From Toboggans to Carioles: Jolly Winter Fun in Old Canada

Winters in Old Canada were, for most people, one long playtime. The fields, rivers, and the ports of Montreal and Quebec being frozen and blanketed in snow, the natural course of the seasons forced many to take months off work. For one thing, the accoutrements of winter travel were much more romantic than day-to-day travel today.

Wrapped in their bright clothing, plus buffalo, bear, and deer skins, extra stockings, and fur caps, families went visiting from house to house for food, drink, dance, and sporting activities. Ottawa then still had the vibe (as the kids say) of a lumber town and there wasn’t much social life. One way to pass the long hours, take the air, and get to know the countryside was to go for long sleigh rides.



The Moncks and their successors sponsored and hosted many winter sports on the grounds of Rideau Hall, and these eventually included snowshoeing, tobogganing, skating, and curling. Evenings were filled with dinners, theatrical performances, balls, and other musical occasions. “The new slide is most exciting, for, the natural hill not being considered sufficiently steep, a great addition has been made to it.

A long flight of stairs now leads to the top of a high wooden slide, and, as this is almost perpendicular [only at the top, of course], the toboggan starts a rapid rate down it — and its occupant has both the length and the excitement of his slide greatly increased. To-day the wooden part of the slide is a sheet of ice, so the toboggans rush down at a tremendous pace.”.