French Canadian Voyageurs — Red Sash

Perhaps the most treasured possession of the French Canadian Voyageur was his iconic sash belt or ceinture fléchée (arrowhead sash).

Most voyageurs wore colorful sashes woven from worsted wool, from which their knives, smoking-bags, and canoe cups were suspended.

The ceinture fléchée had many uses, but was primarily used as a tump line and support on the portage.  Arrowhead sashes helped prevent back injuries and hernias for voyageurs as they acted as ergonomic back belts.

It was a badge of distinction and oft times identified a voyageurs place of origin. Sash colors and patterns were distinctive of different regions. 

Probably the most famous of all sashes were those from the L’Assomption area of Lower Canada, which had multiple multi-colored lightning-bolts (éclairs) flanking a central red core.

Originally, ceintures fléchées were three to four meters long and were woven by hand using a technique called 'finger weaving'.

Narrower garters for stockings were also finger woven in simpler designs.

Coupled with the red toque (hat) and the capote (blanket coat), arrowhead sashes became an essential component of traditional French Canadian clothing.

As French-speaking voyageurs travelled throughout North America during the fur trade era, arrowhead sashes found their way into the hands of First Nations and Métis peoples, who then adapted their own version of the sash and made their own.

To French Canadians these sashes have become a major part of their cultural heritage and national identity. 

When Henri Julien painted an arrowhead sash on his famous illustration of a Patriote (Le Vieux de 1837) in the early 20th century, the sash was forever linked with French Canadian nationalism.

One of my heroes, Charles M. Russell, the famous Western artist,often wore a red sash that he used in his paintings to help identify Métis (1), trappers and voyageurs.

(1) Métis (especially in western Canada) a person of mixed indigenous and Euro-American ancestry, in particular one of a group of such people who in the 19th century constituted the so-called Métis nation in the areas around the Red and Saskatchewan rivers.