As the title says it.
The winter 2009 class list for the University of Montreal (a relatively high ranked worldwide university, and one of the very best in the french world) now features a Theology class on the Montreal Canadiens.
It is set to study the various rituals surrounding hockey in Montreal, and to analyze the Montreal Canadiens within a religious perspective; and ultimately to attempt to tackle the question "Have the Canadiens become a religion?", and "If so, what sort of religion are they exactly?"
Among other questions to be tackled is "If the Canadiens are a religion, how should the priests of the established monotheisms react to Canadiens fans among their flock?"
The whole thing isn't without merit, either. Call it a fluke of history or what you will, but it so happens that the Montreal really became popular over the fifteen years or so following World War II...roughly the same period in which Québec began distancing itself faster and faster from the Roman Catholic Church.
As a result, in a very large part, the Canadiens came to assume at the very least the old social role of the church - a factor of social cohesion, something the people of Québec (or at the very least southern Québec, ie more than half the population) had in common.
Certainly, only-very-partially-joking reference to the Canadiens as something religious are growing ever more common. The team jersey has a long-time nickname of "The Holy Shirt", it is not uncommon to hear the Saturday night hockey game referred to as the new Sunday mass, and people (myself included) have refered to "Go Habs Go" as the single most common prayer in Québec (and/or the closest thing Québec has to an oath of allegiance).
And while I'm sure that the "Prayer of the Rocket" (a retooled Prayer of the Lord, asking deceased star forward x national hero x Deified in all but name person Maurice Richard to grant the Canadiens victory against the Boston Bruins) was mostly a joke...you would have to talk very fast to convince me everyone who repeated it was only joking, nothing more.
It's the way a lot of Habs fans are - we don't, strictly speaking, believe in all these superstitions about the Habs, about the ghosts of old players and stanley cup winners watching over the team, but at the same time...
The winter 2009 class list for the University of Montreal (a relatively high ranked worldwide university, and one of the very best in the french world) now features a Theology class on the Montreal Canadiens.
It is set to study the various rituals surrounding hockey in Montreal, and to analyze the Montreal Canadiens within a religious perspective; and ultimately to attempt to tackle the question "Have the Canadiens become a religion?", and "If so, what sort of religion are they exactly?"
Among other questions to be tackled is "If the Canadiens are a religion, how should the priests of the established monotheisms react to Canadiens fans among their flock?"
The whole thing isn't without merit, either. Call it a fluke of history or what you will, but it so happens that the Montreal really became popular over the fifteen years or so following World War II...roughly the same period in which Québec began distancing itself faster and faster from the Roman Catholic Church.
As a result, in a very large part, the Canadiens came to assume at the very least the old social role of the church - a factor of social cohesion, something the people of Québec (or at the very least southern Québec, ie more than half the population) had in common.
Certainly, only-very-partially-joking reference to the Canadiens as something religious are growing ever more common. The team jersey has a long-time nickname of "The Holy Shirt", it is not uncommon to hear the Saturday night hockey game referred to as the new Sunday mass, and people (myself included) have refered to "Go Habs Go" as the single most common prayer in Québec (and/or the closest thing Québec has to an oath of allegiance).
And while I'm sure that the "Prayer of the Rocket" (a retooled Prayer of the Lord, asking deceased star forward x national hero x Deified in all but name person Maurice Richard to grant the Canadiens victory against the Boston Bruins) was mostly a joke...you would have to talk very fast to convince me everyone who repeated it was only joking, nothing more.
It's the way a lot of Habs fans are - we don't, strictly speaking, believe in all these superstitions about the Habs, about the ghosts of old players and stanley cup winners watching over the team, but at the same time...
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