Friday, May 24, 2013

a mountie on a horse

Yesterday, the Google Doodle was a special one honouring our very own Mounties, so today I dug out the only iconic mounties on a horse postcards I have
In honour of the 140th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police - or North-West Mounted Police as they were known at the time.
According to the Mountie Shop website

Canada's first prime minister, Sir. John A. Macdonald, wished to put an end to the illegal trade of liquor with the native people in the Northwest Territories (the area covered today by most of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories). Order had to be restored to the area to make it safe for aboriginal people and settlers. Contrary to popular belief, the force was not established to protect the white against the Indians, it was to protect the Indians from the whites. The whites were U.S. whiskey peddlers, controlling what is now most of southern Alberta, who were destroying the natives with booze and bullets.

The Mounties, in their red serge uniforms, have been immortalized as part of Canadian culture in pulp fiction and in many movies and television shows from Sergeant Bruce (Nelson Eddy), Sergeant Preston, Sergeant Renfrew to Dudley Do-Right (remember, Rocky and Bullwinkle?)
to (my personal fave) Constable Benton Fraser of the tv show Due South



PostcardFriendshipFriday

for your viewing pleasure, Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald

6 comments:

  1. Constable Fraser is a sweetie isn't he?

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  2. I've always loved the Royal Canadian Mounties. Their uniforms are so bright and the fellas so handsome and brave. I did NOT know the background of why the Mounties were created. Thank you. That's amazing.

    Have a lovely weekend, dear VioletSky and happy Postcard Friendship Friday.

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  3. So interesting and enjoyable. IOt must be years since I heard that song, and I don't think I have seen the film.

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  4. Interesting read. I learned a lot from these postcards.

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  5. Okay, this is probably not PC to admit, but I've always found Mounties wildly amusing. I don't even know why.

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  6. Hello Violet,

    I'am a little bit late for the Friday Postcard, it's been a while since my last participation.

    Your post is full of informations, it's a pleasure to discover the history that way. Postcard are so full of stories, I see it like a new travel.

    Too sad, I didn't have enough to move to Canada, when I was in Boston, my hosts thought about taking me to Vancouver or Montreal, but maybe next time.

    See you

    Grace

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