Marriage

• While some Métis strictly followed their native beliefs, many married in Catholic or Protestant churches. Marriages within the Métis tradition were referred to as "in the custom of the country" and often blended a native custom by which both parties mutually consented to a marriage and thus, both parties could mutually dissolve a marriage at any time. Métis women were sometimes abandoned by their fur trader husbands. Unlike pure-blooded native women, these women could not return to their tribes because they did not have immediate family within the tribe and thus, were left with the burden of having to find another French or Métis man to marry in order to provide for themselves and their children.
  
  

Death

• Just as many Métis were married in Catholic and Protestant churches, so too were they buried in Catholic or Protestant cemeteries. In Métis communities, a church bell rang upon death, nine times for a man and seven times for a woman. Coffins were wrapped with black material for an older member of the community and in white material for a child. These coffins were then painted in white and blue, the colors of the Métis nation, and then decorated with native symbols. Mourning periods lasted from one to one and a half years, with family members wearing black throughout the duration and cutting their hair in sacrifice to honor the dead.
  
  

Music and Dancing

• The Métis were known for their fiddle music as well as their dancing as music and dance were an important part of their culture. Those who followed strict native beliefs incorporated music and dance into everyday life as well as funeral ceremonies, holding dances for the dead and to pray for the healing of the living. These dances included the Tea Dance and the Chicken Dance. The fiddle was the main instrument of the Métis, introduced by the French. Their music was usually up-tempo and lively, lending to fast dances such as the Red River Jig in which the fiddle and subsequently the dancer's footwork, moved faster and faster as the dance progressed.
  
  

Food

• The native people of Canada were, like many native people, hunters and gatherers. These people hunted in groups, typically by bow and arrow, and were led by a captain. The Métis, however, employed the use of guns rather than the primitive weapons of their ancestors. Food played an important part in their celebratory feasts. During these feasts, the Métis would prepare a large plate of the best foods and adorn the plate with the finest tableware. At the end of the feast, this plate would be thrown into the fire to honor their ancestors. Seal and salmon were particularly favored in Métis customs. Traditionally, the first salmon of the year was shared among all members of the Métis community, a custom also practiced after the first seal was caught in the spring.