HISTORY
In Canada, near Montreal, lives a remarkable character. His name is Jocelyn Legault. Passionate about nature and cold climes, he desired to craft an object which would entertain young and old.
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The inspiration for Jocelyn’s magnificent, child-sized replicas of traditional sleighs was sparked by the artisan heritage of the Indigenous cultures of the north.
His sleigh names are laced with magic: the Woodsman, the Yukon (both dog-sled racer replicas); and the ‘Evene’ sleigh , created especially for Parisian publishing house Borealia) ...
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No need for dogs or reindeer to draw Jocelyn’s sleighs... just a parent’s helping hand will do!
THE SLEIGHS OF THE FAR NORTH
All across the Far North, people move around on sleighs. In Alaska, Canada and in the north-eastern regions of Siberia, sleighs are drawn by dogs. In Scandinavia Lapland, Russia, and in the lands of the Indigenous people of the Siberian north, it tends to be reindeer. Sleighs are used to transport food, clothing, firewood, and blocks of ice to be melted for drinking water; but also, and above all, folded tents. Today the Dolgan people are unique in the Siberian tundra in that they simply place the mounted tents on the sleighs, and away they go.
Copyright :
Picture taken during Breeders Day of Eveno-Bytantaysky in the Yakutia region
(Emilie Maj, Institut Paul-Emile Victor, Festivethno 2010)
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Special thanks to Emilie Maj., Christophe Boula and the Maksimov and Potapov families.