It’s been a very hectic week: Passover, the holiday that requires long meals, arcane diets, and all manner of sweets made with nuts and no flour has, not for the first time, hit at the same time as Easter. This means that the entire L’Affichiste team has been busy not only at work, but at home too: we’re an entertaining bunch, and when you need to be entertaining at work and at home… well let’s just say, it’s a little taxing…

Easter weekend seems to be a big travelling weekend too – the first waves of tourists are back in town, and as we are located right near Montreal’s famed Notre Dame Cathedral, we have been graced with travelers from across the US and Canada. After hibernating all winter long, it’s kind of nice to see smiling faces on the streets – even our horsey friends are back, pulling more than their fair share of tourists through the cobble-stone streets of Old Montreal. (And yes, the carrots and apples that we have at the entrance of the gallery are for the horses… it seems the least we can do for those poor animals who work so hard. Don’t get me started.)

I was looking for some properly religious-themed posters for this missive, only to realize that we don’t have too many of those. I did find two Chagalls titled Message Biblique (Chagall always found a way to include some kind of biblical reference – most often flying angels – in his works), and a couple of church scenes, but aside from that, I can’t claim to be the go-to source for religious affiches. Oh well.

This week I had a hilarious conversation with two of the ladies who clean for the priests at the Basilique: Pierrette and Ginette never fail to make me smile. (Ginette calls me her anglaise, leading me to believe that she doesn’t have too many English acquaintances who can shoot the breeze in the language of Moliere. ) Her understanding of religious customs outside of the Church is about as limited as my understanding of religious customs within the Church and leads to well-intentioned misunderstandings on both sides. We laugh a lot, we tell each other great stories, and I think our budding friendship says a great deal about the place in which we live: with humor, patience and God’s grace, we’ll all make it through the holidays in English and en francais.

Joyeuse Pacques and Happy Passover from the team at L’Affichiste.