Editing Canoe (section)

==Canoes in culture==
[[File:La Chasse-galerie (1906).jpg|left|thumb|[[Henri Julien]]:''La Chasse-galerie'', oil painting 1906]]
In Canada, the canoe has been a theme in history and folklore, and is a symbol of [[Canadian identity]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The Canoe|url=http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/nwc/history/12.htm|publisher=McGill University|access-date=16 October 2012}}</ref> From 1935 to 1986 the [[Voyageur dollar]] depicted  a canoe containing a voyageur (French-Canadian fur trader), and an Indigenous man, on the reverse.

The [[Chasse-galerie]] is a [[French-Canadian]] tale of voyageurs who, after a night of heavy drinking on New Year's Eve at a remote timber camp want to visit their sweethearts some 100 [[League (unit)|leagues]] (about 400&nbsp;km) away. Since they have to be back in time for work the next morning they make a pact with the [[devil]]. Their canoe will fly through the air, on condition that they not mention God's name or touch the cross of any [[Steeple|church steeple]] as they fly by in the canoe. One version of this fable ends with the [[coup de grâce]] when, still high in the sky, the voyageurs complete the hazardous journey but the canoe overturns, so the devil can honour the pact to deliver the voyageurs and still claim their souls.

In [[John Steinbeck]]'s novella ''[[The Pearl (novel)|The Pearl]],'' set in Mexico, the main character's canoe is a means of making a living that has been passed down for generations and represents a link to cultural tradition.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Pearl: Themes, Motifs, & Symbols|url=http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/pearl/themes.html|publisher=Spark Notes|access-date=16 October 2012}}</ref>

The [[Māori people|Māori]], [[indigenous people|indigenous]] [[Polynesians|Polynesian people]], arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe (called [[Waka (canoe)|waka]]) voyages. Canoe traditions are important to the identity of Māori. [[Whakapapa]] (genealogical links) back to the crew of founding canoes served to establish the origins of tribes, and defined tribal boundaries and relationships.<ref>{{cite web|title=Story: Canoe traditions|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/canoe-traditions/|publisher=The Encyclopedia of New Zealand|access-date=16 October 2012}}</ref>