Happy Saint Jean Baptiste Day, Greater Sudbury!
Held annually on June 24, it's the feast day of St. John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus in the River Jordan.
It is a day of celebration for francophones Sudbury, as well as in Quebec and other areas of French Canada.
Saint Jean Baptiste Day is also known as "la Saint-Jean," "St John the Baptist Day," "Fête nationale du Québec" and "Quebec's National Holiday."
In France, the celebrations around the feast day of Saint John the Baptist were widely enjoyed and French colonists introduced these traditions to North America.
The tradition landed in Canada with the first French colonists. The first mention of celebrations of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in North America dates back to 1606, when settlers en route to the future Acadia rested on the coast of Newfoundland.
