Métis across the Homeland love dancing and having a good time. Kitchen parties and “half breed balls” filled with music, food, and dancing are an important part of Métis culture—historically and today. These legendary parties were often reported by non-Métis visitors to communities. In 1846, for example, William Cullen Bryant, an American poet and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post, visited Sault Ste. Marie. He wrote about the lively Métis parties and love of danc

In addition to Métis family ties and a vibrant culture of music and dance rooted in the fiddle and jigs, as early as the 1840s, Métis families in the Mattawa area maintained a strong traditional Métis economy and way of life, similar to those of other Métis communities in the historic North-West. Spring was a particularly important time of year for many Métis families. In early January 1849, for instance, the Langevin family was noted as “making a camp above the fort” at Mat

Jigging is a well-known Métis tradition and form of cultural expression. Members of historic Métis communities are consistently identified participating in celebratory gatherings where dancing a Métis jig was a main event. For example, a visitor to the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Timiskaming Post in 1873 described the dances of “half-breed” participants on Christmas Day, writing: “There were several pretty half-breed girls present…Their dance was a kind of jig with a mixture of Sc