon with a talking moose in it. It was called 'Rocky and Bullwinkle', and also featured a squirrel in flying gear. It was so weird it was probably Canadian.
The mountie
The most famous of these, of course, being that guy off 'Due South' who looked pretty good in the uniform. These guys are not harmless. They're kind of like the Canadian special forces and highly respected. So much so that when four of them were shot dead in a drugs bust last week, the entire nation went into shock. It's still making headlines now.
Maple syrup
Don't know about you, but I could drink this stuff neat. Not the synthetic stuff you get on Pancake Day though. Don't even get me started on that. I wanted to go and see them farm it (it comes from trees, it's basically very nice sap), but apparently it doesn't gush out like oil. It drips slowly, more like rubber. Watching that doesn't sound so cool.
Bryan Adams
Yeah, okay, we're getting desperate. Bryan Adams songs are basically a bad cliche repeated over and over and strung together with words like 'Yeah' and 'Baby', to a banal soft rock guitar riff. He used to be really good, back when... oh. Maybe it was it my age. Anyway, Summer of 69 was pretty good. It just can't justify his entire career.
Celine Dion
And on and on and on. Dr Kevorkian's music of choice. She also appeared in South Park, but this does not make her cool. She's French Canadian, so most other Canadians are completely indifferent to her.
Avril Lavigne
Why do they have to trundle this kid out every time they want to make Canada look funky? I mean, I think Canada is funky, but I don't think excessive black eyeliner and stud bracelets from Claire's Accessories is going to show that to the world.
Poutine
A horrendous French bastardisation of perfectly good fries. It basically involves drenching them in gravy and then passing it off as cuisine Quebecois. Ew. I mean, I know northern Englanders do this as well, but to me that's a perfectly good reason not to do something (sorry northerners).
Anyway we're getting into food now which isn't strictly a national symbol, so I'll take a break from the culture until another time. Canadian sports sounds good, keep a look out for that one.
