Heraldic Science Héraldique
  • ARTICLES
    • Bannière de France et pavillon blanc en Nouvelle-France
    • De précieux bijoux de famille : une légende au sujet du castor
    • Des emblèmes canadiens sur soie
    • L’Amérindien stéréotypé en héraldique canadienne : son évolution en regard de l’image imprimée
    • La médaille Kebeca Liberata a-t-elle inspiré le premier sceau de la ville de Québec?
    • La société de la Nouvelle-France était-elle féodale ?
    • Le Québec sur le Red Ensign : une fantaisie commerciale
    • Le tourisme héraldique : France
    • Le visage sur les cartes de Champlain : portrait ou symbole? (English summary) >
      • Annexe I Cartes ornées de portraits d’explorateurs, navigateurs ou cartographes
      • Annexe II Dessins de Louis Nicolas illustrés de soleils et lunes à visage
    • L’imagerie et le symbolisme de saint Nicolas et du père Noël
    • L’origine symbolique et chevaleresque du nom Dracula
    • Les anciennes armoiries de Montréal
    • Les armes sur les cartes géographiques du Canada >
      • Les armes de souveraineté sur les cartes de la Nouvelle-France et du Canada
      • Cartes canadiennes aux armes de sociétés commerciales
      • Les armes personnelles sur des cartes du Canada
    • Les armoiries de Claude de Ramezay
    • Les armoiries de François-Joseph d’Estienne de Chaussegros de Léry, baron de l’Empire
    • Les armoiries personnelles en Nouvelle-France >
      • Annexe I - La noblesse contestée de Denis-Joseph Ruette d’Auteuil
    • Les armoiries personnelles au Québec
    • Les origines du castor et de la feuille d’érable comme emblèmes canadiens
    • Les pavillons de la marine marchande en Nouvelle-France
    • Les symboles d’une congrégation de sœurs en guerre
    • Les symboles monarchiques dans les emblèmes du Québec
    • Où est passée la bibliothèque de l'Institut Drouin?
    • Un puissant symbole de vengeance qui brave le temps
    • Une accusation de plagiat héraldique au XVIIe siècle
    • A Mystery Emblem for Manitoba
    • A Precursor to the Flag of Nova Scotia
    • Adding and Subtracting Lions
    • Augmentations of Patriotism to Canadian Emblems
    • Canadian Badges on Liberation Plates of the Netherlands
    • Canadian Civic Arms on Ceramics
    • Canadian Postcards with Emblems and Rhymes
    • Did Alexander Scott Carter Give Canada Its National Colours?
    • Entalenté à parler d’armes
    • Globe Crests of Early Navigators
    • Heraldic Anachronisms in Movies and Television Series
    • Heraldic Postcard Colouring Books
    • Heraldic Whimsies
    • Land of the Maple
    • Mystery flags on a Rennaisance map
    • Nineteenth Century Postcards with Canadian Symbols
    • Royalty Mingling with Beavers and Maple Leaves
    • Royal Warrants of Appointment
    • The Achievement of Arms of Bordeaux: an Emblem Born in Strife
    • “The Maple Leaf Forever”: a Song and a Slogan / The Maple Leaf Forever : une chanson et un slogan
    • The Mermaid in Canadian Heraldry and Lore
    • The Much Maligned Arms of the Canada Company >
      • Appendix I The “Au Camélia” Trade Card
      • Appendix II Stylisation Versus Distortion
    • The Rise of the Single Maple Leaf as the Emblem of Canada
    • The Unicorn in Canada
    • Why Was the Beaver Left Out of Canada’s Coat of Arms >
      • Appendix I The Beaver Cutting Down a Maple
      • Appendix II The Flag of the Beaver Line
    • Why Three National Symbols of Sovereignty for Canada?
  • OUVRAGES / WORKS
    • ​La recherche de symboles identitaires canadiens >
      • Avant-propos
      • I Le tricolore de la France >
        • Appendice - Illustrations du tricolore dans des journaux canadiens
      • II L’Union Jack et le Red Ensign >
        • Appendice - Génèse de l'Union Jack
      • III Le choix d’un drapeau national >
        • Appendice 1 - Lettre de Stanley à Matheson
        • Appendice II Symboles métropolitains dans emblèmes provinciaux
      • IV Un ajout aux armoiries du Canada
    • Mythes et légendes au sujet d’emblèmes canadiens >
      • Introduction
      • Les symboles titillent l’imagination
      • La feuille d’érable en Nouvelle-France
      • Le castor
      • Comment la feuille d’érable devient emblème
      • La Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste et la feuille d'érable
      • La licorne et sa chaîne
    • CANADA’S COAT OF ARMS Defining a country within an empire >
      • Preface
      • Chapter 1 European Heritage
      • Chapter 2 The Beaver and Maple Leaf
      • Chapter 3 The Dominion Shield
      • Chapter 4 One Resolute Man
      • Chapter 5 King Rules or Heralds Rule
      • Chapter 6 Bureaucrats and Artists
      • Conclusion
    • A GUIDE TO HERALDRY From a Canadian Perspective >
      • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
      • PREFACE
      • Chapter I BIRTH AND SURVIVAL OF HERALDRY
      • Chapter II TAKING A CLOSER LOOK
      • Chapter III ARMS VERSUS LOGO
      • Chapter IV THE QUEST FOR ARMS
      • Chapter V DESIGNING ARMS >
        • ANNEX I
      • Chapter VI AN AUXILIARY SCIENCE >
        • ANNEX II
      • CHAPTER VII HERALDRY WITHIN THE SYMBOLS’ FAMILY
      • CONCLUSION
      • APPENDIX I LEARNING TO BLAZON
      • APPENDIX II TRACING PERSONAL ARMS IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • APPENDIX III IDENTIFYING ARMS FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES
      • BIBLIOGRAPHY
      • GLOSSARY
    • VARIATIONS IN THE ARMS OF SOVEREIGNTY CONNECTED WITH CANADA (a Pictorial Overview) >
      • The “Who was Who?” of Canadian Heraldry / Le « Qui était qui ? » de l’héraldique canadienne >
        • A
        • B
        • C
        • D
        • E
        • F
        • G
        • H
        • I
        • J
        • K
        • L
        • M
        • N
        • O
        • P
        • Q
        • R
        • S
        • T
        • U
        • V
        • W
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE I
        • APPENDIX/APPENDICE II
      • Foreword
      • Royal Arms of Colonial Powers
      • Dominion Shields
      • Arms of Canada
      • Arms and Devices of Provinces and Territories
      • Afterword
    • Glanures héraldiques * Heraldic gleanings >
      • Projet d’un juge d’armes de France pour la Nouvelle-France / Project of a Judge of Arms of France for New France
      • The Arms of a Little-known Navigator / Les armes d’un navigateur peu connu
      • Une bouillabaisse sur écu / A Bouillabaisse on a Shield
      • Managing a Heraldic Conflict / Gestion d’un conflit héraldique
      • Une opinion sur les armes du Québec / An Opinion on the Arms of the Province of Quebec
      • La fleur de lis seule : marque d’autorité et de possession royales en Nouvelle-France / The Single Fleur-de-lis: a Royal Mark of Authority and Possession in New France
      • Un écu fictif pour Samuel de Champlain / A Fictitious Shield for Samuel de Champlain
      • Coïncidences héraldiques / Heraldic Coincidences
      • Vision d’une mort tragique ? / A Tragic Death Foretold?
      • The Mystery “Arms” of the North West Company / Les mystérieuses « armes » de la Compagnie du Nord-Ouest
      • Were the Arms of Newfoundland Granted to the Province Originally? / Les armoiries de Terre-Neuve étaient-elles originellement assignées à la province ?
      • A Tragedy Illustrated on a Coat of Arms / Une tragédie illustrée sur des armoiries
      • Une fleur de lis ardente / A Glowing Fleur-de-lis
      • Chadwick’s Écu Complet for the Dominion of Canada / Chadwick conçoit un « écu complet » pour le Dominion du Canada
      • A “The More the Merrier” Expression of Canadian Patriotism / Le patriotisme canadien selon la formule « plus il y en a, mieux c’est »
      • Gare aux blasphémateurs ! / Blasphemers Beware!
      • An Armorial Bookplate with International Scope / Un ex-libris d’intérêt international
      • La couleur sable est-elle issue d’une fourrure? / Was the Colour Sable Derived from a Fur?
      • Le gouffre, un symbole pré-héraldique universel / The Gurges, a Pre-heraldic Universal Symbol
      • The Customs Value of Heraldic Art / La valeur douanière de l’art héraldique
      • Don’t Tamper With Symbols! / Ne faussez pas les symboles!
      • Pulling Coats of Arms out of a Hat / Des armoiries tirées d’un chapeau
      • La feuille d'érable en chanson / The Maple leaf in song
      • La compagnie maritime Allan Line a-t-elle plagié le tricolore français? / Did the Shipping Company Allan Line Plagiarize the Tricolour of France?
      • Un emblème patriotique inclusif / An Inclusive Patriotic Emblem ​New Page

Land of the Maple
 
Auguste Vachon, Outaouais Herald Emeritus
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​After it was published in 1867, Alexander Muir’s “The Maple Leaf Forever” so dominated the Canadian scene that earlier compositions were almost forgotten. In fact several years before Confederation, a number of songs and poems underlined the special relationship of the maple or its leaf with Canada. At the celebration of the St. John the Baptist’s feast held in Montreal on 30 May 1835, Ludger Duvernay, a printer and publisher, sang verses which described the maple tree as a rallying point for patriots (La Minerve, 27 June 1836, p. 2). The refrain of an 1836 anonymous poem entitled “L’érable” describes Canada’s emblematic links with the maple: “Du Canada, c’est l’érable chérie (sic) / L’arbre sacré, l’arbre de la patrie !” [A. Nantel, Les fleurs de la poésie canadienne (Montreal: Beauchemin & Valois, 1869), pp. 1-3]. Susanna Strickland Moodie’s “The Maple-Tree: a Canadian Song,” views the maple as a source of bounty and a provider of welfare for the nation: “May the nation's peace / With its growth increase … May it grace our soil, / And reward our toil, / Till the nation's heart is dead.” [First published in The Literary Garland in 1847 and republished in her work Roughing it up in the Bush; or, Life in Canada, vol. 2 (London: Richard Bentley, 1852), pp. 292-94].  Around 1850, James Paton Clarke composed a song which places the maple leaf, emblem of Canada, on the same footing as the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland, and the shamrock of Ireland [Music sheet “The Emblem of Canada: Canadian National Song, the Poetry from the Maple Leaf” (Toronto: A. & S. Nordheimer)].
 
A search through songs and poems and other pre-Confederation documents to find the expression “land of the maple,” or a French equivalent such as pays de l’érable, was to no avail. I discovered these words for the first time in an untitled 1867 poem beginning with “Canada, Canada, land of the maple” published in the Montreal Gazette, July 1, 1867, see: https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-7165-e.html. The message is somewhat diluted by the fact that the first verse of each stanza declares Canada to be the land of something different, namely: the beaver, the snowbird, and the bravest. The notion of identifying the land with the maple did not seem to catch on immediately. It resurged: in H.H. Godffery’s patriotic song “The land of the maple” (Mason & Risch, 1897); in Katherine A. Young, Stories of the Maple Land (Toronto: Copp, Clark, 1898); and in L.-P. Laurendeau’s march “Land of the Maple” (Carl Fischer, 1907). 
 
Postcards were undoubtedly the one medium that most helped spread the expression “land of the maple” before the First World War. These cards were not only produced in large numbers but as series. To encompass many parts of the country, cards were printed with only one feature varying, for instance the central scenery which was often a photograph. The sampling below is representative of the many examples appearing on the market but only scratches the surface of this vast production.
 
The autumnal maple tree is so characteristic of Canada that it amazes and delights visitors. So many travelers have come to the country prior Confederation that it seems improbable that no one would have declared Canada “land of the maple” prior to 1867. On the other hand, this notion is a rather poetic one, and the early travelers were mostly interested in the utility aspect of the tree: where it grows, its sugar producing sap, its efficiency as firewood, its applications in cabinetry, and the many other uses of its wood.
 
This year being the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, it can be intellectually satisfying to think that the phrase “land of the maple” was coined at the time the country was born. Still the possibility remains that someone somewhere recorded this idea earlier. Be that as it may, the postcards presented here reflect the values of many Canadians at a given time in the history of their country.
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​N.B.
The cards shown here were collected by Auguste and Paula Vachon. The websites were accessed on 12 March 2017.
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1. This type of postcard was reproduced in series with only the scenery changed. B.B., London Series (Birn Bros.), England, c. 1910-14.
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​2. Another card turned out in dozens of examples with only the framed scene being replaced. Universal Postal Union, 1905.
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3. A further example of a postcard published as a series. A.H. Cooper, Toronto. c. 1910.
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4. Some postcards were burnt in leather and painted. Postdated 1906.
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5. Many cards were included in this series. The Post Card & Greeting Card Co. Ltd., Toronto, “Canada Series” c. 1935.
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6. Valentine-Black Co., Ltd., Toronto, Canada. Made in U.S.A. Postdated 2 March 1929.
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7. The shield of the Dominion with only four provinces as advocated by Sir Joseph Pope, see: http://heraldicscienceheraldique.com/dominion-shields.html, figure 14 and the paragraph below. By The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd., Montreal and Toronto, printed in Great Britain, postdated 1912. 
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8. Cards with a few lines of poetry were fairly common. B.B., London. Series (Birn Bros.), England. Sender’s date: 12 November 1912.
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9. The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd., Montreal and Toronto. Postdated 1913.
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10. On this card, the name of a municipality was usually inserted after “FROM.” Other cards in the series show a map of Canada illustrated with a camping scene or a boat on a lake. B.B., London. Series (Birn Bros.), England, E3426, printed in Germany, 1914. 
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11. Companion card to 9. B.B., London. Series (Birn Bros.), England, E3424, printed in Germany, 1914.
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12. A series which included Canada and its provinces. The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd., Montreal and Toronto. Postdated 24 August 1912. 
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​13. A nine-province shield representing the Dominion of Canada after 1907. According to the verses, the shield of the maple is the shield of the Land, a poetic way of saying “land of the maple.” B.B., London. Series (Birn Bros.), Made in England. Post dated 1915.
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14. This plate does not mention “land of the maple,” although it contains the idea of the tree representing the country. The Royal Doulton mark on the bottom was introduced c. 1930 while the shape of Canada’s shield is prior to 1957. The plate was not likely produced during the Great Depression or the Second World War. Therefore, c. 1950 seems a reasonable approximation. Made in England by Royal Doulton. Vachon Collection, Canadian Museum of History.
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