This holiday is marked each June 24 in Quebec, and by French speakers all over Canada. Early French settlers brought it here. In 1908, St. John the Baptist was named the guardian saint of French Canadians.
Back in the early nineties, I celebrated and participated in the Saint-Jean-Baptiste parade while studying French in Matane for six weeks. I was a clown in the parade!
From that moment on, I wanted to attend clowning school. However, years later, when I took my nephew to the circus, I witnessed a child crying after clowns entered the tent shooting balloons. This experience made me reconsider my approach to making people laugh. Instead of pursuing traditional clowning, I decided to focus on bringing joy through funny gifts.
On this day in 1880, O Canada was sung for the first time at a Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day event. It was composed by Calixa Lavallée and the words were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier.
In 1980, it was made the official national anthem.
Here is Jully Black's version!