Any chance to break the monotony of the winter routine was welcomed at a fur trade post. National holidays and weddings were celebrated by a regale, a special ration of liquor, and a ball which on occasion might end up in a brawl. Dancing was one of the voyageurs favourite pastimes, even though there might only be a squeaky fiddle for music. At this ball held in Bachelor's Hall at York Factory on Christmas Day, note how the men appear much more lively than the women. As one visitor observed, "the half-breed women are passionately fond of dancing, but a stranger would imagine the contrary on witnessing their apparent want of animation."
