Communion Du Vernet excitedly recounts the communion service during his first Sunday "in a mission to the heathen." It's not hard to understand Du Vernet's enthusiasm, considering that for him, Holy Communion was a ritual of profound connection between Jesus and the Christians gathered in a Church …
Dog Feast
Dog Feast Du Vernet describes in his diary an Indigenous ceremony that he believed to be the Dog Feast. While it is unclear whether this is what Du Vernet actually saw, the dog feast was an existing Indigenous ceremony. The dog feast, as its name suggests, involved the ceremonial slaying and …
Joseph McLeod
Joseph McLeod Joseph McLeod, born in 1840, was married to an Ojibwe woman named Annie, and together they had five children. Du Vernet called Joseph a “Christian Indian” and noted his participation in the Eucharistic service in Long Sault on, July 17. Joseph McLeod likely also went by the name of …