For rural communities, the town is a focal point for meetings, contacts,
trade, and social activities. It is often through town life that
the collective culture of a group, such as the Catholic Francophones
of Manitoba, is most effectively expressed.
The town is where the parish church and the school are located,
not to mention the convents and monasteries, which are visual icons
of the institutional network that frames the numerous religious
rites and lay activities attended by rural families. More informal
meetings, at the general store, around a table at the hotel or the
restaurant and, of course, on the church grounds, are all special
times of cultural practices and expression. Organised social events
also constitute privileged moments for celebrating and commemorating
a sense of belonging.
Finally, participating in modern leisure-time activities is a sign
of the renewal of cultural traditions in the francophone communities.
However, as is suggested in the illustration produced by C.W. Jefferys
in 1910, it is often outward manifestations that give a group its
cultural identity, at the risk of fostering a folkloristic or stereotyped
image.
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