{"id":60889,"date":"2026-02-02T05:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T04:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eden-saga.com\/en\/?p=60889"},"modified":"2026-03-28T08:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T07:43:00","slug":"chasse-galerie-quebec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eden-saga.com\/en\/chasse-galerie-quebec.html","title":{"rendered":"The Chasse Galerie"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Chasse Galerie<\/em> in Quebec was for the loggers from the north the way to go down to see their blondes for the night. I met more than one old traveler who claimed to have seen bark canoes filled with possessed sailing in the air, going to see their blondes under the aegis of Beelzebub.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\nA R\u00f4deuse<\/em><\/span> Story<\/h4>\n

Originally from the west of France, the term “chasse-galerie” referred to the wild cries, complaints and howls that sometimes crossed the sky at night and that the French assimilated to an aerial hunt conducted by devils and damned. In reality, these terrifying and unknown noises probably came from the passage of migratory birds or the crash of storms. (source)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Born from the oral tradition, it is thanks to Honor\u00e9 Beaugrand, who wrote it in the newspaper La Patrie, in 1891, then in a collection of tales, in 1900, that the legend of the hunting gallery has been able to cross time.<\/p>\n

In Quebec, this “story roaster” recounts the misadventures of a group of lumberjacks forced to spend New Year\u2019s Eve 1832 in their camp located at the top of the Gatineau. Disappointed to celebrate alone, far from their loved ones, the men seal a pact with the devil in order to make the journey quickly to their village, aboard a flying canoe. (source)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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The Tale of Beaugrand<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s New Year\u2019s Day. Baptiste, the boss of the hunters, just suggested to me that I go for a hundred-league trip in one night to see our blondes at Lavaltrie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“– In one night? Are you crazy? Would you have two months to make the trip that there is no exit path in the snow.<\/em><\/span>
\n— Animal! replied Baptiste. We will make the journey by bark canoe to the rowing, and tomorrow morning at six o’clock we will be back at the site.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I understood. My man was offering me to run the gallery hunt and risk the salvation of my soul for the pleasure of going to kiss my blonde in the village. It was hard to take!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The narrator eventually gives in. All volunteers must recite together a prayer to Beelzebub and quickly climb into the bark canoe.<\/p>\n

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Not That Funny<\/h4>\n

“It was no longer as clear and I took my position at the front of the canoe, determined to have my eye on the road. Before taking us into the air, I say to Baptiste:\u00a0<\/span>
\n— Attention! Take a straight shot on the mountain of Montreal as soon as you see it.<\/em><\/span>
\n— I know my business, and mind yours!<\/em><\/span>
\nAnd before I had time to reply, he exclaimed:<\/em><\/span>
\n— Acabris! Acabras! Acabram! Make us travel over the mountains!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And here we are again at full speed. A few moments later, we passed over the mountain of Bel\u0153il and the front of the canot almost broke on the large temperance cross that the bishop of Quebec had planted there.<\/span>
\n— On the right, Baptiste! On the right, my old man!! You\u2019re going to send us to the devil if you don\u2019t govern better than that!”<\/em><\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the devil, not just any one. With Beelzebub. He had two rules to observe so that the gallery hunting trip goes smoothly. first never touch a church, its bell tower or the cross that surmounts it. Then never pronounce the name of God. Even to swear the name of God is taboo. For Beelzebub is a former god, who does not support the newcomers, these pretensions gods that many claim to be unique.<\/p>\n

That is why all the passengers of the cabo\u00eb feared for their lives upon seeing the swerves that Baptiste was making, drunk and very excited. Suddenly he loses his mind, the canoe brushes against a church, plunges into soft snow, and the passengers are even with a strong fear. And the narrator to conclude:<\/p>\n

“All I can tell you, my friends, is that it\u2019s not as funny as one thinks to go see your girlfriend in a birchbark canoe, in the dead of winter, running through the hunting gallery; especially if you have a damned drunkard who meddles in government.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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A Crazy Success in Quebec<\/h4>\n

\"\"According to Kim Gladu, associate professor in the Department of Letters and Humanities at the Universit\u00e9 du Qu\u00e9bec \u00e0 Rimouski:<\/p>\n

“Many people had access to this story from its publication, since it was made through a newspaper. They recognized themselves in this reality so close to their own, which greatly contributed to the success and longevity of the legend.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the tale has been adapted and reinterpreted into songs, theatre, cinema and literature.<\/p>\n

Until recently, the amusement park La Ronde also had a ride inspired by the flying canoe: the Pitoune.<\/p>\n

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<< Kim Gladu<\/strong><\/span><\/pre>\n
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According to Vincent Vanoli, author of the comic strip La chasse-galerie<\/i> (La Past\u00e8que, 2000)<\/em><\/span>, the classic scheme of the legend allows not to scrupulously respect it, reinterpret it and inject a dose of modernity and astonishment, which makes it a wonderful playground.<\/p>\n
It has crossed eras because it is full of fantasy, humor, nostalgia for a past more permeable to the imaginary, to the wonderful and to originality, before society and culture became uniform everywhere in the 20th century.<\/p>\n
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\nBeelzebub<\/h4>\n
I would undoubtedly not have buried this story if a detail had not caught my attention. A detail named Beelzebub. It is not just any demon, Satan, Lucifer or anyone else who watches over the flying canoe. It\u2019s him, it\u2019s Beelzebub. The ram god recognizable by his curved horns. Aries like the great Rama. Would it be the same?<\/p>\n
Beelzebub: Lord of the flies, or all that flies) is a demon of the Semitic world presumably revered in Ekron (or Accaron). In mainly biblical sources, Beelzebub is a demon and one of the crowned princes of Hell. The ancient Philistines worshipped him as “Baal-Zebub”<\/em>. (wikip\u00e9dia<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n
The Philistines are the distant ancestors of today\u2019s Palestinians, Muslim people. There are therefore not only biblical sources, there are those of Islam. If you look carefully, you would also find Celtic and Viking sources.<\/p>\n
Bel or Baal was adored for a very long time by all peoples, from Celtia where he is called Belenos, to India where he is Rama, passing through Baal in Judea and Samaria, in Persia, in Macedonia and in a multitude of lands and regions that show the whole-power of this great lord of the air.<\/p>\n
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\nBelenos<\/h4>\n
It was as a pilot of a flying machine that this Bel became known and recognized by all the aforementioned peoples, and many others who feared him, respected him, admired him and adored him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Attached to Bel or Baal, there are very many qualifiers that, for the most part, associate it with the air, or space world.\u00a0 Also -zebub<\/em> or -zebul<\/em> could translate not as ‘volant’ or ‘a\u00e9rien’.<\/p>\n
The Celts knew it too, because they worshipped Belenos the god of the air, perched on the large metal insect that was his spaceship.<\/p>\n
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Here see who guides the flying canoe: a horned devil. Yes, the superior being was horned like all the former gods<\/a>. Yes, he knew how to move in a flying machine. Like Rama<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But these are not goats’ horns, straight and pointed, that adorned his skull. They were Aries horns. Like Rama<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\nBel Air<\/h4>\n
\"\"Do you know Bel Air? Yes, but which one? How many hamlets have this name? One in each canton. France is full of them.\u00a0 Here is a non-exhaustive list.<\/a>\u00a0 We arrive at Bel Air, a location on a height, with a viewpoint preferably. In this case, why Belair and not Bellevue? Or Bonair<\/a>?\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Bel Air???? Don\u2019t understand…<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
There is nothing to understand: it\u2019s a mistake<\/strong><\/span>. Bel Air has no connection with air, whether it is beautiful or not. Bel Air comes from the god Bel, a good god of whom they make a fuss about. He was also called Belen or Belenos, he was the most revered of the Celtic gods.<\/p>\n
His name was given to all its places of worship, countless in Gallic lands. Thus Bel Air is not the original version, but a deformation due to forgetfulness, ignorance, simplification that make all things smaller, uglier, emptier.<\/p>\n
What does it matter? To those who can hear the language of the Goslings<\/em>*, our Gallic past is still there.
\n*see at the end of the article<\/em><\/p>\n
Belenos, Belinos or Bel is a Gallic god \u2014 Belenus in Latin, Belen or Belin in the vernacular. With Teutates, god of the terrestrial depths, he is the oldest and most widespread Celtic deity. Tutatis, Belenos and Belisama are the three gods commonly mentioned in Asterix.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n
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Teutates<\/h4>\n
God of the terrestrial depths and the earth-center, Teutates can be written as Toth<\/a> Hades<\/a>, which means the people of hell<\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n
Useful clarification:<\/strong> the Hells of the Greeks and the Romans have little connection with the Christian hell. The Underworld describes the world under our feet, the Hollow Earth<\/a> populated by human or animal giants, the survivors of eras that preceded ours: Cyclops<\/a> or Hercules<\/a>, Dinosaurs<\/a>, etc.<\/p>\n
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\nThe People of Atys<\/h4>\n
Toth, Tuath, Tooth, Teth and other comparable sounds means people in the language of origins. Thus Toutatis<\/em> does not designate a man but a people, like Toth. Or like Tethys, the people of Ys<\/em>. And like Tuath<\/strong>a de Danann<\/em>, people of Goddess Dana-Ann<\/a><\/em>. These Tuatha<\/em> lived on the Sidhe<\/a>…<\/p>\n
In the same way, Toutatis can be translated as the people of Atis.\u00a0 Attis<\/strong> or Atys<\/strong> is a deity of Phrygian origin, the godmother of the goddess Cybele, whose son and lover he is both. He can be compared to Adonis, the god of Aphrodite \u2013 Astarte, or even Tammuz, the god of Ishtar<\/em>.<\/span> (source)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n
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The World of Rama<\/h2>\n